Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mia punched the code to her apartment, a bone deep sense of relief washing over her even as she dragged her flatmates into their shared space. “Yunjin-ah, wash your face, you’re not falling asleep on the couch again.”

Eunchae yawned and trailed behind the older members. Mia patted her hair in an attempt to soothe her. “Come on Manchae, you’ve got school tomorrow.” Eunchae pouted, but leaned on her, giving into the touch. She felt a twinge of concern when she thought of all the sleep the kid lost regularly. Mia led them into their rooms and set out to do her own routine, despite the urge to just sleep.

Her phone blared in the silence of their apartment. She cursed, wondering who in their right mind would call so late without checking if she was awake first. She picked it up from where she had haphazardly chucked it upon their arrival and prayed it hadn’t woken the other two up.

Soft hands shook her awake the next morning, an apologetic face in her blurry vision when she managed to open her eyes. “Sorry Eonni, just- there’s no hot water, I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do.”

Mia blinked. “It’s okay baby, just give me a minute.” She sat up. The clock on her nightstand said it was 5:45.

Eunchae looked near tears, she realized with alarm. “Hey, it’s okay, Eunch- hey, hey-“ the tears started flowing, and boy, did they flow.

She hugged her tight, rubbing her back till they stopped. Mia took her to the kitchen and deposited her on a barstool. “Shall I make you your favourite eggs for breakfast? Hmm?”

Eunchae smiled a watery smile, sniffed and nodded weakly.

Mia placed a pan over the stove and shot a quick text to Sakura- SOS. Manchae!!!

She poured her a glass of milk and slid it in front of the youngest of their group. “Here.”

The sound of the code being punched in resonated in the tiny open kitchen and a wild (read: beadhead) Sakura appeared, worry written all over her face.

One sunny side up with a ketchup smile (egg Cyclops) and a lot of reassuring words later, Mia and Sakura slumped on the other apartment’s sofa with Chaewon between them as Eunchae showered in their bathroom.

Chaewon sighed. “Okay, we all know it wasn’t about the hot water guys.”

Mia heaved a dramatic sigh. “I didn’t think I’d be a parent at age 23”

Sakura huffed. “I’m glad she reached out anyway.”

“Why didn’t she call me though? I’m the leader.” Chaewon whined.

“She knows you guys already have enough on your plate, she didn’t want to wake you up when you barely sleep every night,” Mia retorted.

Chaewon put her arms around the two and pouted “We all need each other. We’re always here, that’s the point though.”

“Let’s have a group hangout this weekend. It’s our first day off all month.”

“Ah, group bonding”

“Ugh, I have to see your faces on my day off-“

“Yah!” 

Eunchae walked out to the drawing room to see her teammates giggling on the sofa, her mood instantly better at the sight.

“Yeah girls, kara-OKAYYYYYYYYY, let’s go!”

 Yunjin nudged Mia’s shoulder as they walked into the noraebang, Kazuha leading the way. “I can’t believe we thought this chick was an introvert.”

Karaoke for LESSERAFIM was a carefully planned event, a fun concert full of duets, trios and group songs interspersed with the occasional overly dramatic solos, an event recurring every two months or so.

They had run through the rap version of a trot song by Sakura, Chaewon and Eunchae, a trot version of baby shark by Yunjin, Kazuha and Mia, a ballad each and super bass by Nicki Minaj by Yunjin and Mia when Mia’s phone blared out Crazy frog at an alarming volume.

Chaewon narrowed her eyes. “No, hell no, you’re-“

Mia scrunched up her face in apology. “I’m busy. Be quick.”

“How dare you talk down to me you brat?” It was quickly followed by a hasty “don’t answer that. The point is, Jiho-yah, you swore we would hang out today and you didn’t follow it up? I have some pride you know? I told these 12 brats and now they think I was trying to get out of evening practice. Yah Seungkwanah, shut up- you know what? Ji, I’m putting you on speaker.”

Mia looked up to see the members frowning at her and cleared her throat.

“You know what, Mingyu sunbae, I’m putting you on speaker too. My members are here.”

The line went silent for a second. “Okay, Jiho. Did you or did you not fucking tell me we would hang out today in the evening when I called that night?” Mia could hear a whispered ‘I swear I’m not making this up hyung’.

Mia caught sight of Sakura’s raised eyebrows and scoffed. “First of all, Gyu, you called at midnight, and the point is, you were drunk. Like shitfaced drunk.” There was a collective laugh and the beginning of an indignant response, which she cut off. “Second, you were all like,” she deepened her voice in a poor imitation of his, “My mom asks about you all the time. I need to make sure you’re okay. Your MOM.  By the way, that’s a terrible lie. I called her that morning to wish her a happy birthday. Third, you told me, not asked. Literally commanded me- text me your schedule, and you whined till I sent it. Whined, I kid you not, and then proceeded to tell me that we will hang out today, and proceeded to do some aegyo till I fucking lost it and agreed.”

There was some silence till a collective roar of a laugh burst through the speaker of her phone. The members on her side finally burst out laughing as well, Kazuha and Eunchae leaning on one another to stand upright.

A voice, probably Seungkwan’s sounded near tears. “Mia, wow, you’re my favourite dongsaeng, okay? Write it down, I swear. Mingyu hyung looks like he’s dying of shame.” He caught his breath. “Are you guys busy? Oh wait, he checked your schedule, you must be free.” It was followed by a groan and a barely audible ‘What have I done to deserve this?’

Chaewon chimed in. “Sunbaenim, we’re at the noraebang near the office.”

 “Chaewon-ah, mind if some of us join?”

“I never understood why though,” Seungkwan, ever the karaoke enthusiast frowned in confusion, even as Seokmin and Yunjin performed a whole new world in the background as the others cheered them on.

“Too tall, not mysterious enough.” Seungkwan scoffed. “And apparently they didn’t need another vocalist, you know, the usual.” Mia shrugged. She’d said it enough times for it to not hurt anymore. And besides-

“Well, they don’t know what they lost huh?” Seungkwan patted her head. “We’ve known you for ages because of Mingyu, you fit right in.”

Mia leaned into the hand on her head. “Thanks oppa. It’s not been easy joining a group one year after debut.”

“I can imagine Jiho-yah, you’ll be okay-“

“Yah! Hwang Jiho!” Mia turned to the source of the yell. “What? Kim Mingyu!” She registered the scowl on his face as he sat at the opposite end of the same sofa, and mirrored his scowl.

“How can you call Seungkwan oppa but not me?”

Mia smirked. “I know your deepest darkest secrets Mingyu.” She raised an eyebrow, smiling deviously. “Remember that one time in middle school when you p-“ Mingyu had his palm over her mouth in an instant. He shook his head with wide eyes. “dwnjdnjfihgiuh”

He shot a nervous smile at Seungkwan, sickly sweet. “Ha ha, she’s funny. Seungkwan, isn’t it your turn to educate our sorry kpop asses?”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes. “I can’t even with you two.” He walked away, shaking his head as he walked up to choose a song to sing.

Mingyu turned on Mia. “Yah. You promised never to bring it up.” She raised her eyebrows, pointing at his hand on her mouth still. He let go as if burned, wiping it on his sleeve with a disgusted look on his face.

Mia sighed, meeting his brown eyes with her own. “Do you want me to call you Oppa? You’re three years older but I’ve known you all my life and I’ve never called you that.”

Mingyu huffed, looking away. “It’s not about that. You’re so nice to everyone but me. Whatever. Call me loser for all I care.”

Mia slid up the sofa till she was right next to him. “Mingyu.” He was pointedly looking the other way, so Mia poked his shoulder. He shrugged it off. “Mingyu sunbae.” He made a sound of annoyance. “Gyu.”

Mia circled her right arm around his left elbow. “I’m sorry. Hey Gyu, I’m going to pull out my aegyo if you stay mad.”

Mingyu softened and pulled her closer, a fond smile on his face. “You dummy. I missed you, that’s all. You didn’t even give me a hug when you saw me.”

Mia scoffed and slapped his chest half heartedly, “Dummy? Excuse you, I was always the topper in class.”

“You lost a race against a guy in a wheelchair.”

“YOU –“

Manchae created ‘Fimmies minus the tall kid’ group chat.

Manchae added Kurakura

Manchae added HuhYawnjin

Manchae added Chae1

Manchae added Kazaaaaa

Manchae: Eonnis. What am I seeing? Eww, what is going ON?

HuhYawnjin: I knew they were close, but OH MY GOD, their faces are literal centimeters apart jfkhjfhdsgfhgsgdg

Chae1: Did she just say “Sowwy”?

 ?

?

?

Kurakura: lol

Kazaaaaa: Now they’re fighting.

Manchae: I’m scared. She’s crazy*sticker*

Kurakura: lolololololol kekekekekeke

HuhYawnjin: He’s so gorgeous. *sigh*

Kurakura: Manchae left the room. Poor thing. Seungkwan says we should leave. It’s apparently how every evening ends with these two.

Chae1: I mean, we knew they were close.

They’re always video calling.

Do you think they’re dating?

?

?

GUYSSSSS?????                                                                                                

I hate you kids.

Kurakura: lol.

Chapter Text

Mia sighed as she slumped dramatically on her bed, shutting her eyes as if that would make what was in front of her disappear. She shut her lyric notebook hastily and dragged herself out of bed to the room Yunjin and Eunchae shared. She knocked before entering, used to the lack of response.

She sighed at the sight of the introverts who looked up as she entered. Yunjin spoke up before she could open her mouth. “No, I’m not in the mood to go out Eonni.”

Mia set her hopeful eyes on Eunchae, who held up an X with her hands. “Me neither Eonni. We had our end of promotions party last night. I’m done.” Mia pouted, crossing her hands over her chest. “Sorry, love you Eonni.”

Mia walked up to the two and patted their heads fondly before repeating the words.

Fimmily group chat

MIAnhae: Please tell me someone wants to hang out in the other dorm. I’M BORED

CHAEsonghamnida :Give me one day of peace, I beg you. One day.

MIAnhae: :’(

SAKwahae: I don’t want to see your face for a day darling. – your loving(only) Eonni

MIAnhae: TT </3

jinjinjinjiniah: Lol. Where’s your BF?

SAKwahae: lol lol lol

MIAnhae:?????!!!

Jinjinjinjiniah: Mingyu sunbaenim

MIAnhae: What are you talking about?

Jinjinjinjiniah: Best Friend, duh

SAKwahae: lol

MIAnhae: dance practice :(

Where’s Zuha?

ZZZooominzoomout: Come to my den Eonni, leave the poor introverts alone.

“Zuha!”

“Eonni!”

The two dramatically exchanged a bear hug and Mia was pulled headfirst into the whirlwind that was Kazuha chattering her ear off about all the things they could do in their week off.

“I wish we could go home Eonni.”

“I know Zuha, but it’s just a couple of meetings all week. We have the rest of the time off. And hey, they promised to give us a week off during the holidays.”

Zuha shot her a grateful smile. “You know Eonni, I’m glad you’re here.”

Mia blushed, “Out of the blue?”

“Of course not. We’re always glad you’re here.” Zuha grinned fondly. “Before you came, they’d just be in their rooms all day. We needed you to drag them out. I’m an ENFP again because you’re here.”

Mia sighed dramatically. “I’m the main event planner, that’s my position, huh?”

Kazuha rolled her eyes. “Are we going bowling or not?”

“Yep. It’s go time. Kaza!”

Mia thanked the manager for accompanying them and bowed as he left. She shut the door behind her. Kazuha squeezed her in a hug, squealing. “Best night ever! Thanks Eonni.” She pulled away to set the shopping bags in her room. Chaewon watched the exchange with a disgusted face. “You just spent 4 hours together. How can you stand to have a sleepover too?”

Mia shrugged, kicking her shoes off, but hastily arranging them at the narrowed eyes of the leader. “I don’t know. It’s been a long time since we’ve all had a sleepover.” She frowned. “Where’s everyone?”

“One word. Carbs.”

They were on the fourth round of the Mafia game by which time a bunch of iconic events had transpired.  Eunchae had ended up laughing at Chaewon’s lame jokes and spilt the coke all over their dorm’s coffee table, which had somehow caused Mia to flinch so hard that the hot and spicy chicken in her hand had flown away, leaving an Australia- shaped stain they had no idea how to clean on the ceiling.

Mia had been the first one caught (read: ganged up on) in this round of the mafia game and had died an innocent civilian. She’d argue this point with Chaewon in the future that her taking a phone call in the midst of their sleepover did not actually cause a hold up.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”Mia smiled involuntarily. “How was practice?”

Mingyu groaned on the other end. “Don’t ask. Hoshi hyung added this strange step he based off of a monkey he saw in the zoo.” There was silence on her end. “Um…” Mia tilted her head in confusion.

“I’m not kidding Ji. A fucking monkey.” He groaned. “Kill me. I’m going to have to imitate a monkey on stage.”

Mia laughed, “Well, it’s not like you have an image left to protect anyway.”

“I will ignore that because I’m feeling kind today.” Mia grinned even though he couldn’t see it, especially because he couldn’t see it. “What have you been up to post-promotions, ‘music bank first place artist-nim’?

Mia plopped down on the couch, glancing down at the chaotic mafia game. “Wrote a weird song about a dream I had, went bowling with Zuha. The members- we’re having a sleepover today.” She frowned at Sakura’s raised eyebrows, who shook her head and turned back to focus on the game.

Mingyu hummed. Mia felt a wave of contentment deep in her chest, and chalked it up to the general sleepover sentiment. “Mingyu. Minseo’s free tomorrow. Do you think you have five minutes for a group call? I miss having her close by.”

Mingyu hummed again. “I can spare five minutes.”

Mingyu hummed. Mia frowned. “Are you falling asleep on me?”

She requested a switch to video call. A sleepy Mingyu with heavy eyelids and soft hair came into focus, cheek squished onto a pillow. He smiled lazily, eyes soft and Mia felt her lips rise involuntarily in fondness. “Good night sleepyhead.”

“G’night Ji. Sleep well. Love you”

“Love you too.”

The screen went black, but she didn’t notice it, occupied with a bittersweet feeling that rose up to the surface at the end of the call. Perhaps she missed him, of course she did. He was the one person she could call home apart from her own parents and Minseo. That’s what it was, she repeated to herself. She reminded herself that it was okay to miss people, natural even.

Sakura waved her hand in front of her face. “Mia, you spaced out. You good?”

Mia nodded and joined back in the lovable chaos that had become her new family. “Yup.”

“Minseo! Oh my god, I’ve missed you. O love of my life. ” Mia pouted at her bff.

“Jiho,  you absolute diva, you gorgeous human being, you sexy-”

“Okay, that’s it. I’m here too. Can you not, you know..” Mingyu cringed, struggling to keep up.

Mia cackled. “Why?” She flipped her hair dramatically. “Where’s the lie Mingyu?”

Minseo joined her. “Brother dear, Oppa, I never lie. You know my bias is Jeonghan oppa, right?”

Mingyu groaned, running a hand down his face in frustration. “I’m going to leave if you’re just going to bully me.”

‘Fimmies minus the tall kid’ group chat

HuhYawnjin: Dude.

Dudes

Guys

Chae1: WHAT?

HuhYawnjin: guess who just turned up at the door and is still in the dorm.

Kurakura: lol

Kurakura changed the title from ‘Fimmies minus the tall kid’ to ‘Mia’s lovelife’

Manchae: he’s here again? She was supposed to help me with my homework dammit.

Kazaaaaa: our brother-in-law?

Chae1: Wait, guys. How often does he come by though?

HuhYawnjin: he got her those Australian timtams or whatever from his trip, I’m going to steal some- oh fufwi

Chae1: what happened? Yo yunjin

Manchae: our BIL got us some timtams too. I change my mind. I’m not mad at him anymore.

Chae1: Wow, look at him trying to get in our good books. I won’t fall for it.

Wait, they’re not dating right?

Should I be worried?

*sigh*

Chapter Text

Mia squinted at the device, struggling to keep up with the stream of oncoming comments.

“Happy Birthday our baby giraffe- Fearnot! I’m a puppy, not a giraffe.” She pouted at the camera zoning out, mentally cursing the maknaes for teasing her every possible opportunity. Of course the fans would have caught on. She straightened up when she caught sight of her face in the monitor. “I hope you didn’t click a screenshot of that.” She glared at her manager who was stifling his laugh in the corner.

Mia sighed, giving up. “Thanks for the birthday wishes Fearnot. I’m 24 now.” She slammed the table, her excitement returning full force. “Oh wait, I wanted to tell you guys this. I’ve finally caught up to Chaewon. She’s been bossing me around for one month and 10 days. Ha!” she trailed off indignantly. The silence that followed reminded her how awkward it felt talking to the camera. “Anyway, you guys know that it’s RM sunbaenim’s birthday tomorrow right? And then Yeonjun sunbaenim’s the day after tomorrow?” She plainly avoided looking at her manager’s face because of course, he’d have her avoid mentioning names. She smirked, “You see, the HYBE legends were born in September.” She grinned again, glancing at the comment section. “Yeah, you’re right, the visual line” She burst out laughing, suddenly stopping when reality hit, hiding her face in embarrassment.

The door swung open and Mia jumped out of her skin, startled at the sudden interruption. The members piled in one after the other wearing.. giraffe onesies. Mia stood up, still confused by the sudden entrance. Yunjin’s eyes met Mia’s while the others walked in with some weird choreography, staring at the ceiling, and winked, lifting up the chocolate cake to show it as the members sang a very on-key, messy, rock(?) high pitched version of the birthday song, the highlight being Yunjin’s operatic echo at the end of every line. Mia laughed so hard that she had to sit down and somehow managed to fall out of her chair, clutching at her stomach, gasping for breath, blowing the candle in the process. The song ended with the jazz hands and a hug from the maknae.

She took in the members’ faces, treasuring the flushed cheeks, too-large grins and obvious fondness, holding on tight to Eunchae’s legs (she was still on the floor).

After dramatically asking Eunchae to pull her up from the floor, she engulfed them in a group hug, and whispered, “I love you guys so much,” wanting a moment away from the camera to call their own.

The staff pulled up chairs as they each hugged her individually. Mia sat back in the centre, discreetly wiping her eyes, hoping they wouldn’t notice.

Chaewon squealed in glee, “Aigoo, our baby giraffe is crying!”

Mia burst out in laughter, no longer as sentimental. “You assh-“ She caught herself, pretended to cough, and watched her manager shake his head in her peripheral vision. Yunjin cackled, clearly enjoying the situation. “I mean,” she threw Chaewon a playful glare, “You ADORABLE person” She trailed off lamely, burying her head in her hands internally screaming.

Yunjin pulled her hair to get her attention, raising her eyebrows. “Did you like the surprise?”

Mia pulled Eunchae, seated beside her into an impromptu hug. “Of course, it was amazing” She paused, “-ly hilarious”

Eunchae giggled, then whispered in her ear, “Eonni, can we eat the cake now?”

Mia squeezed her again, pulling her cheeks before letting go to do the honours.

She glanced at the monitors, peeking at the comments. “What did the members do at the dorm?” She used the chopsticks to portion the cake into two halves, giving the staff one half and dividing the other into six. “Well….” She glanced at Sakura, sharing an inside joke. “You might know that I like sleeping early and…um… I’m a morning person, so they were kind enough” She grinned at the members, “to not wake me up at twelve. And guys, they woke up early for me.”

Her alarm went off at 6 am, and she would usually be the first one awake, but to her surprise, that morning, someone turned off her alarm before she could, shaking her awake gently, engulfing her in a warm hug. It had been Sakura, playing mom. The others had been waiting in the living room with their gifts and warm waffles from their favourite place near the dorm.

Chaewon grinned. “She cried in the morning too”

Sakura slapped her on the back, muttering “stop bickering for one day Chaewon” and pointed at the monitor to distract Mia before she could perpetuate the bickering.

“Do they fight all the time?” Sakura sighed. “They’re the only two who are the same age, and it’s informal language hell for the rest of us.”

Chaewon made an indignant noise of protest, “Hey, but we never go to bed without resolving our fights.”

Mia pouted. “Yeah, we must have been siblings in an alternate universe” She smirked. “Definitely not in this one, you look like my child.”

“Yah, I have a normal height, you’re the giraffe”

Sakura clapped. “GUYS, time out.” She pointed at Chaewon. “turn around and face the wall.”

Chaewon spluttered in disbelief. “But she-“

Yunjin leaned towards Mia and whispered in English, “Kinky”

Mia held in her laughter and pinched Yunjin’s forearm behind the table. “It’s my birthday Chae Chae.”

If looks could kill, she’d be buried 10 feet underground.

Sakura explained that this weverse live would be about Mia, since it was her birthday. “Q and A, catch up with Mia, whatever you want to call it.”

“So first question, let’s see. Eunchae, choose one.”

Eunchae scrolled through the comments, looking for one she wanted to hear the answer to as well. “How about this Eonni? How was your training period? First impression of the members.”

Mia glanced at their manager, and continued seeing his thumbs up. She glanced at the members and felt bad at the way Chaewon was sulking. She exchanged seats with Yunjin, and pulled Chaewon’s chair towards hers, hooking their arms together. She instantly felt better sensing Chaewon’s mood recovering.

“I became a trainee pretty late you know. Wait, I’ve told the members this, right?” Chaewon nodded. So Mia continued. “My aunt is a vocal teacher in the US. She taught me how to sing. I took acting lessons when I was in middle school and the beginning of high school actually. I realized I loved singing and wanted to do it when a childhood friend managed to… um..” Her manager was shaking his head. “do it professionally. I took singing lessons from my aunt for a year, and auditioned for SM when I was 17. I passed and became a trainee, but as a singer song-writer. I was learning only singing for almost 3 years, but then they started dance lessons and I was to debut with a girl group if I had succeeded. I just had about 4 months of dance lessons. I didn’t make it.” Yunjin squeezed her free hand. She shook it as if to say she was fine now.

“My contract was up. So I left. I would have joined university if I hadn’t got modeling offers. So I debuted as a model in 2020.”

“Of course, have you seen her legs?” Yunjin clapped dramatically. “Her visuals? OMG! 178 cm guys!”

Sakura laughed with the members. “So what happened next?”

Mia smiled to herself, remembering how heartbroken she had been then. “I’d given up on singing for the time being. I did pretty well modeling but I wished I could sing. So I decided to audition for musicals since I had some experience with acting. I auditioned at an open audition and was scouted by HYBE.” She grinned. “I never expected it at 21 years old. That’s kind of old for idols, huh?”

Sakura shook her head.

Mia continued, “So I joined HYBE. They asked me if I wanted to go solo as a singer songwriter or be in an idol group.” She turned to look at the members. “I told them I want to do both, because I wanted to challenge myself. Bang si hyuk PD nim was like a fairy godmother. “She giggled, picturing the same. “He heard my songs and my singing at the evaluations, the teachers too. I used to perform the songs I wrote.”

Eunchae spoke up. “Before I joined the debut team, I saw eonni at the Evaluations. I think it was her first monthly evaluation. She was first in singing, third in rap, I still remember. But they praised your dancing too Eonni. Do you remember? They said you were improving very quickly at dance. I remember pd nim said your song writing would always be with you, but dance was a talent you had never explored.”

Mia hid her face. “But I was terrible back then.” She sighed. “Yeah, I was given an option to focus on dance, so I learned the basics for months, then spent a couple of months learning hip hop in the US, then worked on my songs too in the meantime, and modeled on the side.”

“So then they realized an actual model would fit our model concept, and she joined us in 2023.” Yunjin finished off with a smile.

“Oh, she released a solo from our label a month before our le sserafim comeback last year. That was your first song ever, right Eonni?”

Mia winked. “Stream bittersweet”

Chaewon spoke up when the silence got a little too long and the maknaes snorted at the lack of laughter in response to Mia’s joke. “Mia and I were classmates in our last year of high school.”

Mia nodded. “We never really spoke much, but we got a picture together the day we graduated.”

Sakura took her role as MC seriously. “What was your first impression of the members?”

Chaewon laughed out loud. “You should be getting paid for this.”

Mia shot her a pointed look and turned back to Sakura. “ It was pretty unstable when I joined right? We didn’t really know if this was the right direction, we just kept going right? It was scary. I expected.. I don’t know. I expected you guys to be hostile to me for some reason.” Sakura frowned. “But I cried that day when I moved in to your dorm. Because you guys were too nice and I didn’t think I deserved it.”

Chaewon patted her head. “We wanted to be nice to you, but it was hard talking to someone new.”

Mia remembered how she had been on edge, tossing and turning the previous night and had fallen asleep only when Mingyu had asked her to talk to him till she fell asleep. She’s constantly tried to prove her skills, tiring herself out.

“Chaewon spoke to me first, I remember. Do you remember? We hugged.”

Chaewon laughed. “It was so awkward”

“It took about three months to actually become close.” Sakura smiled fondly. “So what did you come to think of me?”

Mia laughed. “The older sister I never had”

Chaewon pointed at herself, trying to be cute. Mia rolled her eyes, but smiled nevertheless. “dependable leader.”

She pointed at Yunjin. “Yunjin and I share a love for talking about absolutely-not-practical things and song writing. I really admire her brain. Oh, and she lived in the US and my mom’s American, we bonded over that.”

Chaewon mumbled about how she only got a one liner. Mia pointedly ignored her with a bright smile that set Yunjin and Eunchae’s laughter buttons off.

“I want to fit Zuha in my pocket and take her with me everywhere.”Mia smiled fondly at the second youngest. “She’s so sincere, as sincere as sunshine can be.”

“Ah, as expected of our songwriter, alliteration.” Yunjin clapped again, and Mia placed a hand on her mouth, effectively cutting her off, challenging her to start again, before letting her go.

Eunchae pulled at Mia’s arm to monopolize her attention. “What about me?”

Mia dramatically pulled her into a hug. “My baby who’s growing up too fast.”

The members chattered away (nagged her) about Mia’s extroverted nature, “How does she have so many idol friends? It hasn’t even been two years since she debuted,” describing how they’re much closer to the other artists in their label after Mia started making friends with everybody she met in the elevator.

Mia of course rolled her eyes, protesting. “FYI, I’m only 54% extroverted guys. I just don’t like awkward silence.”

Mia’s phone vibrated with an incoming call. Eunchae snuck a look at the caller ID and burst out laughing. “Frog King? Who’s that?” Mia snuck a look at their manager who shook his head fiercely.

Mia laughed too loud, trying to pretend everything was okay. “Ha ha, my childhood friend.” She patted Eunchae’s thigh to signal her to not bring it up again. She set her phone upside down to avoid distraction. It began vibrating again, but she continued to ignore it.

Sakura seemed to have caught on immediately and began talking about how birthdays change as people age, and Mia nodded absentmindedly, wondering why their manager thought it would be a bad idea to introduce them as friends. She hoped Mingyu wasn’t too upset, and thought he probably knew she was doing a weverse live, when her phone buzzed again.

“Oh! Seungkwan sunbaenim?” She picked the call, after she got the okay from their manager. “Just a minute guys.”

 “Hello sunbaenim?”

The members could only hear Mia’s side of the conversation. “Huh? Yes, I’m live sunbaenim. Speaker? Okay, I’ll do that.”

She put the phone on speaker. “You’re on speaker sunbaenim.”

The birthday song blasted from the speakers, a mix of voices. Mia blushed, flustered that they were doing this on a live show, and stuttered when it ended. “Th-thank you sunbaenimdeul.”

“It was the 12 of us okay? Mingyu is sulking because you didn’t pick up when he called.”

Sakura burst out laughing, covering it with a cough. Mia panicked and scanned the members’ amused faces, looking for some kind of help. “Oh, sunbaenim, thank you? Mingyu, I’m– I mean, Mingyu sunbaenim, I’m sorry.”

Jeonghan piped up. “Ah, my daughter” Yunjin chuckled with her head bowed down, her hair blocking her face, not bothering to keep it down. “You have turned 24 already, live your life child, make good choices. Let your managernim rest for one day.”

Mia laughed out loud. “Okay sunbaenim, I’ll do that.”

The phone must have been stolen by Seungkwan again, “Okay, continue your vlive. By the way, the performance-“ Someone on the other end must have hung up to shut Seungkwan up.

Absolute silence- uninterrupted, awkward, terrifyingly loud silence remained as the call ended. Mia tucked her hair behind her ears, buying time to read what their manager had hurriedly written on a board. ‘talk about friendship with SVT and Mingyu. CLARIFY’

‘Mia’s lovelife’ group chat

Manchae: Do you think she’s okay? Did she look traumatized to you guys too?

Chae1: Eyyy, she’ll be fine manchae.

Kazaaaaa: By the way, is she back yet? I want to borrow her shirt for tomorrow’s shoot.

Manchae: nope

Chae1: Where did she go?

HuhYawnjin: our beloved BIL showed up and said something like “I could never be mad at you Ji” fdjgeuyrguerkjvjhhjsjdjsjzzzdsgwd

And then they said I love you to each other *so freakin’ sweet bxcjvbjdb*

Kurakura: Child. She just wants to know why she’s not back yet, it’s 1 am.

Chae1: yes, really.

HuhYawnjin: LMAO, so then BIL asked if she wanted to go the market and eat at the stalls( and something about how she loved it when she was younger)

She was like… duh bitch! Lezzggoo

Kurakura: Yunjin, LANGUAGE.

Chae1: *sigh*

I feel bad for our manager at this point. He has to join them on their not-date or whatever.

Kurakura:lol

Kazaaaaa changed the title from ‘Mia’s lovelife’ to ‘Managernim’s lack of a lovelife’

HuhYawnjin changed the title from ‘Managernim’s lack of a lovelife’ to ‘Brother In Law’

HuhYawnjin: because Manchae just asked me if Mingyu sunbaenim’s nickname is billy.

Manchae: Eonnis watch this * video*

Chae1: What is it? I don’t want to get sunghooned in 2024

Yah

Hong Eunchae

*sigh* I’ll watch it

DAMMIT I GOT SUNGHOONED

Chapter Text

Mia clung to her journal like a lifeline, itching to put her frustration into words; self soothe the way she always did when nothing seemed to be going right. She turned away from her companion in the car, hoping she wouldn’t ask-

“Are you okay Eonni?” Yunjin laid a soft hand on her knee in quiet concern.

Mia swallowed, and put on a half hearted smile. “Annie, are you okay, are you okay Annie? Annie, are you okay, are you okay An-“

“Mia, stop it.” Yunjin switched to English, as they often did when they were alone. “That would be funny, but you’re clearly deflecting.”

Mia sighed, noticing that their manager was listening in too. “Jen, I’m… stressed. It’s just one of those days.” She held Yunjin’s gaze even as the other raised an eyebrow incredulously.

Although all the members were close enough friends, Yunjin and Chaewon were the ones she was closest to. She cursed internally, mad at herself for thinking the younger wouldn’t notice. She deflated when she realized there would be no point lying to Yunjin. “I want to write a sad song and cry myself to sleep.” She sighed, leaning back in her seat, shifting her gaze to the endless traffic out of the window.

That morning, Mia had woken up in a decent mood, ready to conquer the busy day ahead, written half a song (leaving songs unfinished had become a recurring trend now) about love in the winter air (which sounded pretentious even to her, but it was practice after all) and gotten into the car with the girls ready to head to early practice. She couldn’t do a move in their dance break that everyone else could, and hurt her knee while trying to get it. The dance instructor said she lacked core strength and the constructive criticism seemed to make her feel terrible that day. She would have been okay if she hadn’t imagined the mean comments that would surface on their year-end performance videos like they had the year she had debuted. Her mood had soured instantly, despite how much she convinced herself she was over it. When she had finally shaken it off, vowing to practice harder, she was scrolling through youtube shorts while the others got their hair and makeup done for individual schedules, when she came across it- A youtube shorts video about her with 500k views. She paled as she realized what it was about. It was a clip from her fancam, with a shot of her and Sakura in it, highlighting the difference in their bodies. On any other day she would have ignored it, but it hit her particularly hard that day. At first, she was indignant. Sakura was 163 cm tall, she was 178 cm tall. How did they expect her to have a slim frame like her? She looked at the comments, an ugly feeling rising in her chest.

‘W* from I* is the same height . She’s so slim. Why does Mia look double her size?’

‘They let anyone be an idol these days’

‘The group was perfect visually till she joined’

‘Half American? She looks strange’

‘Ha, what giraffe? Looks like an elephant to me. Or rhino?’

‘She was a model? She must have been a model for maternity clothes’

She had shut her phone off, hastily placing it on the table. She had ignored Sakura’s concerned look, feeling guilty for being jealous of her for even a second. She had ignored the sting at the back of her nose and scribbled furiously in her journal, struggling to control her emotions.

Yunjin sighed in reply, and said, “I really don’t think you’re in the right mindset for the interview today.” Mia watched as she leaned forward and attempted to change their manager’s mind. “Managernim, are you sure she’s the one who should be going to Youngji’s show?”

Their manager caught Mia’s gaze in the rear view mirror. “Youngji-nim asked for Mia-ssi, Yunjin-ssi. We insisted that we would be okay as long as she only drank beer. What do you think we should have done?”

Yunjin caught Mia’s gaze and snorted softly. “Wow, I’ve never seen her drink. This should be fun.”

Mia tilted her head, frowning at her best friend. “Yah, just because I don’t drink doesn’t mean I can’t.”

Yunjin burst out laughing, switching back to English. “Yeah, and I’m Beyonce.”

Mia zoned out as she listened to her mom’s voice on the phone, her mom yapping away about their neighbor’s dog and huffed. “Mom!”she yelled in frustration, ignoring the amused faces of the members in the practice room as she used a mixture of Korean and English to communicate with her parents. “Can I call you back? I have to practice. Mom, Appa, love you guys, bye!”

Mia’s dad spoke for the first time in five minutes, “Bye darling,” while her mom mumbled love you too in a small annoyed voice before hanging up.

Mia looked up at the member’s faces, and muttered, “Don’t-”

“Now we know why you talk so much Eonni,” Eunchae grinned, sharing an evil smile with Chaewon, ignoring her glare.

Sakura sighed. “We’ve got the choreo, let’s just practice till it sets in our muscle memory, okay?”

After running through the dance break a few more times, the door opened, startling the girls.

“Oh sunbaenim, hello.” They all bowed down to Seungkwan and Mingyu, who nodded back. “Hi! Are you guys busy?”

Mia rolled her eyes. “No, we’re in this building because we love the food.”

Seungkwan bit his lip and tilted his head while Mingyu faked a cough “Kkoondae”, which Seungkwan ignored and glared jokingly at Mia. “Yah, you’re not my favourite dongsaeng anymore.”

Mia’s eyes met Mingyu’s and the two shared a silent laugh. Mingyu cleared his throat after a couple of seconds “Seungkwan wanted to meet the juniors”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes. “Anyway guys, we still haven’t had the chance to get close right? And Sakura is technically our sunbaenim.”

Sakura nodded, “Yes, but I was born in 1998 too Seungkwan-nim. We could drop the honorifics if that’s-”

“Of course.” Seungkwan was quick to be casual. “When does your practice end?”

Mingyu had meanwhile made his way sneakily over to Mia, who caught him before he could sneak an attack on her and giggled at his disappointed expression. “You don’t have a schedule in the evening right? Do you not have plans?”

Seungkwan meanwhile was passionately discussing how they could spend some time together to get closer as artists in the same label. “We could spend some time in the artists’ lounge a little later today if- Yah, you two, stop giggling!”

Mia stopped mid sentence, smiling sheepishly as Yunjin snorted at Mingyu’s annoyed expression.

Seungkwan frowned at Mia. “You know what, have you guys watched Mia’s nothing prepared interview with Youngji? It should be coming out in half an hour, Youngji texted me. We could watch it at the artists’ lounge on the 13^th floor.”

Chaewon clapped in glee, ignoring Mia’s baffled expression. “That would be perfect sunbaenim. Will the other members be there too?”

Mingyu smirked at Mia, while Seungkwan spoke to the others sincerely. “You don’t remember anything? Anything at all?”

Mia sighed. “Let’s just say I hope I’ve fabricated the memories I have.”

Mia groaned, her head buried in her hands and declared, “I’m never drinking again. I have a bad feeling about this.”

The members of LE SSERAFIM and SEVENTEEN (some of them, so as to not overwhelm their poor juniors) were presently seated in the HYBE lounge, a shot from the reality show paused on a shot of Mia laughing like a maniac without a break, a mere preview of what would come in the show.

Seungkwan pressed play, ignoring Mia’s distress. “Shh- let us watch.”

Mia leaned back on the sofa, lifting up her feet, rocking back and forth in an attempt to somehow steel her nerves for what she was sure was coming. “It’s hilarious,” Youngji had texted her.

They watched as the show opened with Youngji being her usual crackhead self, dressed in a weird imitation of Mia’s iconic debut outfit, cribbing about how the guest was a friend she had never seen drinking, but appears drunk even without alcohol (which made Mingyu and Eunchae crack up loudly). Youngji moved about her new apartment collecting a few cans of beer and wine for herself, declaring that the guest’s company insisted on only beer. A sudden insert shot titled “We don’t blame the company” popped up, showing Mia’s high pitched cackling. It ended with “We respect you Managernim”.

Mia ignored the cackles of her friends and seniors and watched a well-dressed version of herself ring the doorbell, cringing when she listened to her own poor imitation of Youngji’s speaking style. Youngji explained that they were friends and that somehow Mia knew half the idol industry (Mia strongly insisted she was only 54% extroverted and that she didn’t talk that much) and that she wanted to get her to drink at least through the broadcast. Mia on the screen fake glared at Youngji as they drank their first sips of alcohol.

Mia suppressed the urge to turn off the video as she watched herself play a drinking game with youngji where they could only communicate through song lyrics. She could see herself on the screen getting tipsy, with only a can of beer, singing Adele songs for no apparent reason, till they stopped the game because she kept laughing too much. A clip of her laughing resurfaced, as she cackled at Youngji’s attempt at singing IU’s through the night. The video continued with her getting progressively more tipsy, cackling at everything, singing a trot version of Justin Bieber’s Baby. (Bay-hi-bee Woohoo lahik… bay-hi-bee)

The others were talking by now, having fun at her embarrassment, and Mingyu put an arm around her shoulder, patting her arm. “You’re hilarious.” She nudged him with her elbow in response, relieved that on-screen Mia seemed to have calmed down, only to find her bursting into tears when asked about her life in general. Seungkwan, who seemed to have called dibs on the remote paused the video. Mia felt the eyes on her, blushing in embarrassment. “Oh, just play it Oppa. I’m so embarrassed.”

Hoshi laughed from across her,  “Yah, at least you didn’t cry about the company right?”

Mia grimaced, burying her face in MIngyu’s arm that was around her shoulder. “Don’t.”

“Really? WOW.”

She looked up in time to see Mingyu glaring at Hoshi, who held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I won’t tease.”

Mia sighed, shaking her head at Yunjin, who caught her eye. “This is why I don’t drink.” She glanced at Seungkwan who was stifling his laughter. “Oppa! Play!”

She watched in quiet mortification as she professed her love for the members on screen describing what each one meant to her,how she had had a bad day but at the end of the day, she felt okay knowing that they’d be there. She flushed under their gazes, but got distracted again when she realized that was not the only thing she had confessed. She had gone on to confess how much of a fairy godmother she thought Band PDnim was (oh dear), how she loved HYBE (she wanted to disappear), and how she was so glad Minseo and Mingyu were by her side.

“Yo, is this an award acceptance speech or what?” Of course it was Seungkwan, that dratted-

Mia watched as she suddenly told Youngji she would write a song for her soon, saying ‘I appreciate you so much’ at least twenty times, as the editor put up a notification sound every time she said it. When Youngji asked about how her friendship with other artists in HYBE was, she spoke about SEVENTEEN whom she had known since their debut because of Mingyu and TXT being awesome sunbaes, how she was pissed off that kpop fans were calling her the female Seungkwan on variety shows (She ignored his indignant comments), how Jeonghan was the nosiest mom-figure (he did try to cook for her, as she had confessed) and that Mingyu was the “best best friend ever, even though we weren’t that close till I became a trainee.”

Mingyu chortled from beside her, having the time of his life watching her be an absolute mess on screen.

They all watched as Mia on screen headed to drunk station, having left tipsy long ago, ask Youngji if she could wait a minute. Mia massaged her forehead as she watched herself apologize to her manager on the phone, tearing up as she repeatedly said “I’m sorry”, only elaborating when he patiently asked what for, “I’m sorry for making you work so hard, I want you to see your baby more often.”

Hoshi cooed, “Aigoo, so sweet.” Mia tiredly shot him a blank glare, appalled at her own actions.

When Youngji had finally distracted Mia on screen, they had begun talking about love songs- or Mia had, describing how all she knows about love is from romance novels, when Youngji had asked, “What type of person do you want to date Eonni?”

To this Mia had sighed. And sighed again. Her drunk self was really strange. “I’m an ENFP, you are too right, Youngji-yah?” The editor had captioned it ‘kpop stan revealing her bias’

“Uh-huh” Youngji had been fairly drunk at that point too.

“Do you like Stray kids?

“Huh?”

“I like introverted guys, preferably N type, they’re fun. Like- have you seen Hyunjin-ssi from Stray Kids? He’s the same age as me. Wow, I’m a fan Youngji, like wow. Just… wow, you know, you know? I know, Lee Know. HA ha ha ha.” The editor had captioned it, ‘non-stop laughing begins again’

Youngji jumped up from her seat, “Okay, I think we should stop it here, this is how rumours start.”

Mia on the screen pouted. “But why? I don’t know him at all. I’m admitting that.” She looked right at the camera. “I don’t know him. At all. I’m a fan, like 100% stan.”

She began cackling again. Mia slapped her forehead, just realizing all the nonsense she had spouted on the day of the shoot.

Youngji laughed along with the staff and prepared her guest to leave. “BYE Youngji, text me, okay? You never text back for ages.”

“I’m terrible at that, I’ll do my best Eonni.”

“Bye bye.” Mia on the screen waved at Youngji, but did not attempt to move. Youngji was startled when Mia pulled her into a sudden hug. “Bye. Let’s go to a stray kids concert. Or BTS. Or seventeen. Or MonstaX. Or seventeen. Mingyu will be there. Soonyoung Oppa too.” Mia sighed as Mia on-screen started naming all the members of seventeen. “Seungkwan oppa too, sadly. Hahahahaha. I’m joking.” She leaned towards Youngji and stage-whispered, “Or am I?” and laughed again, her voice nearly hoarse from all the laughing. Youngji turned to the producers and mouthed. “She’s psycho.”

Mia stared at the screen as the show came to an end, the voices in the room muffled as blood rushed to her ears, looking to her left at Mingyu. “Oh my god, what have I done?”

Chapter Text

Mia stared at the screen with unseeing eyes, as the show came to an end, the voices in the room muffled by blood rushing in her ears, before looking to her left at Mingyu. “Oh my god, what have I done?”

Mingyu tried to contain his laughter, she could tell. He failed a second into the task. Mia tuned back in to the atmosphere in the room.

“Yah, Jiho, I have Bang Chan’s contact, he can ask Hyunjin-“ Seungkwan was having the time of his life.

“-don’t have to worry, I cried too, it’ll-“ Hoshi was being a sweetheart as usual, trying to make her feel better.

“Aigoo, she loves us, it’s on the internet forever, she can’t take it back-“ Chaewon would never let such an opportunity escape her grasp.

Mia shut her eyes tight, hiding her face in her hands, wishing the ground would swallow her up.

She felt a nudge on her left side. She raised her head to find that Mingyu had stopped laughing, but still had a glowing flush that laughter tends to bring to one’s face. Brown eyes that held affection, empathy and humour all at once gazed into her own for a second before he mouthed ‘just go with it.’

One second was all it took to start something she had never even imagined- maybe even something she hadn’t dared imagine.

“Babe!”  In retrospect, it was probably hilarious that that one loud word stopped the actual chaos the room was previously in. But in that moment, it brought about absolute silence, even from Mia.

Mia snapped her eyes back up to gaze into his in that moment, only to realize the speechless silence in the room.  If that wasn’t enough, Mingyu continued, “I thought I was your soulmate! Who’s this Hanbin?”

Mia continued to stare into those brown eyes incredulously, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

“OH. MY. GOD.”  Was it Yunjin or Seungkwan?

Mia blushed when she realized Mingyu hadn’t taken his eyes off of hers and had taken her hands down from her face and held them in his own, the warmth shooting tingles up her arms. He pulled her closer to himself, till she was leaning on him, and whispered in her ear. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Mia blushed scarlet in the fluorescent lighting of the lounge, with a sudden urge to bury her face in Mingyu’s shoulder. And so she did. And so the first domino fell.

“Oh my god, omg, oh my fudging god, am I hallucinating? Pinch me Eonni” Chaewon shrieked, slapping Sakura’s arm with every syllable, but Sakura burst out laughing.

Mingyu chuckled, and Mia could feel him shake with the laughter and cracked a smile, grinning against his shoulder. He whispered in her ear again, “this reaction is gold.”

If goosebumps rose over her skin at the action, it should be because of the cold, right? Anyway, she shook her head, switching off her smile, getting her acting face on and raising her head again. “Babe” She dragged the syllable, the word feeling funny on her tongue for the first time. He winked at her and stifled a laugh, disguising it as a cough. She pinched him, silently begging him not to set her laughter off. “His name’s Hyunjin, he’s my idol babe. You’re my one and only in real life, you know that right?” She ended it with aegyo, pouting.

Someone coughed in the background, breaking the silence.

Mingyu pursed his lips, struggling to hold his laughter. “Okay honey, I trust you.”

Mia chuckled. “Do you still wuv me more than Soobin in game caterers ?”

Mingyu burst out laughing. “Of course honeybunch”

“Sugar plum”

“Pumpkin” A chuckle.

“You’re my sweety pie-“ Mia burst out laughing, setting off Mingyu too. The pair guffawed as the others in the room gave in and joined the laughter.

Seungkwan shook his head and grinned at Sakura. “Aigoo these babies, they’re so cute”

Chaewon frowned. “I’m getting diabetes from being in the same room. They make me want to lock them in a room and not let them come out till they’re dating”

“Can I be their baby’s godfather?”

Seungkwan hit Hoshi on the back of his head. “Hyung! Seriously bro, what the fuck?”

Chapter Text

“Mmm-hmm, likewise. No. I don’t want to say it.” Mia rang the doorbell with a practiced ease, balancing the grocery bags in one hand like a mom of twins. (Is that even a thing?)

Mia rolled her eyes at the indignant voice on the line. “I say it to your brother because unlike you and your busy medical student lifestyle, he calls me every day.” She rang the doorbell a second time. “How is that sus? Okay, fine. I love you Minnie-mouse. See you soon.” She smiled fondly to herself even after the line went dead, amused at the younger girl’s antics, a smile that dropped quickly when the door opened and the bags were taken out of her hands with an exclamation of “Kimchi’s here hyung!”, leaving her standing at the door blankly.

Another hand pulled her out of her reverie, gently tugging her into the living room. Mia waved at her seniors scattered around the flat. “Jeonghan-ah, your daughter is here!” Seungcheol swung their hands together as he asked her how she had been doing. Seungcheol had always been a little tougher to get close to but somebody who looked after her like his own sibling.

Jeonghan came into view with his hair up in a tiny ponytail, frying some pancakes for the impromptu breakfast meeting and narrowed his eyes at Seungkwan who was faux-innocently chopping up the kimchi with Hoshi. “Hey, mind your manners Seungkwannie.”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes at his roommate. “She announced that I’m annoying on Youngji’s show. I’m not talking to her.”

Mia huffed in response. “Okay, you literal child. I’m sorry Oppa.”

“Vernon-ah, did you see that? She’s got no respect for me.” Seungkwan pouted at Vernon who was staring at him blankly.

Mia sighed. “Oppa, you’re not annoying. I didn’t say you were annoying. It’s what we do, isn’t it? We bicker. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. You know you’re one of my closest friends-“

Seungkwan burst out laughing and ruffled her hair. She swatted his hand away, mumbling how she barely has any hair left and not to ruin it all. “Not funny. Not funny at all. This is what I meant.”

“Kids! Breakfast’s ready, get it before it’s all gone.” Jeonghan peeked out from the doorway to the kitchen. “Oh, one of you go wake Mingyu up, he woke me up, demanded that I make pancakes and dozed off in my bed. The nerve-”

Seungkwan rushed into the kitchen with a dazed- looking Vernon in tow, “We’ll set the table. Jiho can go wake him up.”

“We will?”

Mia rolled her eyes at his antics and knocked on the door to Jeonghan’s room. She flung open the door and yelled “Wake up!”

The lump on the bed didn’t even flinch at that. She grinned. It was time to resort to the one tradition she and Minseo followed when he wouldn’t wake up for Sunday brunch.

“You didn’t have to do him dirty like that.”

Mia narrowed her eyes at Seungkwan, “You could have done it yourself if you were so soft on him.”

Mingyu groaned. “You’re not as light as you were at 5 years Ji. What the fuck?”

“You were lighter too, obviously. Isn’t it relative?”

“Yah, what the fuck? Warn a guy before you jump on top -”

“I did, you just didn’t hear it-”

“Lol,that’s what he said.” Mia snapped her head in Seungkwan’s direction. “Yah, what even-“

“Yah? That’s Oppa to you. Where’s the respect-“

 “ALRIGHT, GUYS. STOP IT. Right now.” Seungcheol clapped his hands and silence fell over the table at once. “It’s way too early to be arguing okay? Are y’all a bunch of teenagers hitting puberty right now?”

Jeonghan chuckled. “But Cheollie, it was fun. Why’d you make them stop?”

Mia sat in the company car with Mingyu and both their managers. She leaned towards Mingyu. “Do you know what the meeting is about?”

Mingyu shrugged. “No clue. I’m getting a little nervous about how they want both of us to attend it.”

Mia cooed, “Awww, is Mingoo shcared about them forbidding us to interact on camera?” She reached up to tickle his chin, but he caught her hand before it could reach its destination.

“Are you not?”

She gulped. “We’re not doing anything wrong, are we? Why can’t I mention you when you’re – you’re my friend?”

Mingyu sighed, squeezing her hand. “This industry’s not always fair Ji”

Her manager cleared his throat. “It’s nothing like that, don’t worry. I can’t tell you exactly what it Is because they want to film- ahem, it’s a secret.”

"I wouldn't listen to them anyway," Mia mumbled under her breath.

“- so, what do you say Mia-ssi?”

Mia shook her head in confusion at the fluorescent lighting of the office, the faint smell of citrus air freshener and a beaming producer blinking back at her awaiting a response. She glanced to her right at her manager. “Do you think this is a good idea?”

Her manager nodded. “You’re good at being yourself in front of the camera, you’re friends with Mingyu AND you’re good at variety shows. Why not try it?”

Mia blinked up at the camera filming her reaction and back again at the producer. “Um, so let me get this straight. It’s a variety show for idols?”

“Not just idols, we’re considering actors too”

“So Mingyu and I- I mean Mingyu-sunbaenim and I, if he agrees, who are the hosts?” The producer nodded.

“It’s like Youngji’s show, nothing much prepared, but imagine less alcohol and more sleepovers?” The producer nodded again.

“But why us?”

The producer shrugged. “I think you guys have good chemistry for a variety show. You haven’t interacted directly yet, but the indirect communication has been hilarious. He’s experienced in variety shows, it’s the same director as Going seventeen, and you have potential in variety shows.”

Mia scrunched her brows. None of this was making sense. “I mean, why not Seungkwan sunbaenim or someone else instead of me? I don’t have anything against Gyu- I mean, Mingyu sunbaenim, but I don’t really see how we’re a good match.”

The producer laughed. “I think you guys are insane enough within the boundaries of sanity and different enough to provide two fresh perspectives, so we thought we’d give it a shot.”

Mia chuckled and turned to her manager. “May I discuss it with Mingyu first?”

“Yes.”

(IN)SANE WEEKEND GETAWAY (?) STARRING LONG-TIME FRIENDS (?) CONFIRMED

In a recent Social media post made by a reputed producer of variety shows (Going seventeen, nothing much prepared), it was revealed that Kim Mingyu of Seventeen and Mia of Le Sserafim will be hosting a new production. Rumoured to be childhood friends, the two are a part of Idol groups famous for their variety skills. We’re looking forward to their chemistry!

For more updates, make sure to follow….

Comments:

‘Christmas has come early folks’

‘Manifesting Hyunjin on the show’

                        ‘Girl, yassss’

                        ‘Preach!’

‘Yoongi marry me’

                        ‘Dude, just why?’

Chapter Text

“Thanks baby. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mia adjusted the microphone, fingers hovering over the power button. “Sleep well tonight, Yunjin’s there if you need anything. I’ll keep my phone with me at all times, don’t worry- okay, okay, I’m not nagging, I’m worried, that’s all”

Mia rolled her eyes and met Mingyu’s as he fixed his own mic. “Yes, I’m aware that you’re almost an adult.  Okay, I really have to go.”

Mingyu took a step towards her, reaching over to take the microphone pack from her while she shot a quick text to Yunjin to make sure Eunchae’s okay. She took it back from him after pocketing her phone. “Thanks Gyu.”

Mingyu scuffed his shoes against the carpeted floor. “Eunchae?”

Mia nodded. “Hmm. I don’t want her to be lonely.”

“She’s got you, she’ll be okay. She’s a happy kid.”

Mia sighed, looking away. “She’s too pure for our world, I hope she stays that way.”

“She’s got this eonni making sure she stays happy, she’ll be okay, trust me.” She felt his arm plop its weight on her head and frowned.

“Yah, are you trying to hammer me down into the floor?”

Mingyu chuckled. “It must be the arm workout I got in last night. I can’t tell my own power-“

Mia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yep, I’m going to explore our house- this set, whatever, are you coming?”

(The set was a house that the crew had rented in a residential area of Seoul with two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen furnished with what looked like basic furniture. There was a backyard with a lawn. The pilot episode was to be the two shopping for the house within budget and cooking a meal for the guest who would arrive for dinner at their ‘bed and breakfast’.)

Mia blinked at the camera recording her every move. “Um, so there’s no script at all?”

“No.” The director spoke up from his seat behind a screen. One look at her face earned her his pity. “Just a deadline. You have the liberty to shop whatever you want for this house within budget, of course. Just be natural. You’ll have a surprise guest joining you for dinner. This is your bed and breakfast. So based on the clues and hints, you guys have to get it to their preference. At the end of their visit tomorrow, they’ll write a review.” Mia glanced sideways at Mingyu. He listened intently.

“Any questions?”

Mia shook her head.

“Good. Now go do whatever you want guys.”

“Are we starting now?”

“Yup.”

Mia followed Mingyu into the kitchen. “What are you doing?” They had agreed to keep it natural and use informal speech as they normally did.

Mingyu grinned down at her. “I’m hungry.”

She rolled her eyes. “When are you not?”

“Don’t act like you don’t want some ramyeon.”

Mia grinned, sheepish. “Okay, fine. You got me.”

While the ramyeon boiled, Mia snuck close to him and whispered, “This is so awkward. What do we do?”

Mingyu smirked and booped her nose. “Yah, you’re the one making it awkward. Why are you standing like that? And you’re smiling way too much to be considered normal.” He pointed at a bar stool at the kitchen counter. “Sit here or something. Would you behave like this when we’re alone?”

Mia huffed and took a seat. “Look, I’d probably whack you for acting cool if we were alone. But we’re not. The camera’s staring at me.” She playfully glared at Mingyu.

“The director and everyone else is in another room. Pretend we’re at home.”

“We haven’t had a sleepover in years. What even is natural?”

“Jiho- yah, has anybody told you you’re talkative?”

Mia glared at him playfully. “I got INFP on my MBTI yesterday.”

 He brought the boiling hot ramyeon over to the counter in front of her, shaking his head. “It doesn’t change the fact that you’re talkative with your friends.”

 Mia grabbed a place mat and set it in on the table, flicking his hand that lay next to it in reply.

“Where are the chopsticks?”

Mingyu shrugged. “I cooked the ramyeon. You set the table. Team work makes the dream work, baby.”

Mia suppressed an eye roll with a sickly sweet fake smile. “Oh honey, you-“

The speaker on the table interrupted her tirade- “Guys, guys, save the fighting for later.”Mingyu hid his smile as he got up to get the cutlery. “I was just pulling your leg, here you go.”

Mia shook her head. This was going to be a long day.

“Mingyu. Yah- I mean, sunbaenim-“

“Dude, we’ve already dropped the honorifics for the last hour. Let’s just talk normally.”

The two became more at ease with the camera as they set up the house, even playing random kpop songs and prepping for dinner (the mystery guests apparently craved some Indian food, the only detail they had been given).

Mingyu worked on Biryani, a rice dish, chopping up onions finely, with tears in his eyes. Mia stifled a laugh at his struggle with the onions and slid the chopping board toward herself. “Let me do it, poor baby, can’t even chop onions.”

Mingyu frowned and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.

Mia had to eat her words in a couple of minutes as she sniffed, unable to withstand the burn in her eyes. “Ugh, what kind of onions did they buy?”

Mingyu chuckled and snatched the knife from her hands. “It’s okay baby, you can’t do it either,” and stole a glance at her. “It’s okay, let me do it.”

Mia pouted. “Sorry.” She patted him on the back and rummaged through the fridge in search of inspiration. “Aha!” Mingyu jumped. “Bro, can you not startle me when I have a knife in my hands?”

“Sorry Mingoo.” Mingyu sighed, “It’s okay, what’s that?”

Mia held up the leaves like a torch at an athletic meet. “Spinach. I can make palak paneer.”

Mingyu’s eyebrows furrowed. “What’s that?”

Mia shook her head in fake disappointment. “The Indian dish Vernon Oppa orders at Indian restaurants.”

“The green one?”

“Yup.”

The evening passed by rearranging furniture, busting some moves to their favourite songs and generally having a good time, just being themselves. The guests turned out to be artists from their own label, and Mia’s friends – Soobin and Yeonjun from TXT. They played Uno until Soobin got mad at Mia and Yeonjun for cheating. Mingyu set up the karaoke station on the monitor, and all of the men took turns singing Le Sserafim’s songs all wrong to rile her up, until she decided to sing her signature Justin Bieber’s Baby in the trot style to get them back and they decided (Mingyu suggests) to have dinner.

Soobin and Mia didn’t drink while the other two took sips of wine with the food that Mia and Mingyu made. Soobin quietly briefed Mia about the 00 line meet-up in a couple of days . Mingyu and Yeonjun laughed at something, and Mia realized how tired she was from the busy week she had had when she caught herself dozing off in the middle of dinner. She took a sip of water but the next thing she knew, Mingyu was gently shaking her. She opened her eyes and startled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

Mingyu leaned in towards her, her head rested on the table. He whispered, “Are you okay?”

The words blurred together in her sleep-addled brain, her focus on his hair flopping over his forehead as he tilted his head, his eyebrows prominent, a layer of makeup on the face she knew so well underneath. “Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Mingyu moved back away, “I think you should sleep. That’s the best part of this programme. The hosts can do whatever they want.”

Yeonjun chuckled form the opposite side of the table. “It’s late, let’s all go to sleep. We’ve got enough content for today right?”

Soobin nodded. “Jiho, I swear to god, if you wake me up before 9 am, I will not talk to you again.”

Mia scoffed indignantly. “I knew I liked Yeonjun oppa more than you for a reason.”

“That’s because I’m attractive, isn’t it?”

Jiho rolled her eyes and stood up, waiting for Mingyu to follow. “I’ll let you believe that sunbaenim.”

“It’s only sunbaenim when they disrespect me, I swear..”

They set up the beds in the two bedrooms, insisting that the guests each take one, but they insisted on sharing. Mingyu shook his head when Mia suggested that he take the other bedroom. “I’ll sleep in the living room, there are sleeping bags here.”

“Are you sure? It’s colder here than in the bedrooms.”

Mingyu smiled softly at her. “I’ll be okay.”

Mia’s alarm blared at 7 am, startling her awake.

She stretched, entering the living room as quietly as she could. Her eyes landed on the lump curled up on the floor, and she tiptoed back into the bedroom before she put on her microphone.  She tilted her head as she stared at the blanket, contemplating whether she should do it or not. There was just one camera recording the living room at that moment, and she doubted that the director would bother to put such a boring clip in.

“Fuck it,” she whispered. She hugged her own sweater over her body and hauled the blanket up and out of the room.

She sipped on her coffee, scratching out the words in her notebook.

The wind bites me but I wish you would instead

“What the fuck does that even mean?”

Mia jumped hearing the words muttered sleepily over her shoulder and hastily shut her book. “You weren’t supposed to read that!” She frowned at Mingyu and then, noticing his dark circles and bags under his eyes, softened. “Were you not able to sleep last night?”

Mingyu sighed and flopped down on the stool next to hers at the kitchen counter. He rested his head on his arm and sighed again. “Hoshi hyung texted me about some blind date he arranged last night.”

“Oh”

If there’s one thing they didn’t really talk about, it was their love lives, or dating. Mia always thought he would tell her if something serious was going on and didn’t dare ask. (She didn’t want to unpack that, nope)

“Will you go?”

Mingyu shook his head or tried to where it rested on his arm, and gave up. “No. That’s what took so long. Hyung thinks it’s time I start dating again.”

Mia crossed her arms on the table in front of her, leaning on them till she was eye level with Mingyu. “Are you not over Yujin yet?” She blew on her curtain bangs obstructing her left eye, but failed.

Mingyu’s lips tilted upwards. “I don’t think I even loved her. I liked the idea of her you know?” He pushed the bangs away from her eyes with his index finger. “What about you?”

She looked into his brown eyes with her own and shrugged, “Are you asking me if I loved Yujin?”

Mingyu scoffed, breaking the eye contact. “Ridiculous. You’re always deflecting when we talk about love. That’s why you write stuff like The wind bites me, you should bite me instead, boohoo, kiss me like the sun kisses brown hair”

Mia sat up indignantly. “Hey! That’s not even what I wrote, and I scratched it, it was just practice-”

Mingyu’s laugh rang out in the silence of the kitchen. “Okay, okay, I’m kidding.” Mia reluctantly joined in. “You have to admit it was funny though, the Yujin joke.”

Mingyu shook his head, stealing a sip of her coffee. “Not as funny as the fact that you are so rude to boys who crush on you.”

Mia stared at him with her mouth agape. “What even- I’m not-“

“Eyy-“ Mingyu bit his lip, having fun at her expense.

“Yah!” Mia slapped the table.

Mingyu cocked his head. “Jihoon?”

Mia blubbered, “Jihoo- Park jihoon? Treasure? My friend Jihoon? Hey, he didn’t like me!” She caught Mingyu’s amused face. “Did he?” She trailed off, unsure.

“Yep.” Soobin sat across from her and grinned. “This girl really is clueless.”

“What are you talking about? He didn’t-“

“He doesn’t like you anymore, don’t worry.”

The audio director rushed over to the trio. “Okay, we’ll turn all your mics on, just a warning.”

Chapter Text

The knock on the door to Mia’s studio startled her out of her stupor.

“Come in.”

The only ones who knew the passcode were the members, Mingyu, Seungkwan and Soobin. (The last one was not by choice, he figured out the code in two minutes.) She hoped it wouldn’t be one of them today. Or this evening, or night. What time was it exactly?

She hugged her guitar defensively when Soobin walked in confidently but frustratingly slowly.

“What is it now? Haven’t you embarrassed me enough today?”

He ignored her words and made himself at home on her couch, feet up, fiddling with her stress ball.

“Excuse me? Bro, I’m working.” Her right eye twitched and she closed her eyes in frustration, resting her head on the guitar.

He sighed. “Out with it.”

Mia opened her eyes and glared at him.

“Mingyu hyung didn’t talk to you on the phone yesterday. Is that why you’re upset?”

Mia sat up straight and stared at him, mouth open wide. “What the fuck? NO!” Seeing as how he didn’t appear to be talking any time soon, she continued. “He texted me saying he had plans. And I switched my phone off to work on music, who even tells you these things?”

Mia crinkled her nose at the sight of Soobin’s smirk. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Mia tilted her head, unblinking.

“Seungkwan hyung. Met him in the elevator today. He’s so adorable.”

Mia sighed and walked over to the couch, shoving the guitar on its stand and swatting at Soobin’s feet to make some space.

“Don’t you have to go on a date with your girlfriend? Please go, she’ll be happy to see you,” She rolled her eyes, “unlike me.”

Soobin flinched. “Ouch. What the fuck is going on? What’s got you so crabby?”

“I said I’m fine.”

“Is this because I introduced Sunwoo to you?”

Mia hit him on the shoulder once. “Ouch!” And then once again. “Ow!”

“That’s for making it super awkward.”

Soobin snorted. “He likes you Jiho, even after that shit show.”

She groaned. “Don’t remind me of those 5 minutes of my life.”

(Mia scrolled through the reviews of their first episode in the canteen in the HYBE building.

‘So domestic, ugh. I ship them.’

‘Nah, she has more chemistry with Yeonjun, it’s giving enemies to lovers’

‘totally, Jigyu endgame.’

‘Soobin and Mia are so sibling coded I can’t.’

‘Did I just hear Mingyu call her honey? OMG, call 911’

‘Mingyu: calls her baby, Mia: BRO, don’t scare me like that,,, lololol’

‘Yeonjun’s face when he woke up and saw the burnt pancakes – I lost it bruh’

‘Mia and Mingyu are so-

“And here is our wild wild Mia-ssi, in her natural habitat-“

Mia coughed, kalguksu going down the wrong pipe, searching in vain for a paper towel to hide her face.

“Here you go Mia-ssi” Mia extended a weak hand to take the offering from Soobin’s guest, recognition sparking in her eyes.

She coughed again, wiping her lips with the paper towel. “Thank you, Sunwoo-ssi- er, Sunbaenim”

Soobin grinned, a mischievious gleam in his eyes. “Mia, this is Kim Sunwoo sunbaenim, from The Boyz.”

Mia glared as subtly as possible at him before turning towards her senior.

“No need to be formal guys, we’re the same age.”

“Oh, um, okay.”)

Soobin straightened and rested his elbow playfully on her shoulder. “Anyway Mimi-ssi, do you know what time it is?”

Mia pushed his arm off with a huff, realization dawning. “Nope, No, I’m not coming, I hate it there. Let me brood over sad music in peace. Nuh-uh.”

“Bro, I told you I hate it here.” Mia sighed, lacing up her shoes.

“Ugh, me too!” Beomgyu replied from beside her, putting his hair up in a tiny ponytail.

“Okay kids, have fun-“ Soobin waved with a typical fake smile

“Huh?”

“-Don’t get hurt.”

Mia looked at Soobin’s retreating back and then at her gym buddy. “What’s with him today?”

Beomgyu sighed. “He told me I had too much energy-“

“Why? What did you do to him?” She eyed him curiously.

Beomgyu rolled his eyes. “I might have held a random karaoke session in the living room, but-“ Mia snorted, that definitely meant more screaming than singing, “-As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by you, he said you were brooding in the studio, so I could use up my energy to bring YOUR energy up.”

Mia sighed, “I thought we were taking a break from this today.” The text to Beomgyu had been the last one she had sent before turning her phone off to focus. Speaking of phones, she hadn’t turned it on yet. Shoot.

Beomgyu shrugged. “I just hope we don’t run into Taehyun.”

Mia laughed out loud. “I can’t believe you let your Dongsaeng bully you in the gym.”

Beomgyu stood up with an old- man- groan. “Yah-“ Mia glared. “I mean, Yah Noona, there’s a reason I agreed to wake up at the crack of dawn to work out.”

He extended a hand to Mia, who gladly took it. “The workout enthusiasts in the company all work out at night. Let’s go. I’m praying we avoid them all today.”

Mia tied her hair up in a tiny ponytail. “Our hair is almost the same length now.”

Beomgyu shook his head. “Nope, yours is still longer. But Noona..”

“Hmm?”

“ Why do you look like a zombie today?”

She rolled her eyes at his straightforward question, tightening the pony tail one last time. “Because I didn’t get much sleep, you brat? I’ll let you choose our playlist today, Let’s go.”

The only highlight to working out that the two could find after a lot of thinking was listening to the same music- thanks to spotify premium)

“Are you sure you can do this? You look tired Noona.”

“Nonsense, let’s go, you first.”

Leg day, Mia’s favourite (a relative term to be honest) but Beomgyu’s nightmare.

“Ah, I hate this.”

“I know buddy, me too, now less talking and more leg press-ing.”

“Noona, don’t look around. The gym boomers are all here.”

“Who-“ Mia looked up.

“I said DON’T look!” Beomgyu whisper- yelled mid-exercise.

Mia sighed. “Alright, alright. Seven, let’s go, one more, and…. We’re done.”

“What’s our motto?”

Mia shushed him. “Do only what is necessary,” she whispered.

“WHAT’S OUR MOTTO?”

Mia swatted at his shoulder. “I swear to god if you don’t shut up I will not hesitate to let the barbell hit your face next time.”

Beomgyu laughed loudly, “ I’m going to change the song to something super fun.”

Mia massaged her temple. “Bro, how much sugar did you consume to get to this point today?”

She set up to do the hip thrusts, side- eyeing Beomgyu drinking water out of his bottle, wondering if she could do it or if it was too heavy. One.

Beomgyu was now adjusting his hair tie, mouthing along to the IVE song playing in his ears. “Hey, can you get my bottle too? Be a good dongsaeng please?” Mia blinked up at him as cutely as she could manage while trying to look like she wasn’t dying. Ugh, seven more, she could do it. Or maybe not. Or -

“Jiho, do you need help?”

She looked up at the owner of the deep voice, registering the height and the white shorts and black tank top before resting on the face. “Oh.” Mingyu, but a post- workout Mingyu. “It’s okay, I think I’m tired. I’ll stop.”

Mingyu studied the weights on the barbell. “I think you can do two more. Try, I’ll hold on to it if you can’t.”

Mia felt her face heat up. “Um, okay.”

“One.” It was somehow embarrassing to do a hip thrust. Ugh, it shouldn’t be.

“Two, yeah, one more.”

Her chest heaved with the effort. Was it the lack of sleep or- never mind.

She thrust the barbell up with her hips a third time, with gritted teeth, legs shaking, but lost her footing at the peak. She closed her eyes, expecting it to crush her but the weight didn’t land on her body. She opened one eye hesitantly to see Mingyu’s face up close, his arms holding up the barbell.  His eyes bored into hers, eyebrows together in concern. “Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

Mia’s pulse quickened at the near accident and at their proximity, from where she could count the freckles on his cheek if she had the time to, at the smell of his cologne mixed with fresh sweat. She could feel her face heat up as she registered their position. Mingyu knelt between her legs, holding up the barbell-

His gaze scoured her face, almost searching-

“Hyung, Noona, what are you guys doing in public?” Beomgyu stood beside them with her bottle in hand, amusement splattered across his face.

Mingyu shot up with the barbell, turning away immediately to find a place to put it.

Mia bowed her head undoing her shoe laces just so that she could do them up again, giving herself the time to calm down and de-blush (that should be a word). She stood back up and tuned into the two boys’ conversation.

“Beomgyu- ya, you should always be next to your partner to assist them, be careful-“

“I was, I swear hyung, I’m sorry-“

Mia sighed. “Guys, it was my fault. I was tired, I told Beomgyu to go get my bottle, let’s go home please.”

She ignored how Beomgyu changed the song to almost paradise.               

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mingyu followed her into the elevator, the two of them by themselves in a rare occurrence in the artists’ elevator in HYBE.

Mingyu settled into the side of the elevator, arms crossed. “Are you okay?”

Mia huffed. “I don’t know.”

He continued to look at her, calm and steady, always calm and steady with her.

She looked straight ahead, taking a deep breath. “My song was rejected again. My parents are scared I’ll be alone when they’re gone. I hate how my songs are coming out, I haven’t slept at all last night.”

Mingyu was silent for a moment. He moved till he was right next to her. Mia took a deep breath. “At least I’ve used up all my tears this time. Ha ha”

Mingyu quietly put his arms around her shoulders and she rested her head on his shoulder. She sighed in quiet contentment. They were on the 10^th floor by then. 10 floors to bask in his warmth.

“You’re the coolest person I know babe.”

Mia burst out into a laugh shoving him away from her. “There you go again with the flattery.”

‘Brother-in-law’ group chat

HuhYawnjin: GUTS

GAYS*

GUYS**

Chae1: WHAT NOW

 I’m watching a drama right now

HuhYawnjin: Guess what just happened!!!

Kazaaaaa: What?

Manchae: This groupchat is about Jiho eonni right?

She didn’t sleep last night, she’s exhausted. @Chae1 eonni, you can’t allow her to do this.

She ate only candy all day yesterday. She had like one meal today. She’ll fall sick this way.

Chae1: ???

She texted me saying we should catch up tomorrow. Is she okay?

Should I come there right now?

Kurakura: what’s happening?

Manchae: No, she seems okay now eonni. She hugged me when I was watching YouTube videos and fell asleep on my bed.

Oh, Yunjin eonni just woke her up now.

Chae1: Let her sleep! What are you doing Yunjinie?

Where did she go?

HuhYawnjin: The bell rang guys, and it was a delivery, but I told them we didn’t order anything.

He said the address was correct though. I got a call from our BIL

OMGGGGG

He got her samgyetang!!!!

Omg, so sweet, ughhh

He told me she probably hasn’t eaten much and that she seemed too tired after the workout (OMG MINJI GYM DATE??) so I should wake her up, make sure she eats and then goes to sleep.

Chae1: Yah, this oppa is too much. Why couldn’t he tell US to order food? SO SUS BRO

HuhYawnjin: Is that all you got from this? *sigh*

Kurakura: But that’s actually so sweet.

Kazaaaaa: Does she know he got it for her?

Manchae: Eonni told her. She took a pic and sent it to him. She’s smiling as she’s eating it now. Ugh, gross.

Chae1: I’m going to steal her phone and see what’s actually going on one of these days.

Kurakura: Yaa. Don’t be so anti-romantic. Can’t you see they’re like so perfect for each other?

Chae1: @HuhYawnjin, what even is a Minji?

HuhYawnjin: Their ship name, duh, or it’s JiGyu, I like MinJi better

Chae1: I disapprove.

100%

Kazaaaaa: If I come over now, can I have some samgyetang?

Unknown number: Hello Mia-ssi, this is Kim Sunwoo from TheBoyz. I got your number from Soobin; I hope you don’t mind.

Hwang Mia: Oh, hello sunbaenim. I don’t mind at all.

Kim Sunwoo-ssi: We’re the same age. From now on, formal language is banned *cute frowning emoji*

Do you want to grab coffee this weekend?

Hwang Mia: I have the shoot for a variety show all weekend and then the year end performances. Sorry.

Kim Sunwoo: Then after the end of year performances? How many episodes of your show have you filmed so far?

Hwang Mia: two

TXT and Ateez

Kim Sunwoo: I’ll watch them, you’re funny.

Hwang Mia: I’m not as funny as you are.

Kim Sunwoo: *Winking emoji*

Chapter Text

The week leading up to the year-end performances was as chaotic as it gets. Mia filmed an episode of their variety show with aespa, a welcome break from group practice with her old friends from SM. The MiMi couple, as they were now fondly addressed by some fans (Mingyu and Mia) had gone shopping for groceries where they ran into fans of the show, cooked a couple of amazing dishes if she could say so herself, and spent the evening with all four members of aespa. She knew the episode would do well, it felt fun and comfortable to film, even without the editing effects.

There had been endless practice sessions with dancers, costume fittings and live singing rehearsals of the different modifications of choreography they had to learn for all the different award shows.

“Eonni, you’re up next.” Mia shifted her focus from the meme Jihoon had sent in the 00 liner group chat to Eunchae’s cute face peeking out of their practice room. She pocketed her phone and squeezed Eunchae’s face and made her way inside, ignoring the said maknae’s protests. “Cutie pie, my baby boo-“

“It’s time for your solo rehearsal Mia-ssi, we need to film it for youTube.” Mia nodded, handing over her phone to Eunchae, taking centre stage, losing herself in the performance. She was performing a solo song followed by a rap duet with Yeonjun, to be joined by Chaewon and Soobin (who would be singing their solos and duet as well), ending as a quartet- a HYBE collaboration of sorts.

The performance director clapped his hands once. “Did you get the concept for the duets?”

Yeonjun caught Mia’s eyes and grinned. “So basically I’m sexy and Soobin is not?”

Soobin prostested weakly, clearly tired from his own practice for the day. It was 11 PM after all.

“No no, I mean Yeonjun and Mia should be arrogant sexy, and Chaewon and Soobin should be elegant sexy.”

Mia gulped, a weight settling into her stomach. It was one thing to dance solo but another to dance with a legendary dancer like Yeonjun, especially on a song like Mirotic where the moves would be highlighted with no room for big gestures to mask her lack of confidence.

“But ssaem, wouldn’t it be weird for our duets to be kind of sexy and then the group song emotional in the end?”

“No.” She bit her lips to hold in her laugh at the blatant dismissal.

“Let’s start with the duets. Yeonjun, Mia stay here. Soobin, Chaewon, go nextdoor. Let’s meet here at 9 tomorrow for the group practice.”  

Yeonjun chuckled at the dismissal. “Come on dongsaeng, let’s show them y2k sexy.”

The performance director sighed. “Mia, make your moves bigger. No, bigger than that. Now there’s no energy. No, don’t look like that, I’m not scolding you, I’m correcting you.”

Mia swallowed against the lump slowly forming in her throat. “Sorry ssaem, do you think Yunjin could do this better?” She flinched when the director’s eyes narrowed. “I’m sorry.”

“Did you just give up? Hwang Jiho, I did not raise you to give up when the choreography is tough.”

Mia rubbed at the hot tears that flowed down her face, eyes directed at the floor. “Sorry ssaem, I’m tired.”

“Take 5 minutes.”

Mia avoided Yeonjun’s eyes in the mirror and grabbed her phone from the sofa and opened Kakao talk.

Fimmily group chat

Manchae: @MIAnhae eonni, I need you, I don ’ t know how to solve this!!

[picture attachment]

CHAEsonghamnida : I don ’ t think we ’ ll be done for a couple of hours. Call Saki.

Gtg, ttyl, I really don ’t like Soobin. He’ s staring at me.

 SAKwahae: Call me Saki once more, I dare you.

jinjinjinjiniah: Lol. Come over to my room babygurl, let ’ s study it together. Let the elderly rest.

SAKwahae: excuse me? Yunjin-ssi?

Mia smiled despite her exhaustion.

MIAnhae: Yunjin’ s got this, don ’ t worry manchae.

Jinjinjinjiniah: Thanks for the confidence babe. Do well with Yeonjun sunbae.

MIAnhae: *thumbs up emoji*

ZZZooominzoomout: I ’ m off to bed y ’all. Yunjin eonni, let’ s practice our duet in our apartment tomorrow morning. Don ’ t forget *knife sticker*

MIAnhae: BTW, Soobin’ s dating somebody but he won ’ t tell us who it is. @ CHAEsonghamnida, do some digging please.

God night <3

I meant Good night*

Mia checked another notification.

Mingyu: Fighting! (Tell me which song you ’ re doing for the special stage)

Sleep well <3

Mia smiled.

Jiho: Thanks, good night.

You have early practice tomorrow right? You ’ re going to see this in the morning. Good morning then.

Lol, I ’ m so sleepy. I kind of teared up during practice. I look so sloppy next to  Yeonjun. I ’ m going to practice till I get it even if I have to do it a hundred times.

I ’ m venting, don ’ t bother to reply.

You ’ re probably asleep.

Let ’ s go out after MMA. I need to listen to some nonsense yapping, I can ’ t believe I miss it

What am I going to do when you go to the military like Jeonghan oppa?

Okay, I ’ m being way too emotional. Did I already tell you I ’ m tired?

I ’ m tired Mingyu.

See you in the company tomorrow.

<3

(and...the song is a secret)

“Hands, jacket, pow, wave. That’s it.” The performance director clapped and the duo followed along, panting.  “My job is done kids, I’ll see you the day before.”

Yeonjun smiled at Mia through the mirror. “Shall we go?”

Mia smiled back, shaking her head. “You go ahead oppa, I’ll practice some more.”

Yeonjun frowned at her. “It’s 1 am. We can do this tomorrow.”

“I need to work on the vocals too oppa, I don’t think I can do it all tomorrow.”

He settled down next to her on the floor.

“What are you doing?” Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

He shrugged. “Practicing with you.” Mia opened her mouth to argue- “Not negotiable, I don’t let tired dongsaengs wear themselves thin practicing alone.”

Her heart warmed at the comraderie he showed. “Thank you oppa. You’re the best.”

Yeonjun played back the video for monitoring, shrugging off the compliment. “See, this move, I think we can make it cleaner, should we try it? Let’s fix the angle on this first…”

The next day, she was greeted with a “God you look awful Ji, what happened?” by Chaewon, eyebrows drawn together in concern.

Mia shook her head, hiding a yawn. “Slept at around 4. Too tired. Had to cancel the workout with Beoms.”

There had been a point in the last year where she had obsessively practiced dance and had fainted out of dehydration. Chaewon had made sure she made it to bed on time for a year after that.

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have stayed up with you Ji.”

Mia shook her head and squeezed Chaewon’s hand. “Yeonjun oppa stayed up for practice with me. We filmed the final dance practice too.”

Chaewon shook her head. “Why is everyone in TXT so nice? It’s annoying.”

Mia snorted. “What has Soobinie done to you?”

Chaewon scowled. “He stares at me without saying a word.” Mia laughed out loud. “I’m serious. He just looks at me and maybe smiles sometimes.”

Mia pushed open the door to their practice room, startled to find the boys there already. “Oh hello oppa,  Soobinie.”

Yeonjun waved at her from where he was stretching on the floor. She settled down next to Soobin. “So, are you going to tell me who you’re seeing?”

Soobin sighed, lying down flat, giving up on stretching. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not seeing anybody?”

Mia scoffed. “Please, you blushed so hard when I asked you who you dressed up for at our 00 line meet up.”

Soobin shot up and smacked his palm over Mia’s mouth. “Shh- shut up, not here!”

Mia squinted at him suspiciously. He took a look around the room, eyes lingering a bit too long on her leader and it struck her. “HGGMPHHHH”

Soobin pinched her arm, eliciting an “OUCH!” when he released the hand over her mouth.

Mia pursed her lips to control her glee. “You have a crush on CHAE-!”

Soobin tackled her to the floor, covering her mouth again. “Can you please be quiet? SHUT UPPPP.”

“Um excuse me, what’s happening here?” Their eyes slowly make their way across the room, to the new entrees to the practice room- the performance director and Mingyu.

Soobin quickly let go of her and stood up nonchalantly. “Nothing ssaem, just bonding between siblings.” Mingyu stared at Mia in amusement. Mia got up and walked over to the two, bowing to the performance director and dragging Mingyu away to the sofa. Mingyu let himself be dragged away. Mia slapped his arm in glee. He flinched, frowning. “What?”

Mia cupped her hands around her mouth and stood on her tiptoes to whisper to him. “Soobin has a crush.”

Mingyu chuckled, and gulped. “Not on you right?”

Mia laughed. “What? No! Why would you even-“ She cut herself off and whispered. “He’s got a crush on Chaewon.”

Mingyu gasped for effect. “Wow. Does she know?”

Mia grinned. “Of course not, he was ready to smother me to shut me up.”

Soobin gave her a side eye from next to Yeonjun, the gap between him and Chaewon obvious.

Mia grinned. “Why did you come here? Not that I don’t appreciate seeing your face.”

Mingyu turned towards the sofa. “I got you a hot chocolate. You must have slept in and skipped breakfast.”

Mia pouted, touched. “Thanks Oppa.”

Mingyu spluttered. “What- why? What?” Was that a blush on his face?

She smiled at him mischievously. “You call me babe and jagiya, why can’t I call you Oppa?”

Mingyu pocketed his phone in a hurry. “I don’t know which is worse, jagiya or Oppa. I’m going, bye.”

Mia pouted in response, “We haven’t hung out in days.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I know, I’ll see you soon, we’ll be less busy next week. You’ve got this, kill it today.”

“You too.”

He lingered at the door, giving her one last smile and made his exit.

Chaewon grumbled as she made her way back to the trio. “Are we invisible? Is this some sort of drama?”

A laugh rang out loud and Chaewon was startled to find Soobin laughing at her joke alone. Mia met Yeonjun’s amused gaze and shared a quiet laugh at their friend’s expense.

“Okay, did you all learn the lyrics to this song?” The performance director clicked play on the karaoke and another long day began. “Let’s hear the vocals too.”

Practice, sleep, makeup, perform and repeat- Mia survived with an unhealthy amount of coffee in her system and about three power naps a day.

The performances had been received well, they made sure their mics were on and the members shone in their own way. Mia couldn’t have asked for a better end to the year.

The collab with TXT went viral, for their unabashed interactions and their singing.

“ That was amazing! ” Mia gasped for breath as they made their way backstage, “ Oppa, it was such an honour to work with you- “

Yeonjun smiled and patted her head, fighting for his breath himself.. “ I know you were nervous Jiho but you did so well, the honour is mine. I have no regrets about that performance. ” His eyes locked on something past her and squinted. “ Dude, look, what are they doing? ”

Soobin had knelt on one knee to tie Chaewon ’ s shoe laces. She watched as Chaewon got on one knee too, ears red and their hands knocked against one another. Soobin rose and offered his hand, which she gladly took before hurriedly letting go and pointedly looking away.

Chaewon brushed past him to tug on Mia ’ s arm and power walked to their dressing room, dragging Mia along like an overgrown puppy.

-TXT, Le Sserafim collaboration stage- MBC gayo daejejeon 2024 official performance video - 11 million views

-Idols reaction to TXT Le Sserafim collaboration stage at MBC Gayo daejejeon(Seventeen, TXT,NJZ, Riize, IVE, Zerobaseone, Lee Youngji reaction) - 1.2 million views

   Comments-top comments

   -horanghae2002: OMGOMGOMG the way our boys looked at Mingyu more than the stage, somebody pinch me.       11k likes

   -Zerosefromthedead: Zhang Hao be chillin out here with the best reactions, why do I have a feeling they’re besties?    3k likes

   -sweetalaina1221: let me just say what we’re all thinking-

1. Our vocalzzz- Mia’s Love poem, Chaewon’s Only- what a delight! TXT’s dance duo was amazing as well
2. What in the sexy…? My wig was snatched. There is no way Hybe approved this choreography. The eye contact ???? The way Mia tugged on Yeonjun’s tie??Helloo??Yeonjun’s lip bite? That little smirk in the end and his wink towards Mia??? I might need CPR. Help.
3. Soobin and Chaewon’s 10 minutes- I can’t even describe it- sexy, cute, eeeeek- their smiles, the unnecessary eye contact during the ending?  Chaewon’s red ears? Soobin,sir , we can safely say you are whipped. Congratulations, there is potential for a straight dating scandal.
4. The final Missing you vocals were so Disney coded I cannot- the flowers were a surprise, I don’t think the girls knew about them. Ugh, so cute.  Now for the Idol reactions-

    1.Kim Mingyu’s face went through some serious changes- during Mia’s love poem, he had this like sparkle in his eyes, he was so proud of her (it’s obvious), he enjoyed the others as well, but the best part has to be his reaction to Mirotic. The way his jaw dropped? Like sir, please close your mouth.Is this going to be a viral reaction? (Alexa play No doubt by Enhypen). Methinks he realised Mia is a woman, lol.

2. The rest of seventeen lost their shit looking at Mingyu’s face.
3. Seungkwan clearly found sexy Mia hilarious. They are so sibling coded.
4. Jeonghan covering his eyes when Mia and Yeonjun’s faces were close together was peak comedy.
5. IVE and Youngji were fangirling so hard.

Also, it’s time to be Jeonghan’s military wife, sigh

6k likes, 3k replies

Chapter Text

“You’ll take care of yourself right? My daughter- are you crying?”

Mia sniffed, “No, I’m not, it’s just allergies.” 

Jeonghan chuckled, voice a little distorted through the phone. “Hey, I’ll still keep in touch. You’re my baby sister, remember?”

Mia snorted, a wet laugh breaking through. “I thought I was your daughter.”

“I’m sorry I can’t see you before I leave Jiho.”

Mia’s eyes stung. “It’s not your fault though Oppa. Our Japanese fan-meeting ends tonight. Anyway,” She sniffed, moving on. “Eat well.”

”Mmm.”

”Make sure to rest your elbow.”

”Mmm.”

”Call the members okay? They- Mingyu needs you.”

”Yah, I will. I’ll call you too, so you’ll be okay. Don’t keep your feelings bottled up Jiho-ya, talk to Mingyu too. You guys- I know you worry about it, but you’ll figure it out, okay?”

”There’s nothing to figure out.” Mia rolled her eyes.

”Hmm.”

Mia shuddered when the cold air entered her lungs. “I-I don’t think I can stand losing either my music or him.”

Jeonghan audibly sighed on the other side. “Ya, I understand that you’re scared but work on letting yourself experience things. Go on that date with Sunwoo.”

”What- How? Who told you-“

Jeonghan let out a breathy laugh. “I have my sources.”

Mia frowned. “I’m genuinely scared of you sometimes.”

Jeonghan chuckled good naturedly. “I’m going to have dinner with the members now, love you, text me a lot, okay?”

Mia teared up again. Is this what sending off a sibling to the military felt like? “Love you too Oppa.”

Mia handed the phone to her manager who ushered her to the styling room muttering about using better waterproof makeup.

And if she cried a little too much as she performed a cover of Breathe by LeeHi on stage, everyone could chalk it up to the atmosphere at the last night of the first fanmeeting of the year.

“Hello?” 

“Jiho?” A moment of silence. “Whose phone is this?”

“Um..my… friend’s. Can..are you busy?”

Distorted sounds are heard in the background. The scraping of a chair. 

“Are you okay? Where are you?”

“I’m in Seongsu dong with…a friend. My phone just died. Can you..call manager oppa for me? I’m sorry Ming-”

“Send me your location. I’ll be there in five.” 

She hears the tone indicating the end of the call.  She turned back to go inside the restaurant. 

Kim Sunwoo lit up at Mia’s return. “Did you call your manager?”

“I called my friend. Could you send him the location?”

Sunwoo nodded, head buried in his phone.

Mia hugged her arms around herself. Stupid girl, who decided a cocktail would be okay (I need to chill out). Stupid girl who thought it would be okay to wear a sleeveless top in January (we’ll be indoors anyway). Stupid girl thinking she’d be fine with going on a second date with a guy who was funny and charming and wanted something fun. Stupid girl-

“Did you have fun today? You’re a little quiet.” He flicked her arm playfully. “I’d have dropped you back home.”

She gulped, giving Sunwoo a once-over. He was handsome, considerate, talented, but everything felt so shallow. Their hug after the first date felt more awkward than exciting. They’d spoken about nothing but their jobs and music, and it all felt so shallow.

“I’m okay, thanks. I… I think I’m a little drunk. I’ll be okay.”

Sunwoo looked into her eyes with an earnest gaze. “I’m sorry to bring it up, but do you feel like something doesn’t feel right?”

Mia’s heart leapt into her throat, pulse quickening in an unconscious response.”Huh? What do you mean?”

She wanted it to work, she really did. This was the first time somebody had ever asked her out and put in the effort to take her out. Stupid girl,  who ruined it because she didn’t feel anything towards him. But how could he know-

“I can see you panicking, silly girl,” the corners of his mouth quirked up. “I shouldn’t have had all that alcohol. I think it makes me more honest.” He rested his chin on his hand, elbow on the table. “Sorry Mia.I think I’m not over my ex. I’m sorry.”

Mia heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s okay Sunwoo.  I… got the feeling that something wasn’t right, you know?I think we’d be great friends. I.. hope you feel better soon.” She smiled at Sunwoo’s answering pout. “Aww don’t shout. Pout. I meant pout. Wow, I’m tipsy- hey, don’t laugh at me you dork. Yah!”

Sunwoo waited until Mingyu pulled up in his car.  They watched as Mingyu walked up to the restaurant and his eyes landed on Jiho

“Jiho, are you okay-“ He noticed Sunwoo beside her. “Oh. Oh” 

Sunwoo bowed. “Sunbaenim, I’ll leave now.”

Mingyu took one look at Mia’s outfit and ushered her into the car, shutting the door behind her. “Where’s your jacket? It’s January. Why would you go out dressed like that?”

Mia looked down at her clothes, alcohol really kicking in by now. “I was on a date. Yunjin said I look sexy as fuck. ” She felt at ease in Mingyu’s presence, sighing deeply at the warmth emanating from the seats. “Oh, it’s warm!”

“O..Kay, how much did you have to drink?” The traffic light turned red.

“Thiiiis much,” she said, dragging out the i’s, gesturing with her hands to a small amount. 

“Jiho, it’s not safe to go out like that and drink so much when you don’t know somebody well.” Mingyu gave her a pointed look. “Especially dressed like that,” he added as an afterthought.

Jiho crossed her arms. “What does that even mean? A decent guy should-he should-be decent!” Mingyu scoffed. “How do you know he’s decent?”

She turned away from him deliberately. “I don’t want to talk to you. I dress like this on stage all the time right? Showing my collarbones is suddenly too revealing?”

Mingyu sighed. “No, no. That’s not it. You look- beautiful. But I’m just saying you’re too trusting.”

”You think all guys are assholes.”

”Jiho-yah, I’ve told Minseo this and I’ll tell you too. If a man likes you, he’ll like you when you’re dressed in rags.”

The light turned green. “Mings.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you mad at me?”

Mingyu sighed. “No.”

“I’m sorry, you were hanging out with your friends.”

“It’s okay, I’d do it again- Are you crying?”

Mia sniffed discreetly. “No. I’m cold.”

Mingyu checked the heating on the seats. He went through a couple of items in the backseat of his car at the next traffic light and handed her a hoodie. “Here. Wear this.”

Mia cuddled up to the hoodie and promptly fell asleep. 

She woke up in the basement of her apartment to Mingyu shaking her awake. “Five minutes.”

Mingyu chuckled and leaned back in his seat, unbuckling his seat belt. He shot Mia’s manager a text and waited for Mia to open her eyes. He glanced at the display- 1 am. 

“Jiho-yah, it’s late.” She scrunched up her nose. “We’ve got our recording tomorrow afternoon.” She frowned. 

“Let’s get you home.”

Mingyu watched as Mia punched in four different codes at the front door, each one causing a loud beep and a “try again”. He held her wrist before she could lock it with a fifth wrong attempt. 

“Yeonjun TXT, Yeontak, Yunho Ateez , blah blah blah …Yunjin LSF! Found it.” Meanwhile Mia sat down on the floor next to the door. “We’re done for, Mingyu Pingyu. We’re trapped inside. But we’re brave. If we die today, it’s okay,  we’re dying together. Let me hug you before we die.” She made an attempt to get up and pouted when she tripped over her heels. “I can’t walk, this is how I die. Mingyu- oh” She blinked up at Mingyu who was in the midst of attempting to help her up. “Oh my god, what about our kids?” She gasped, wrenching her hands from his. “My poor kids. They haven’t even been born yet. Oh no, my poor girls. And Cuddlebug, our ugly pug, oh no. We can’t die Mingyu.”

“Hello? Hello?”

Mingyu smacked his forehead, phone pressed to his ear. “Nobody’s dying. Chill- Oh, Yunjin-ssi, I’m here to drop Jiho. Yeah, she’s drunk.” Mia shook her head like a child. “Would you? Thanks.”

The door opened to Yunjin blinking her eyes slowly. Mia squealed. “Jennifer! My hero. Mwah! My babies are safe.”

“Woah girl, down, yeah yeah, I’m happy to see you too.” She turned to Mingyu, wide awake. “I would ask, but I don’t think I can process it right now.”

“Should I take her or… okay, it doesn’t look like she wants to let you go. Please drop off this drunk parcel in her room and walk yourself out, or just sleep over Mingyu-ssi. Blankets are in that” she pointed at the cabinet next to the fridge “over there. The couch is yours. I need my beauty sleep. Bye bye!”

Mingyu stared at her disappearing figure wondering if anybody in this house was normal.

‘Brother-in-law’ group chat

HuhYawnjin: aaaaaaaaaaaah

Babesss

Guess what

Chae1: What now? It’s almost 2 am

.

.

Yunjin, istg

Huh Yunjin! 

I hate people who just tell you they have something to say and then say never mind

HuhYawnjin: Nevermind

:-*

Chapter Text

It was the calm contentment of a Saturday morning in bed, all warm and cozy, oversleeping- a rare event for Jiho that was interrupted by a yelp. Mia blinked twice, clearing her foggy brain. Eunchae yelled out an “Oh my god, no no no no. I didn’t see anything. Sorry. Oh my god.” and shut the door behind her. Mia blinked at the sight of the shut door and sighed. Kids these days. 

She yawned, taking in the way the morning sunlight filtered in through a crack in the curtains, floating in a deep sense of tranquility. She stretched her whole body not unlike a cat, and contemplated going back to sleep. She sighed again. Time to go find out what Eunchae was being dramatic about this time. 

She ignored the weak throbbing in her skull. Hydration. Hydrate. That was the first on the day’s schedule. She sat up in her bed and her gaze landed on a lumpy mass on the floor. “What the-“

“Did you sleep well?” 

“Aaahh-”

Mia held a hand over her chest, shaken.”Yah, what are you doing on the floor?”

Mingyu’s brown eyes pierced into hers. “Do you not remember?”

She kicked him right in the middle of his chest over the blanket. “Come up here. My brain isn’t working yet.”

Mingyu got up from the floor, cocooned in the blanket and plopped onto the bed.

“What’s wrong with the heater in the living room?”

Mia shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s been acting up since a couple of days.”

Mingyu mumbled under his breath, “So much for sleeping on your couch.”

He stretched his arms over the blanket and-

“Oh my g-Where is your- why are you naked!” Mia turned away hurriedly.

Mingyu shoved her. “Ow!” 

“I’m not naked. I’m just not wearing my shirt.”

Mia blushed and gestured wildly, scowling “You’re traumatizing all the females in this house. Put on your bloody shirt!”

Mingyu smirked, laughter evident in his eyes. “I would if I could baby. Where could my shirt be?” He nodded at her own body. 

She looked down at her attire- Mingyu’s blue T-shirt engulfed her own markedly smaller frame. “Huh? What- no way,huh? Huh?”

Mingyu laughed out loud. “You really don’t remember, huh?”

Mia huffed. “Hey, that’s not fair. Did -No. There’s no way, right?”

Mingyu scoffed. “What nonsense are you saying now? I haven’t slept at all. Now shush.” He proceeded to turn his back to her and forcefully shut his eyes. “Good night.”

Mia sat at the edge of the bed wondering what in the world had gone down the previous night, cursing at her racing heart. She sighed resignedly and laid back down maintaining a considerable distance between them. She closed her eyes.

‘So I know I called Mingyu from Sunwoo’s phone. I remember the car ride. He… gave me a horrible lecture about how I shouldn’t trust boys.’ She huffed. That’s it. She had fallen asleep then. That was all, right? Right? She felt queasy. She knew she shouldn’t have had that drink. There’s no way they….did anything right? Huh? Ew, what? Nope, think rainbows, unicorns, Calvin Klein, what? No. No.

She leapt off the bed and stormed off to the living room. 

Except… the peace she was seeking seemed to be avoiding her like the plague that day.

“So…nice shirt.” She heard the teasing lilt in Yunjin’s voice before she saw evidence of it on her face. 

Mia walked past her into the kitchen, aggressively turning on the coffee machine. “Shut up.”

Yunjin padded into the kitchen like a persistent shadow. “Aww, aren’t you pleasant this morning?”

Mia groaned and spun around. “Stop. I’m already having a breakdown trying to remember what I did last night.” She shoved her flatmate away. “Let me lose my mind in peace.”

Yunjin laughed. “I could help jog your memory eonni. I was there when you clung to him like a koala and asked him to take you to your room.” 

Mia handed Yunjin her cup of coffee and sat down at the counter, resting her head on the cool granite top. “Shhh, okay, let me think.”

“Maybe you guys had an eventful-”

“Yunjin, I swear to God-”

Yunjin made a random gesture like she was zipping her mouth and Mia sighed. 

She had walked into her room leaning heavily on - of course, Mingyu. What happened next? What did she- oh, she had said, “it’s too late to go home, just stay here.”

“Jiho, I’ll drive back. Do you need anything?” Why didn’t he just dump her in her room and leave? It was his fault for being too sweet.

Mia had- oh my God- she had pouted and said, “You can’t leave. It’s 5: 21 am.”

“It’s 1:25 Ji.”

She had done a random lip trill, like she was blowing a raspberry. “Phew, you have to read it backwards sometimes.”

Mingyu had blinked at her in disbelief, and then burst into laughter. “What goes on in your brain?”

“Just sleep here, please…” Why had she thought aegyo was the way to get him to stay? Why did she even want him to stay? Ugh.

Mingyu had laughed even harder at that, having had to sit down on her bed at that point. 

“I can’t, you’re so funny when- oof! What are you-”

Mia launched herself at him, patting him down with clumsy hands, reaching for his pockets with a superior degree of audacity.

“Shhh, don’t tell Mingyu, I’m stealing his keys so he can’t leave.”

“Okay, you don’t need to, they’re not in the front pockets, oh my g-here, take my keys.”  Mingyu held both of her hands in his, turning beet red.

Mia sighed with a dramatic flair. “Your shirt is so soft and it’s so….soft.”

Mingyu chortled, the tip of his ears cooling down to a light pink. 

Yunjin chuckled. “Is it working? Are your hot memories from last night coming back?”

Mia shot her a side eye, enough to silence her and closed her eyes again.

“Give it to me.”

“WHAT?”

“Your shirt, Oppa”

Mingyu stared at her in shock , seeing a new side of her that he had never experienced before. “Okay, it’s bedtime. I’ll tuck you in. I remember your mom and dad -“

“Here, take mine. Let’s swap.”

Mingyu’s ears turned scarlet. “Yah, stop it. You’re going to regret this. No, NO, don’t remove- Shit.”

Mia watched her hands reach the zipper and Mingyu fumbling to remove his shirt and cover her with it and shutting his eyes tight. “Wait till I leave, what even-” 

She heard Mingyu curse loudly. “I’m going to sleep on the couch. Just.. don’t do anything else. Just.. sleep.” 

He fumbled his way out of the room with his eyes shut, cursing when he predictably stubbed his toe on the door frame.

Mia lifted her head, stared straight into Yunjin’s attentive ones like she had seen a ghost and whispered, “I am never drinking again. EVER.”

Yunjin chuckled.  “That bad, huh?”

Mia shook her head in horror. “Worse.”

They (actually just Mia) set about making “gratitude/apology breakfast”. Mia made fried some eggs- sunny side up for Eunchae, who joined them when she smelt the food cooking, and scrambled, with salt and pepper for Mingyu. 

“Kimchi jeon and miyeokguk? Aren’t you overdoing it a little Eonni?” Eunchae raised her eyebrows at the variety of food on a random weekend.

Yunjin laughed out loud. “Ah, Eunchae, our Eomma and Appa fought last night. Eomma’s trying to say sorry now.”

Mia slammed the spatula on the counter. “That’s it. No breakfast for you.”

“Sorry Eomma. Mom. Mommy-“

“Yunjin, I have a headache. Just please shut the-”

“Eunchae, when you grow up, don’t drink too much like our Eomma over here-“

“Eonni! I’m literally 17 years old-“

Someone cleared their throat, catching their attention. Mingyu peeked out from Mia’s room.

“Um, does anybody… have a shirt I can borrow?” He scratched his head in embarrassment.

Mia speed-walked into the room, pushing Mingyu inside, avoiding eye contact. She rummaged in her closet, steadfast in her quest to avoid eye contact. Nothing to see, just her clothes in her drawer, her dad’s shirt must be here somewhere, think kimchi jeon, eggs, abs, huh?

“So, Mingyu sunbaenim, to what do we owe this pleasure?”

“Okay, I can’t do this.” Mia stood up,pushing back her chair with a loud creak at the dining table. “Let’s have a chat.” She pulled on Yunjin’s arm and proceeded to have a heated argument in whispered English in the kitchen.

“What did I say that was wrong?” “What?” “You- stop making it weird. I just stole his shirt. No, Yeah, NOTHING HAPPENED.” 

“Stop it.”

“You stop it!.”

SLURP

Mingyu watched Eunchae slurp the seaweed soup, unbothered. “So er… How’s school?”

Chapter Text

“Seriously though…..did they tell you to make ramen at the start of every episode or something?”

Mingyu stirred the ramen, an eyebrow raised, ever the professional chef. “Why? Do you not want to eat it?”

Mia punched his shoulder in between grabbing two bowls and cutlery for the two of them. “No! When have I ever said no to ramen?” She mumbled “You always bully me” under her breath.

Mingyu held the pot up above the table, waiting until Mia placed the coaster under it. (Cue fist bump )

“Darling hold my hand-”

“Nothing beats a jet 2 holiday..”

Mia shuffled into a chair at the table, “And right now-“

“-You can save 50 pounds per person!”

“That’s 200 pounds off for a family of four!”

“You’re so random.”

Mingyu playfully flicked her hand with the end of his chopsticks. “And you get cranky if you don’t eat. Now eat.”

The filming ended with only a few minor glitches, the episode a short one without a sleepover. Their guests, Super Junior had teamed up with Mingyu to pull her leg for most of the episode. They’d cooked some pasta (Mingyu) and mozzarella sticks (Mia) for them which had been received well.

Mia hoisted her humongous bag on her shoulder, following her manager on his way out. She spotted Mingyu at the exit frowning at his phone. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Mingyu hummed. “Did Minseo text you? I must have missed her calls but she’s not picking up.”

Mia turned on her phone (always on DND).

 3 missed calls from Bestie#1

“I’ll try calling her.”

The phone rang twice before she picked up. “Hello?”

“Minnie chan…. Are you okay?”

“Is…Oppa with you?” Minseo’s voice was thick with emotion.

“Yes he- are you crying? Seo-yah, what’s wrong baby?”

Mingyu’s panic was palpable next to her. Mia placed her hand on his arm. 

“I fell off my bike and fractured my leg.”

Mia tightened her grip around Mingyu’s arm. “Where are you right now?”

“At the hospital. My hospital.” Minseo was a medical student in her intern year and seemed to only ever be in two places- her apartment or the hospital.

“Eonni and Oppa will be there soon okay? Are you alone?” Mia tapped Mingyu’s arm, shaking him out of his thoughts. He seemed to understand what she was trying to convey through her eyes and nodded.

“You can drop us off here hyung.” They rolled into the reception area of the hospital Minseo worked at.

“I’ll be at the parking lot.”

Mia sighed, shooting her manager a smile. “Thank you.”

Mingyu shut the door after Mia and held her bag naturally. “She’ll be fine right?”

Mia glanced at Mingyu’s side profile, taking in the tightness around the eyes. “She’ll be okay. She’s mostly upset.” Mingyu still didn’t lighten up. “Yah, Kim Mingyu, if I catch you nagging my baby-“

“She’s my sister!” 

“So? She’s my sister too. Don’t nag. She hates it.”

Mingyu scowled. “Fine.”

Mingyu paced the (very compact) length of the room they had provided them for privacy from very curious eyes with cameras recording their every move. 

Mia chuckled from beside Minseo and whispered, “Here comes the lecture, brace yourself Minnie.”

Minseo groaned and rolled her eyes at Mia.

Mia nudged her when Mingyu looked up from the floor.

“Look, Minseo-yah. We love you-“

Mia snorted. “Don’t drag me into it.”

Mingyu shook his head in disappointment. “Okay, fine, I love you, you’re my baby sister. Have I not told you not to ride bicycles in January when its raining? It gets slippery when there’s sleet. You know better than to do this. Really, Minseo. You should be more careful. I hate to see you hurt like this. Does it still hurt?” He pointed at the cast coming up to Minseo’s knee. 

Minseo shook her head.

“Good, I’ll buy you a car. No more two wheelers-“

“Oppa! I got it, I won’t do it again. I was late for work-“

“So? You should be more responsible Minseo-“

Mia sighed. “Okay, STOP.” Mingyu stopped mid-sentence, startled into silence.

“Don’t nag my child. She understands her mistake.”

Mingyu crossed his arms. “Your child? Well your child decided to take a bicycle out when it was raining in January.”

“We all make bad choices sometimes!”

“Well one bad choice can also hurt you very badly-”

Mia sighed. “Can we talk over there where she can’t hear us?”

Minseo made a face. “Oh my God! I’m right here guys. Don’t be gross.”

Mia rolled her eyes, mumbling ‘kids these days have no gratitude at all’. She opened her chat with Mingyu and nodded to him first and then at her phone. 

Jiho: Mingyu!

Mingyu: What!

Jiho: She’s already hurt. She knows what she did was wrong. Stop rubbing it in.

Mingyu: I know…

Mia glanced up at Mingyu, who looked sheepish. 

Jiho: If I tripped, would you yell at me for not looking at whatever I tripped over?

Mingyu: Okay, I was wrong. Sorry.

Jiho: I know you are. Apologise to her, not to me! If you did this to me I wouldn’t want to call you if I had an accident.

Mingyu: Shit. You’re right.

Shit.

Shit.

Mingyu cleared his throat, catching Minseo’s attention. “I’m sorry Minseo. I know you’re not irresponsible.”

Minseo smiled sweetly at him. “I know. If Appa had yelled at me you’d have taken my side. It’s okay. I love you too.”

Mia smiled to herself, pocketing her phone with satisfaction.

“So….um….. Oppa, there’s one tiny problem. My apartment doesn’t have an elevator.”

Mia sighed. Here they go again.

“So will you go back home until you finish your resting… whatever it’s called?”

Mingyu shook his head. “No, it’s okay, Appa and Eomma are on a cruise with your parents until the end of February Jiho, something about escaping the cold winter in the Caribbean…”

Minseo shrugged. “I can stay there by myself. I’ll be okay-”

“No freaking way. Nope, you’re staying with me. Wonwoo hyung won’t be here anyway.”

Mia frowned. “But you’re starting your Japan concerts next week.”

Minseo ran her hand down her face. “I’ll be okay, I swear.”

Mia clapped. “Mingyu, you can drop her off at my dorm when you’re not there.”

Mingyu sat down next to Mia, nodding seriously. “Or you can come and stay with her if that’s easier.”

“Deal.”

Minseo grabbed her hair in frustration. “Do I have a say in all of this?”

Mia gasped. “Oh right, we need to go grab her stuff. I’ll call my manager.”

Mingyu patted both their heads and stood up. “I’ll let my parents know the situation”

“Guys?” Sigh.

MinJi moments from the latest episode of We Got Married or whatever it’s called- 998k views, 80k likes

-MinJiendgame: Guys. My people. Mingyu doesn’t need dispatch. Dispatch needs him. Did he just admit he makes ramen so she isn’t hungry?

Edited: Also why does he take everything out of her hands as if she can’t carry anything herself?! (Googles how to find a guy like this)

600 likes, 40 replies

-Caratfearnot: What is going on? Hello? I mean…

 Mingyu- Oh it’s 1:25 pm. Jiho-Ssi how do you want to read the time today?

Jiho-blushes like a tomato and gives him a dirty look

Mingyu- smirks

Jiho- blushes harder and escapes.

??????? Are we missing something?

400 likes, 78 replies

-flyonthewallwannabe: Is Mingyu learning English or something? He said and I quote “Keep your shirt on” at least 5 times. Mia was blushing a lil too much hehehehe. Wonder what that’s about. Yo where are the rich fans at? Somebody find out at a fan meeting pls I’m not above begging.

120 likes, 20 replies

-multistan486: Stop shipping idols. They’re just friends. 

Edit: mom I’m famous!

344 likes, 505 replies

—jungkook’sleftbuttcheek: Babe, don’t be oblivious

—Hyunjinchuu: meanwhile these idols are shipping themselves

-Fearnotblue: Why isn’t anyone appreciating my homegirl Mia? She always makes sure the guests and Mingyu are all comfortable. My baby, fighting!

P.S: I’m going to start calling him our BIL.

297 likes, 50 replies