et tu, brute
title: et tu, brute
author: kongsook
rating: pg-13
pairings: implied himchan/yongguk, youngjae/daehyun
warnings: femslash!bap, mentions of sex, shit comedy
for reference: hyochan is himchan. yongjin is yongguk. daehee is daehyun. youngju is youngjae. jongyu is jongup. joonhyun is junhong. thank u!! i am a slave to lady bap.
the problem starts when daehee is offered the etude house cf instead of hyochan. hyochan is already balancing three other sponsorships; the sultry face of tony moly, the bubbly persona of baskin robbins (not that hyochan would openly admit that she eats all the ice cream they give her), and the trim looking figure on every kolon sport billboard. she certainly wouldn’t mind one more - there just aren’t enough posters and cut-outs and commercials of hyochan’s glittering smile, her trademark fox eyes, her nose that’s so straight, she could probably ski down it right into hell.
“it’s just that...” manager kang explains, already breaking into a sweat once hyochan drops her spoon into her cereal at the news. “…they’re going for a cute look and, daehee is, you know…”
“oh.” hyochan says and their manager can feel acid rising in his throat because that could mean anything. oh could mean so daehee is cuter than me? or oh could mean are you saying she’s the visual now and I’m not? and oh could certainly mean it’d really be a shame if somebody poured toilet water in all of your shoes.
she gets up to rinse her bowl in the sink and manager kang flinches back instinctually. “hyochan, please understand…”
hyochan smiles her prettiest one (she practices at least 10 times a day, the perfect mix of gums and shiny white teeth and soft lips) and the manager is terrified, certain this is what an injured antelope feels like when cornered by a lion, spit dripping from its mouth. “what’s there not to understand? personally, i’m happy for daehee. maybe she’ll even bring home some cute make-up.”
hyochan gently closes the door to her room after she’s tossed her spoon into the sink with a clatter and their manager mops at his forehead with a handkerchief, wondering how quickly he can warn daehee before hyochan sinks her claws in.
dinner is a solemn affair, notably to the point where even jongyu (continually oblivious to things outside of her own bubble) comments on how stale the conversation is. the problem lies in the fact that daehee is out tonight, filming her first commercial, and hyochan hasn’t said a single word; usually she’s complaining about her new diet or how awful her own cooking is or that youngju is wearing her hair in the ugliest style today. instead, there’s nothing. hyochan takes a kittenish nip from her rice bowl, eyes unsteady, while youngju and yongjin exchange a wary look over their own food. yongjin had already warned the rest of the group to remember that hyochan is a little sensitive about her looks so it’s in everybody’s best interest to just shut their mouth about the etude house cf unless they seek a fist straight through their throat.
“hyochan, how was your schedule?” yongjin tests the waters and everybody holds their breath.
“it was okay.” hyochan sounds rested, the smokiness of her voice subdued. “i got to take a nap after the radio show which is good because i was planning on staying up to greet daehee when she gets home.”
joonhyun spits out a baby carrot and youngju almost drops her copy of the awakening into the soup.
“that’s very nice of you, hyochan.” yongjin stutters out nervously and curses herself when she sees this sign of weakness seems to have only strengthened hyochan. “but daehee will be fine. she probably just wants to come home and wash off her make-up, then go to sleep.”
“but she’ll be so hungry.” hyochan says, standing up to wash off the empty plate of pork. “the least i can do is stay up to cook her a little ramen.”
“oh my god.” jongyu eyes them in horror. “she’s gone off the deep end.”
joonhyun’s eyes grow wet. “is she going to kill daehee?”
“nobody is killing anybody.” yongjin yells and then points a finger at hyochan’s slim back. “what the hell are you up to?”
hyochan splutters out a gasp. “i don’t know what you’re talking about and, frankly, i’m insulted you would even think that.”
it’s times like these where yongjin truly wonders who is in charge; she’s scared to admit that, if hyochan tried hard enough, she could probably upheave yongjin’s position of power and comfortably situate herself in the throne of bap’s leader. but for the sake of making sure daehee doesn't die young and tragically, yongjin stands up to tower over hyochan, using the bulk of her five feet and nine inches to make her cower back slightly.
“you will not - under any circumstances - kill daehee. or maim daehee. or try to drown daehee in the shower.”
hyochan’s fingers tighten around the plate before she slams it into the sink. “it should have been me! i’m the pretty one! i’m the pretty one!”
they all watch as hyochan storms into the other room and sit placidly, staring down at their food when she comes back in again to take the whole tray of rice cakes. “these are mine now.”
true to her word, hyochan goes to sleep with everybody else and doesn’t slip out of bed even when she can hear daehee open the door at two in the morning, loudly wailing when she sees there aren’t any leftovers for her. part of this is due to the fact that yongjin’s arm is clamped around her waist, a safety precaution to keep hyochan from sneaking out, and also because she derives a sick pleasure from hearing daehee rifle through the cabinets and cry when she can only find a half-eaten bag of stale honey twists.
the next morning goes a bit more smoothly with hyochan even offering to brush out daehee’s wet hair in the van after her and youngju’s shower runs a bit overtime (for reasons unspoken and assumed) and makes them late to their music show. yongjin still keeps a careful eye on hyochan, making sure she doesn’t just grab a handful of daehee’s caramel hair and try to get it caught in the window, but the problem is that she’s acting too innocent for comfort. they’re foolish enough to believe the worst part is over, which is why nobody suspects a thing after joonhyun’s make-up artist rifles around through her case of lip products.
“huh.” she says and mutters it again before looking at joonhyun, who is fluttering her false eyelashes in a bit of confusion. “did you accidentally pack up my lip tint yesterday?”
“no.” joonhyun answers slowly before leaning forward to help her look. jongyu’s own make-up artists hurries over, looking a bit frazzled.
“can i borrow your mascara? i can’t find mine. i must have left it at home although i can’t figure out how i would have forgotten.” she says, balancing her blending brush in her mouth.
“are you sure? because my lip tint is missing and i know for sure that i didn’t leave it anywhere.” joonhyun’s make-up artist pivots to face jongyu’s before her eyebrows furrow. “i bet the teen top girls took it - she’s gonna waste all of my tint on danielle’s lips!”
yongjin watches with mild concern from her own seat as her own artist follows after them, mumbling about her eyeliner having just disappeared, and turns to see that the only person finished is hyochan. she’s sitting cross legged on the couch in her outfit - thigh highs, tiny leather shorts, tank top, and an olive green army jacket to her knees - and flicking through her phone, false lashes touching the apples of her cheeks (carefully smeared with a bit of dirt and fake blood). if yongjin wasn’t so suspicious about her being the only one ready and without make-up products missing, she’d probably be taking advantage of a bloody, dirty hyochan in the back of the prop room but such is not the case.
“how’d you get done so fast.” yongjin watches hyochan’s fingers freeze on her phone screen, shoulders squaring up defensively as she tosses her carefully mused hair from her face.
“that didn’t sound like a question, that sounded like an accusation.” hyochan drawls back. “i guess my stuff didn’t get stolen.”
yongjin grovels, gritting her teeth and turning back to face the mirror. eventually, the make-up artists come back panting, wielding new products and mocking teen top’s stylists, who had apparently feigned innocence about the whole situation. in the end, hyochan is the only one ready at their assigned time and watches with a smile threatening to curl on her mouth as manager kang berates the entire group for their lateness. they race backstage, their make-up not even finished and youngju trips a few times, her boot only half zipped up her calf.
“out of curiosity,” yongjin asks as their make-up artist frantically wipes fake blood down her mouth, “what went missing?”
“my etude house gel liner and mascara!” she breathes out in frustration, powdering yongjin’s nose one last time. “and baekhee’s etude house lip tint.”
yongjin’s finger nails dig into her palm as she curls her hands into fists. she swears she can hear kim hyochan laughing distantly as they crouch into their power stage positions and promises that she will take down this reign of terror immediately.
the second strike comes when their fansign in sinchon gets cancelled due to weather and they all relish in the feeling of wearing sweatpants again, lounging around the dorm in their bras and eating hyochan’s lazy day ramen. youngju is in such a good mood that she even lets daehee affectionately snuggle up to her while they watch a documentary on georgia o’keeffe and daehee falls asleep ten minutes in, drooling on the strap of youngju’s sports bra.
yongjin has avoided hyochan at all costs because, as much as she’d like to use this time to watch movies all day in bed with her girlfriend, she simply cannot be trusted anymore. kim hyochan is now the enemy and, despite how nice she looks in that tiny camisole, must be eliminated. unfortunately, hyochan has realized that she didn’t cover her steps up well enough before and is now the very picture of girlish innocence, helping joonhyun paint her nails lilac. hyochan could very well be feeding one hundred homeless puppies and yongjin wouldn’t trust her as far as she could throw her.
“did you guys know daehee had a visual kei phase?” jongyu suddenly yells from the other room, skittering in on her socks and clutching her laptop to her chest. daehee shoots up from where her face was buried into youngju’s face (youngju has the tact to look a little ashamed) and wipes the drool from her mouth, narrowing her eyes sleepily.
“huh?” she says and screams so loudly that hyochan’s hand flinches and paints joonhyun’s entire middle finger purple. “no!”
jongyu has turned her laptop around to reveal a picture of daehee, her bangs gelled in front of her face, tragically drawn-on eyebrows, and enough eyeliner to supplement the band for the next few years. daehee tries to wrestle it from her, frantically looking for the delete button, only to realize with dawning horror that she can’t because it’s not on jongyu’s laptop - she’s looking at a tweet (posted only ten minutes ago) from a bap fanbase, captioned “cute daehee predebut ^^ cr. @strongbabe”.
“no.” daehee whispers again and shrugs off the sympathetic hand youngju puts on her shoulder. “my life is over.”
“that’s a little overdramatic.” joonhyun murmurs from the ground, wiping at the polish smeared across her hand with a cotton swab, only to let out a choked noise when daehee thrusts the laptop in her face. “oh my god, disgusting!”
“who did this?!” daehee howls, clicking on strongbabe only to find the twitter account has been purged. “who the hell are you?”
yongjin has an idea of who strongbabe might be but resists the urge to yank hyochan up by her arm. instead, she helps daejee with damage control - they take five hours to compose a funny tweet in response and hope that daehee hasn’t just lost half of her adoring male fanbase to a terrible j-rock phase. yongjin wished it hadn’t come down to this but she knows only she can restore balance to the band, so when hyochan leaves to take a shower, she holds her breath and tweets a photo of hyochan napping in her make-up chair with her mouth wide open and a slight double chin.
only when hyochan steps out of the shower does she notice that her number of twitter interactions has increased tenfold and rushes out of the shower, hair dripping a path behind her, trying to roundhouse kick yongjin’s phone out of her hands with only a towel on.
“you better sleep with one eye open!” hyochan shrieks as joonhyun and jongyu hold her back.
“you were probably the one who should have slept with an eye open.” youngju mutters and manager kang walks in, bearing cake to reward his always hard working girls, to find a naked kim hyochan mid-sucker punch to youngju’s face. this wasn’t in the contract, he says to himself, trying to both peel hyochan off and not look anywhere he shouldn’t. he’s been saying that a lot lately.
strongbabe remains a mystery and hyochan is put under temporary house arrest by both yongjin and the manager. youngju’s bruise is easily covered by concealer and daehee’s pride eventually patches itself up (the same can’t be said for her reputation as the cute eye smile of bap). the make-up artists eventually find their products, neatly put in a plastic bag and hidden behind joonhyun’s duffel bag (even though she claims innocence, they give her the dirty eye for two weeks straight). they think the worst of the storm is over, especially now that daehee has stopped filming for etude house, and they take time to recuperate before the promotions hit the internet and hyochan starts the entire affair all over again. she’s been mysterious subdued these last few days, tame as a kitten and licking her wounds, only slinking out of the room for schedules and dinner.
“i hope you’re still not mad about the cf.” daehee says when they’re fixing their headsets for a radio show, although she hopes hyochan is still bitter about it because it’s about time somebody shoved a figurative middle finger in her face. hyochan smiles back, looking every bit the visual she’s advertised as, and tucks a piece of long black hair behind her ear.
“of course not.” hyochan laughs and pinches daehee’s nose cutely. “i mean, they’re right. i’m more of the sexy type and you’re definitely the bubbly one!”
daehee lets out a puff of relief and yongjin even gives a rewarding squeeze of hyochan’s thigh for playing nice, which makes hyochan’s cheeks go red because yongjin isn’t a person who just throws out public affection left and right. the entire band - even manager kang - is taken by hyochan’s maturity and almost gets a bit misty eyed when they see hyochan and daehee laugh prettily together at the mc’s joke - this is truly what world peace and harmony looks like.
“so, do any of you girls have a weird eating habit?” the mc asks, leaning over the table and jongyu opens her mouth (ready to tell the tale of joonhyun’s cherry tomato fascination) when hyochan giggles against the back of her hand.
“i might as well get it out there before jongyu embarrasses me.” hyochan beams, looking bashful. “i can eat, like, a whole box of chocopies in one sitting. it’s so gross! but i can’t get enough of them - one time, manager kang brought us a week’s worth and i stayed up till four in the morning eating them all. they had to step over all the wrappers to wake me up the next day.”
the entire band falls silent as the mc coughs out a laugh, something like who knew bap’s princess had such an appetite, because that’s not hyochan - hyochan, despite her secretly disgusting appetite, despises chocopies. it’s daehee who once ate three boxes within the quarter of an hour, daehee who steals money from youngju’s purse at midnight to buy more, daehee who once cried because the convenience store had run out.
after they return to the dorm, hyochan doesn’t bat an eyelash in response to manager kang’s news that, following their radio show, hyochan had immediately been offered the next chocopie cf. daehee falls to her knees with a cry sharp enough to crumble the foundation of their dormitories and hyochan smiles placidly, wiping some lip gloss from the corner of her mouth.
“how exciting! i love chocopies.” she says, clapping her hands as youngju tries to slap daehee’s limp body awake. yongjin swears in this moment that she will put aside her sexual attraction to hyochan and take her down under any costs.
“where the hell is all of my etude house?” jongyu shrieks from the bathroom and yongjin retracts her statement; instead, she makes it her goal to avoid hyochan’s rampant path of destruction by all means possible.
“dinner will be ready in ten minutes!” hyochan says airily, standing up and knocking the last box of chocopies into the trash. daehee’s body twitches on the ground.
author: kongsook
rating: pg-13
pairings: implied himchan/yongguk, youngjae/daehyun
warnings: femslash!bap, mentions of sex, shit comedy
for reference: hyochan is himchan. yongjin is yongguk. daehee is daehyun. youngju is youngjae. jongyu is jongup. joonhyun is junhong. thank u!! i am a slave to lady bap.
the problem starts when daehee is offered the etude house cf instead of hyochan. hyochan is already balancing three other sponsorships; the sultry face of tony moly, the bubbly persona of baskin robbins (not that hyochan would openly admit that she eats all the ice cream they give her), and the trim looking figure on every kolon sport billboard. she certainly wouldn’t mind one more - there just aren’t enough posters and cut-outs and commercials of hyochan’s glittering smile, her trademark fox eyes, her nose that’s so straight, she could probably ski down it right into hell.
“it’s just that...” manager kang explains, already breaking into a sweat once hyochan drops her spoon into her cereal at the news. “…they’re going for a cute look and, daehee is, you know…”
“oh.” hyochan says and their manager can feel acid rising in his throat because that could mean anything. oh could mean so daehee is cuter than me? or oh could mean are you saying she’s the visual now and I’m not? and oh could certainly mean it’d really be a shame if somebody poured toilet water in all of your shoes.
she gets up to rinse her bowl in the sink and manager kang flinches back instinctually. “hyochan, please understand…”
hyochan smiles her prettiest one (she practices at least 10 times a day, the perfect mix of gums and shiny white teeth and soft lips) and the manager is terrified, certain this is what an injured antelope feels like when cornered by a lion, spit dripping from its mouth. “what’s there not to understand? personally, i’m happy for daehee. maybe she’ll even bring home some cute make-up.”
hyochan gently closes the door to her room after she’s tossed her spoon into the sink with a clatter and their manager mops at his forehead with a handkerchief, wondering how quickly he can warn daehee before hyochan sinks her claws in.
dinner is a solemn affair, notably to the point where even jongyu (continually oblivious to things outside of her own bubble) comments on how stale the conversation is. the problem lies in the fact that daehee is out tonight, filming her first commercial, and hyochan hasn’t said a single word; usually she’s complaining about her new diet or how awful her own cooking is or that youngju is wearing her hair in the ugliest style today. instead, there’s nothing. hyochan takes a kittenish nip from her rice bowl, eyes unsteady, while youngju and yongjin exchange a wary look over their own food. yongjin had already warned the rest of the group to remember that hyochan is a little sensitive about her looks so it’s in everybody’s best interest to just shut their mouth about the etude house cf unless they seek a fist straight through their throat.
“hyochan, how was your schedule?” yongjin tests the waters and everybody holds their breath.
“it was okay.” hyochan sounds rested, the smokiness of her voice subdued. “i got to take a nap after the radio show which is good because i was planning on staying up to greet daehee when she gets home.”
joonhyun spits out a baby carrot and youngju almost drops her copy of the awakening into the soup.
“that’s very nice of you, hyochan.” yongjin stutters out nervously and curses herself when she sees this sign of weakness seems to have only strengthened hyochan. “but daehee will be fine. she probably just wants to come home and wash off her make-up, then go to sleep.”
“but she’ll be so hungry.” hyochan says, standing up to wash off the empty plate of pork. “the least i can do is stay up to cook her a little ramen.”
“oh my god.” jongyu eyes them in horror. “she’s gone off the deep end.”
joonhyun’s eyes grow wet. “is she going to kill daehee?”
“nobody is killing anybody.” yongjin yells and then points a finger at hyochan’s slim back. “what the hell are you up to?”
hyochan splutters out a gasp. “i don’t know what you’re talking about and, frankly, i’m insulted you would even think that.”
it’s times like these where yongjin truly wonders who is in charge; she’s scared to admit that, if hyochan tried hard enough, she could probably upheave yongjin’s position of power and comfortably situate herself in the throne of bap’s leader. but for the sake of making sure daehee doesn't die young and tragically, yongjin stands up to tower over hyochan, using the bulk of her five feet and nine inches to make her cower back slightly.
“you will not - under any circumstances - kill daehee. or maim daehee. or try to drown daehee in the shower.”
hyochan’s fingers tighten around the plate before she slams it into the sink. “it should have been me! i’m the pretty one! i’m the pretty one!”
they all watch as hyochan storms into the other room and sit placidly, staring down at their food when she comes back in again to take the whole tray of rice cakes. “these are mine now.”
true to her word, hyochan goes to sleep with everybody else and doesn’t slip out of bed even when she can hear daehee open the door at two in the morning, loudly wailing when she sees there aren’t any leftovers for her. part of this is due to the fact that yongjin’s arm is clamped around her waist, a safety precaution to keep hyochan from sneaking out, and also because she derives a sick pleasure from hearing daehee rifle through the cabinets and cry when she can only find a half-eaten bag of stale honey twists.
the next morning goes a bit more smoothly with hyochan even offering to brush out daehee’s wet hair in the van after her and youngju’s shower runs a bit overtime (for reasons unspoken and assumed) and makes them late to their music show. yongjin still keeps a careful eye on hyochan, making sure she doesn’t just grab a handful of daehee’s caramel hair and try to get it caught in the window, but the problem is that she’s acting too innocent for comfort. they’re foolish enough to believe the worst part is over, which is why nobody suspects a thing after joonhyun’s make-up artist rifles around through her case of lip products.
“huh.” she says and mutters it again before looking at joonhyun, who is fluttering her false eyelashes in a bit of confusion. “did you accidentally pack up my lip tint yesterday?”
“no.” joonhyun answers slowly before leaning forward to help her look. jongyu’s own make-up artists hurries over, looking a bit frazzled.
“can i borrow your mascara? i can’t find mine. i must have left it at home although i can’t figure out how i would have forgotten.” she says, balancing her blending brush in her mouth.
“are you sure? because my lip tint is missing and i know for sure that i didn’t leave it anywhere.” joonhyun’s make-up artist pivots to face jongyu’s before her eyebrows furrow. “i bet the teen top girls took it - she’s gonna waste all of my tint on danielle’s lips!”
yongjin watches with mild concern from her own seat as her own artist follows after them, mumbling about her eyeliner having just disappeared, and turns to see that the only person finished is hyochan. she’s sitting cross legged on the couch in her outfit - thigh highs, tiny leather shorts, tank top, and an olive green army jacket to her knees - and flicking through her phone, false lashes touching the apples of her cheeks (carefully smeared with a bit of dirt and fake blood). if yongjin wasn’t so suspicious about her being the only one ready and without make-up products missing, she’d probably be taking advantage of a bloody, dirty hyochan in the back of the prop room but such is not the case.
“how’d you get done so fast.” yongjin watches hyochan’s fingers freeze on her phone screen, shoulders squaring up defensively as she tosses her carefully mused hair from her face.
“that didn’t sound like a question, that sounded like an accusation.” hyochan drawls back. “i guess my stuff didn’t get stolen.”
yongjin grovels, gritting her teeth and turning back to face the mirror. eventually, the make-up artists come back panting, wielding new products and mocking teen top’s stylists, who had apparently feigned innocence about the whole situation. in the end, hyochan is the only one ready at their assigned time and watches with a smile threatening to curl on her mouth as manager kang berates the entire group for their lateness. they race backstage, their make-up not even finished and youngju trips a few times, her boot only half zipped up her calf.
“out of curiosity,” yongjin asks as their make-up artist frantically wipes fake blood down her mouth, “what went missing?”
“my etude house gel liner and mascara!” she breathes out in frustration, powdering yongjin’s nose one last time. “and baekhee’s etude house lip tint.”
yongjin’s finger nails dig into her palm as she curls her hands into fists. she swears she can hear kim hyochan laughing distantly as they crouch into their power stage positions and promises that she will take down this reign of terror immediately.
the second strike comes when their fansign in sinchon gets cancelled due to weather and they all relish in the feeling of wearing sweatpants again, lounging around the dorm in their bras and eating hyochan’s lazy day ramen. youngju is in such a good mood that she even lets daehee affectionately snuggle up to her while they watch a documentary on georgia o’keeffe and daehee falls asleep ten minutes in, drooling on the strap of youngju’s sports bra.
yongjin has avoided hyochan at all costs because, as much as she’d like to use this time to watch movies all day in bed with her girlfriend, she simply cannot be trusted anymore. kim hyochan is now the enemy and, despite how nice she looks in that tiny camisole, must be eliminated. unfortunately, hyochan has realized that she didn’t cover her steps up well enough before and is now the very picture of girlish innocence, helping joonhyun paint her nails lilac. hyochan could very well be feeding one hundred homeless puppies and yongjin wouldn’t trust her as far as she could throw her.
“did you guys know daehee had a visual kei phase?” jongyu suddenly yells from the other room, skittering in on her socks and clutching her laptop to her chest. daehee shoots up from where her face was buried into youngju’s face (youngju has the tact to look a little ashamed) and wipes the drool from her mouth, narrowing her eyes sleepily.
“huh?” she says and screams so loudly that hyochan’s hand flinches and paints joonhyun’s entire middle finger purple. “no!”
jongyu has turned her laptop around to reveal a picture of daehee, her bangs gelled in front of her face, tragically drawn-on eyebrows, and enough eyeliner to supplement the band for the next few years. daehee tries to wrestle it from her, frantically looking for the delete button, only to realize with dawning horror that she can’t because it’s not on jongyu’s laptop - she’s looking at a tweet (posted only ten minutes ago) from a bap fanbase, captioned “cute daehee predebut ^^ cr. @strongbabe”.
“no.” daehee whispers again and shrugs off the sympathetic hand youngju puts on her shoulder. “my life is over.”
“that’s a little overdramatic.” joonhyun murmurs from the ground, wiping at the polish smeared across her hand with a cotton swab, only to let out a choked noise when daehee thrusts the laptop in her face. “oh my god, disgusting!”
“who did this?!” daehee howls, clicking on strongbabe only to find the twitter account has been purged. “who the hell are you?”
yongjin has an idea of who strongbabe might be but resists the urge to yank hyochan up by her arm. instead, she helps daejee with damage control - they take five hours to compose a funny tweet in response and hope that daehee hasn’t just lost half of her adoring male fanbase to a terrible j-rock phase. yongjin wished it hadn’t come down to this but she knows only she can restore balance to the band, so when hyochan leaves to take a shower, she holds her breath and tweets a photo of hyochan napping in her make-up chair with her mouth wide open and a slight double chin.
only when hyochan steps out of the shower does she notice that her number of twitter interactions has increased tenfold and rushes out of the shower, hair dripping a path behind her, trying to roundhouse kick yongjin’s phone out of her hands with only a towel on.
“you better sleep with one eye open!” hyochan shrieks as joonhyun and jongyu hold her back.
“you were probably the one who should have slept with an eye open.” youngju mutters and manager kang walks in, bearing cake to reward his always hard working girls, to find a naked kim hyochan mid-sucker punch to youngju’s face. this wasn’t in the contract, he says to himself, trying to both peel hyochan off and not look anywhere he shouldn’t. he’s been saying that a lot lately.
strongbabe remains a mystery and hyochan is put under temporary house arrest by both yongjin and the manager. youngju’s bruise is easily covered by concealer and daehee’s pride eventually patches itself up (the same can’t be said for her reputation as the cute eye smile of bap). the make-up artists eventually find their products, neatly put in a plastic bag and hidden behind joonhyun’s duffel bag (even though she claims innocence, they give her the dirty eye for two weeks straight). they think the worst of the storm is over, especially now that daehee has stopped filming for etude house, and they take time to recuperate before the promotions hit the internet and hyochan starts the entire affair all over again. she’s been mysterious subdued these last few days, tame as a kitten and licking her wounds, only slinking out of the room for schedules and dinner.
“i hope you’re still not mad about the cf.” daehee says when they’re fixing their headsets for a radio show, although she hopes hyochan is still bitter about it because it’s about time somebody shoved a figurative middle finger in her face. hyochan smiles back, looking every bit the visual she’s advertised as, and tucks a piece of long black hair behind her ear.
“of course not.” hyochan laughs and pinches daehee’s nose cutely. “i mean, they’re right. i’m more of the sexy type and you’re definitely the bubbly one!”
daehee lets out a puff of relief and yongjin even gives a rewarding squeeze of hyochan’s thigh for playing nice, which makes hyochan’s cheeks go red because yongjin isn’t a person who just throws out public affection left and right. the entire band - even manager kang - is taken by hyochan’s maturity and almost gets a bit misty eyed when they see hyochan and daehee laugh prettily together at the mc’s joke - this is truly what world peace and harmony looks like.
“so, do any of you girls have a weird eating habit?” the mc asks, leaning over the table and jongyu opens her mouth (ready to tell the tale of joonhyun’s cherry tomato fascination) when hyochan giggles against the back of her hand.
“i might as well get it out there before jongyu embarrasses me.” hyochan beams, looking bashful. “i can eat, like, a whole box of chocopies in one sitting. it’s so gross! but i can’t get enough of them - one time, manager kang brought us a week’s worth and i stayed up till four in the morning eating them all. they had to step over all the wrappers to wake me up the next day.”
the entire band falls silent as the mc coughs out a laugh, something like who knew bap’s princess had such an appetite, because that’s not hyochan - hyochan, despite her secretly disgusting appetite, despises chocopies. it’s daehee who once ate three boxes within the quarter of an hour, daehee who steals money from youngju’s purse at midnight to buy more, daehee who once cried because the convenience store had run out.
after they return to the dorm, hyochan doesn’t bat an eyelash in response to manager kang’s news that, following their radio show, hyochan had immediately been offered the next chocopie cf. daehee falls to her knees with a cry sharp enough to crumble the foundation of their dormitories and hyochan smiles placidly, wiping some lip gloss from the corner of her mouth.
“how exciting! i love chocopies.” she says, clapping her hands as youngju tries to slap daehee’s limp body awake. yongjin swears in this moment that she will put aside her sexual attraction to hyochan and take her down under any costs.
“where the hell is all of my etude house?” jongyu shrieks from the bathroom and yongjin retracts her statement; instead, she makes it her goal to avoid hyochan’s rampant path of destruction by all means possible.
“dinner will be ready in ten minutes!” hyochan says airily, standing up and knocking the last box of chocopies into the trash. daehee’s body twitches on the ground.