LOONA oneshots ☾ .ᐟ

cold - hyewon

🐺🦋 genre: slight angst to fluff

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Chaewon had always been the kind of girl who smiled with her eyes.

Even when her lips were still, her gaze sparkled like stage lights catching on a crystal dress. That’s what fans said anyway. To Hyeju, it was different. To Hyeju, Chaewon’s eyes were mirrors—reflective, quiet, and far more complicated than anyone knew.

That’s why it stung so much when Chaewon stopped meeting her gaze altogether.

It started after the comeback showcase. Nothing dramatic, no shouting, no slammed doors. Just a gentle, cold distance. A delay in response. A hesitation before laughter. Hyeju noticed it first in rehearsals when Chaewon didn’t glance at her during the bridge—a moment they used to share with a secret smile and a look that said, "We got this."

Hyeju thought she’d imagined it. But the silence after schedules and the way Chaewon gravitated toward Yerim during breaks confirmed it: something had changed.

And Hyeju didn’t know what she did wrong.

They were in the practice room now, just the two of them, reviewing footwork while the others rested. Hyeju stared at Chaewon’s reflection in the mirror, watched her perfect the spin they’d repeated twenty times, and felt her chest tighten.

"Did I do something?" Hyeju asked.

Chaewon didn’t look at her. She adjusted her hair in the mirror instead.

"No."

"Then why are you avoiding me?"

Chaewon paused, only slightly. To someone else, it would be imperceptible. But Hyeju noticed.

"I'm not avoiding you."

"You are," Hyeju said, stepping forward. Her voice was low but steady. "You don’t look at me anymore. You don’t laugh at my dumb jokes. You act like I’m a ghost."

Chaewon finally turned.

"Maybe that’s easier than letting myself feel like this."

Hyeju blinked. "Feel like what?"

Chaewon exhaled, a shaky sound. Her voice, when it came, wasn’t angry. It was small.

"Like I’m always one second away from doing something stupid."

The room felt heavier now. The mirrors, the polished floor, the muffled beat of the practice track still playing softly from the speakers—all of it faded into the background.

"What do you mean?"

Chaewon bit her bottom lip. She never did that unless she was nervous.

"I think about you too much," she admitted. "All the time. And it scared me. Because it wasn’t just admiration or friendship anymore. I started noticing everything. Like how you hum when you tie your shoes or how you stop dancing half a beat early when you’re thinking too hard. And that—that made me feel things I didn’t want to deal with."

Hyeju’s breath caught in her throat.

"So you thought pushing me away would help?"

Chaewon nodded, slowly. "Yeah. Until it started hurting more than hiding it ever could."

Silence settled between them. Not cold. Not distant. Just... tentative.

Hyeju took a step closer. "You know, I thought I did something wrong. I thought maybe you didn’t trust me anymore. That maybe you didn’t see me the same way."

"I see you too much," Chaewon whispered.

And it broke something open in Hyeju. Because she had spent the past few weeks aching in quiet corners, wondering why the one person who used to bring her calm had started making her feel unsettled.

Now she knew. It wasn’t resentment. It was restraint.

"Then don’t hide from me," Hyeju said gently. "If you feel something, tell me. I’m not scared of this. Of us."

Chaewon’s eyes met hers fully for the first time in what felt like weeks.

"Even if it complicates everything?"

"Everything’s already complicated," Hyeju said with a half-smile. "But it hurts more not knowing what you're thinking."

Chaewon hesitated, then reached for her hand. Their fingers brushed, then laced together like it was always meant to be that way.

"I like you," Chaewon said. "And I’m tired of pretending that I don’t."

Hyeju held her breath. Then let it out in a soft laugh. "Good. Because I like you too. Even when you're being impossible."

They stood there in the center of the practice room, sweaty and tired, holding hands like it meant everything. Because maybe it did.

The track looped again in the background.

"Wanna run the choreo one more time?" Chaewon asked, brushing a strand of hair behind Hyeju's ear.

Hyeju smiled. "Only if you look at me during the bridge this time."

Chaewon squeezed her hand. "Deal."

And just like that, the mirrors didn’t feel so cold anymore.

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i guess i'm alive? 😎