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Having a day off was a rarity for idols, and Soyeon was fully aware that she could spend her time in a more productive way than re-watching one of her most beloved animes. But then again, watching shows or movies, particularly animated ones, had been a great source material for many of her songs. So instead of feeling guilty, she tried to use it to her advantage, hoping she could gather some inspirations for potential future songs and concepts. And so far, she has not written a song about One Piece, which she thought was a shame, since it had been one of her favorite stories for a very long time.
With a small notepad in her hands and a pencil between her lips, she scribbled down words, phrases and even simple character names, trying to connect them with other words in hope of creating something that felt special to her.
Her rewatch session, however, was a bit more special than usual, because next to her was sitting another one of her song source materials: Yuqi.
Soyeon studied Yuqi for a while, a small smile appearing on her lips. She knew that Yuqi was not a huge anime watcher and it had taken her ages to convince even just one of her members to watch an episode with her. But the woman next to her seemed genuinely engrossed in the show, her eyes following the Korean subtitles, a grin showing up from time to time as she was trying to understand the plot of the episode. Even though the two were watching the episodes with the Korean dub, having subtitles on was an immense help, particularly because both women had the habit of finding each other distracting.
“So,” Soyeon started, tearing Yuqi away from her focus on the show, “how are you liking it so far?”
“I think I'm finally getting the hang of the plot and the characters.” Yuqi answered with a huge smile on her face. “I do understand now why you like it so much.”
Soyeon smirked and jokingly pressed both of her hands in prayer overhead. “This might just be my greatest accomplishment in life so far.”
"Oh, shut up." Yuqi gently nudged her shoulder into Soyeon's, shaking her head but unable to keep a smile from forming on her face.
A small giggle escaped Soyeon's lips, and Yuqi just looked at her before embracing the smaller woman into a hug, which turned Soyeon's giggle into a full-on laugh. Yuqi's heart skipped a beat. Soyeon's laughter was one of her favorite things in the world, and she would try her hardest to hear it whenever the opportunity would show itself. Which was also one of the main reasons Yuqi had agreed to watch One Piece in the first place—a chance to make Soyeon happy. She just didn't expect to actually enjoy the show.
After her leader rested her head on Yuqi's shoulder, Yuqi's eyes were glued once again to the animated characters in front of her. Another moment passed, and she heard Soyeon's quiet, muffled voice due to the other woman being snuggled into her shoulder.
“There is also a live-action version on Netflix, if you are interested.”
Yuqi raised her left eyebrow, a small smirk on her lips.
“Oh, you don't say.”
Soyeon looked up to Yuqi, a grin on her face, knowing exactly what she was doing.
“If I remember correctly, you explicitly told me that nothing could ever touch the original material.”
“Well, that is true, but the Netflix show is really good; I know you will like it.”
“And how do you know that, Soyeon?” Yuqi drew out Soyeon's name at the end of her sentence.
Soyeon put her head on Yuqi's shoulder again and tried to indulge in this very moment between them. The shorter woman watched the figures on her TV for a few more seconds before she spoke up again.
“Well, for starters, I know you like Robin." A large grin spread over her face, and she had to suppress a laugh escaping her lips when she saw Yuqi's reaction, who was not only pouting but also trying her hardest to not blush. She failed miserably, which led to Soyeon giggling even harder than before.
“Oh shut up,” Yuqi said and shoved Soyeon so hard she almost fell from the couch — this did not stop the short-haired woman from letting out fits of laughter that rang through the whole room, overshadowing the scenes on the TV. While watching the show together, Yuqi had confessed her love for the character Nico Robin more than once. But who could blame her? A mysterious, very pretty woman with a tragic backstory? How could Yuqi not fall in love with her?
(It did not help that the mysterious and always cool-seeming woman reminded her of someone else sometimes.)
“You are one to talk, Soyeon! Let me look up how Zoro and Nami look in this live adaptation and then—" Yuqi was reaching for her phone, but Soyeon was quicker and wrestled the phone from Yuqi's hand, pinning the woman to the couch. Yuqi's breath hitched, forgetting how strong the older woman can be.
The two women just stared at each other for a few seconds, both holding their breaths until Soyeon broke the intensive eye contact, a soft smile gracing her lips. She brushed a string of hair that had fallen into the younger woman's face away and left a gentle kiss on Yuqi's nose.
Yuqi's face turned red, and Soyeon just smirked, knowing exactly what she was doing. However, Yuqi did not miss the fact that Soyeon was blushing, too. Huh, interesting.
She helped Yuqi up, and they both settled onto the couch again, and Yuqi was trying her hardest to forget what just happened, but it seemed impossible. Should she mention it? Should she just ignore it and continue watching another One Piece episode with Soyeon? Yuqi blinked for several seconds, still trying to wrap her head around what has just happened. The younger woman opened her mouth but was stopped by Soyeon, who put her hand on Yuqi's mouth.
“Don't make it weird, Yuqi.”
Yuqi looked offended and turned her head towards Soyeon, snatching her hand away from her mouth.
“I'm sorry, but what do you mean I should not make it weird? You were the one who just kissed my nose!”
To Yuqi's surprise, Soyeon just shrugged her shoulders and put her head onto Yuqi's shoulders once more (Yuqi made an inner note of wearing a thicker hoodie next time so Soyeon would not have to put her face on her hard shoulder), focusing her attention on the anime figures in front of her.
“Shh, I'm trying to watch this, Yuqi. There is a fun part coming up.”
Yuqi was baffled and simply crossed her arms together, shaking her head a little. That woman was a mystery to her sometimes. She turned her attention towards the screen, trying her hardest to concentrate on watching the episode. Which, to no one's surprise, turned out to be quite hard.
Yeah, no shit you can't concentrate anymore. Your co-worker and one of your closest friends, whom you have a secret crush on, just kissed your nose and pretends that nothing has happened.
“Lovely, isn't it?” A voice from the TV brought Yuqi back from her inner thoughts.
“Whoa, how sexy. I wish I had a secretary like her—wait, I'm talking like an old man!"
Her eyes widened, and she quickly looked at Soyeon, who was just—once again—laughing.
"Did—" Yuqi started, trying to gather her thoughts. “Did Nami just say that she wished she could have this woman as her secretary?”
Instead of answering, Soyeon just nodded, and Yuqi squinted her eyes, suspicion slowly settling in.
“Wait a minute." She took the TV remote and paused the scene, turning towards Soyeon. Her arms were crossed before her chest, staring at the other woman, who seemed to play innocent, pretending not to know why Yuqi suddenly paused.
“You suggested that we specifically watch this episode together after I watched a few episodes myself.”
“I don't know what you are talking about, Yuqi.”
“Soyeon,” Yuqi's tone was serious, and Soyeon sighed.
“Fine, okay, I thought it would be a funny scene, that is all.”
“Funny?” Yuqi questioned.
“Yes, funny, Yuqi," Soyeon said calmly, now crossing her arms, clearly uncomfortable with how this moment between the two was turning out to be.
And as always, Yuqi sensed that something was wrong. Instead of pushing further, she tried to make a joke, hoping she could push through the awkward air that had engulfed the two.
“I mean,” she cleared her throat and snickered, gently bumping Soyeon's shoulder, “I would love to have this woman as my secretary, too. Nami makes a good point.” Nodding her head, she let her eyes wander to Soyeon, who seemed more at ease now than just a moment ago.
But instead of saying something, Soyeon just let out a quiet sigh, a serious expression settling on her face.
“Yuqi,” she started but stopped herself and closed her eyes for a few seconds. Yuqi could see that the smaller woman was struggling with what she wanted to say next. She took Soyeon's hand and squeezed it gently, silently encouraging her to go on.
“This is going to sound stupid, but please just listen to me until I have finished explaining… okay?”
Yuqi silently nodded, now beaming, hoping her intuition was not trying to fool her this time. Was it really happening? Has she not been hallucinating her leader being more and more affectionate with her these past few months? Might she feel the same as Yuqi did? She breathed deeply, squeezing Soyeon's hand once more.
“I picked this specific episode to hint at you that I like you, hoping that you would make the connection that Nami wanted to have this woman as her secretary, implying that she liked women," Soyeon blurted out faster than Yuqi has ever heard her speak, rambling in a way Yuqi usually never sees her do, biting her lip after finishing speaking and shaking her head slightly.
Yuqi, astonished as she was so often with Soyeon, let the words sink in and just laughed, embracing her in a hug, her nose finding the other woman's neck and nuzzling herself further into Soyeon — inhaling the sweet scent of the one she was so madly in love with.
“For such a smart person, you can be so dumb, Soyeon,” she said so endearingly, which made Soyeon dizzy.
Soyeon said nothing more, but let the moment be just as it was and tried to enjoy it for as long as possible.
“So,” Soyeon began, and Yuqi raised one of her eyebrows, her typical grin on her face, “you get what I’m saying?
Yuqi waited a second before answering.
“What, that you like me or something?” The younger woman savored the moment as Soyeon’s face flushed red — more than she cared to admit.
“Oh, shut up, Yuqi!” Yuqi hadn’t realized Soyeon's face could flush even redder, which threw her into a fit of giggles.
Soyeon was clearly pouting, and Yuqi couldn’t help but shake her head, cup Soyeon’s face in her hands, and give her a gentle, brief kiss on the lips.
“Me too,” Yuqi said finally.
“Yeah?” Soyeon replied, her voice quiet, as if she couldn’t quite believe what Yuqi was trying to tell her.
“Yeah,” Yuqi nodded and pressed another kiss to Soyeon's lips.
A brief moment passed between the two women — Soyeon's face was still slightly blushing, and Yuqi just smiled softly, hoping she could savor this exact moment for the rest of her life.
“You know,” Yuqi began, “that’s not how I imagined this would go.”
Soyeon watched Yuqi with a spark in her eyes and a smile that simply wouldn't leave her face.
“Not my smartest idea, but I was at my wit’s end,” Soyeon admitted, and Yuqi chuckled and gave Soyeon another swift kiss.
“Well, I’d rather not tell you what my idea was.”
Soyeon raised an eyebrow.
“What was your idea?”
Yuqi shook her head, raised her index finger to her lips, and pulled Soyeon into her arms again.
“Some things are better left unsaid.”
The older woman was puzzled for a brief moment — but she said nothing, merely smiled softly and tucked her head into Yuqi’s arms.
(To this day, Soyeon doesn’t know what compelled her in that very moment, but at the end of the day, she didn’t care. Yuqi finally knew. Yuqi was finally… hers. And that was all that mattered.)
—
“So, how about we watch the Avatar movies next? Maybe when I want to ask to marry you?”