[you look so pretty and i love this view]
pairing: yu iseol x afab!she/her!reader
summary: you realise that you might like your senior sister more than you originally thought.
word count: 1.66k
author's note: based this on that one time i realised i was in love with my then best friend, who turned out to be super homophobic but we're going to ignore that reality. mom says my fanfic, my rules. (the story of us falling out is in the tags kurghhhh)
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laundry day was always the busiest time of the week.
well, it's not like you had anything better to do, as one of the physically weaker disciples of the sect, there was an unspoken expectation that you and the others like you would have to pull your weight around here in other ways.
you just wished more people wanted to pull their weight in the housekeeping aspect, instead of all flocking to the book-keeping jobs. it sucked that the majority of the housework was left in your hands, but what can a girl do?
sitting alone by the running stream, you worked hard at cleaning the dirt and stains off the pristine white uniforms you all wore, staying careful not to rip open tears and loose threads in the fabric. you look at the pile of clothing you had left, feeling your eye twitch when you saw the state that they were all in.
you sigh.
a long, drawn out sigh with your head thrown back. the sky above you that was once a dark shade of indigo had grown to a pale violet — the air in your lungs was cold and crisp. the water running in the stream smelt fresh, like the earth it came out from further up the mountains. you leave your hand in the stream, shivering at the icy feeling of the water running over your skin.
deciding that it was a long enough break, you shook your hands dry, digging into the unwashed clothes trying to pick out the uniform with the least defects so you could just mindlessly scrub on it without that added worry of wear and tear.
by the time you were done, the sun was hanging high up in the sky, and your back felt hot from how long you had been hunched over without ever going under the shade.
carefully, you balance the bigger laundry basket on your head while trying to rest the other on the curve of your hip.
the sound of shoes crunching on gravel comes up behind you. there wasn't a need for you to turn and look, you'd already guessed who it was by their footsteps alone.
...i'll take that.
yu iseol walks over, hands grabbing on the rounded edges of the woven basket. tugging on it lightly, having you loosen your grip a little.
you let her have it. stifling a giggle when her face was completely hidden behind the towering pile. yu iseol hugs the basket to her chest, shifting on her feet wondering when were you heading off to dry the clothes.
come on, iseol-sago.
you say softly, one hand balancing the basket on your head and the other reaching out to hold your senior sister's hand.
she lets you, quietly noting how your fingers felt against her calloused palms. hers were long, thin and rather scarred, and yours were a little smaller and..
her thumb rests over your fingers, your soft and squishy fingers. almost like a baby's. but maybe it's because your hands had been in and out of the water for the past few hours, they've become wrinkly — just like an old man's.
you hear a low scoff. looking over from the corner of your eye, you follow yu iseol's gaze to see her looking at your interlocked hands tenderly.
the back of your ears grow heated at the sight, your eyes dart back to the path in front of you, determined not to look back again and have your eyes meet hers.
what was that anyway?
what was that look she had back there?
you silently hoped the shadow cast by the basket on your head was dark enough to hide the slight steam of bashfulness that was probably escaping the pores of your skin right then.
yu iseol shut her eyes, letting you lead her to wherever, she knew you wouldn't ever lead her down a path where she could trip and fall over. well, she couldn't even if she tried since she had good reflexes.
but still, she lets her guard down around you. it wasn't that hard to do that anyway. it was nice being around you, after all.
hand-in-hand, the two of you walked under the endless rows of trees, yu iseol basked in the brief pockets of warm sunlight that hit her face, listening to the soft synchronised breathing passing between you two. the critters chattered above your heads and the red leaves of autumn crunched beneath your feet.
iseol-sago... we're here.
there was a slight shake in your voice, it wasn't really out of fear, that much she could tell. she should ask the others later, they might know the reasons why better than she did.
you were lucky that your senior sister had volunteered to help today. what would have been a job that took you almost three hours was done in one, leaving you some time to kick off your shoes and take a break while waiting for the clothes to dry out.
a while back, the sect had some money to spare. and since it was also your birthday coincidentally, the elders had asked if there was anything you wanted.
you had asked for a wooden platform to be built where you hung the laundry, and what a great request it had been. now in autumn, surrounded by a sea of oranges and reds, you lie down with your legs hanging over the edge, face turned up to the skies as your eyes made out the shapes of the clouds.
normally, yu iseol would have taken this time to train or work on her physique. but she didn't have her sword with her, nor did she want to leave you alone in the forest to go and get it. besides, the weather today was nice, and a few hours of doing nothing wouldn't hurt anyone. that guy would probably even pay her money to take a breather for a bit.
you look over, watching her shuffle a little closer to you. giggling, you link your arm with hers, pulling her to your side, shoulders bumping against each other's.
the both of you stayed like that for a long time, eyes closed, lingering between staying awake and falling asleep. it wasn't until a cold gush of air blew across the forest, causing the trees to knock branches and the leaves to fly across the ground — jostling you awake.
by then, the sun was sinking down the mountain peaks, the once vibrant blues of the afternoon sky had been painted with streaks of evening pink.
you turn over to look at the girl still asleep next to you.
her long hair had fallen over her face, covering it almost completely. your hand reaches out, trembling a little, to brush it out of her visage. you couldn't help tucking it behind her ear, though you didn't want to push your luck further by letting your fingers linger near her face.
maybe it was the lighting, maybe it was something else.
for someone who didn't care about her appearance all that much, she sure didn't look the least bit shabby. your eyes trailed over her dark plum-brown locks that shone a deep indigo under the setting sun. it wasn't just her hair, the same orange light danced across the curve of her cheek — the slight plumpness that led down to her sharp jawline, angled perfectly to frame her soft lower lip topped with a cupid's bow that strung an arrow straight to your heart. her nose was pointed and a little small, the slope of it led your gaze up to her eyes. her lashes were long with each one hand-crafted by the gods to curl perfectly around her two downturned eyes, each holding a pool of pale violet that had turned into a blooming lilac with a thin golden ring circling the dark centre of her irises.
a pair that were looking straight back into yours.
your heart jumped up to your mouth. not expecting that she had woken up while you were busy staring at her so shamelessly.
hm.
yu iseol sounds in acknowledgement. her expression still as neutral as ever. though if you hadn't been so preoccupied with the panicking, you would have noticed the rosy tint on the tips of her ears.
she reached out and grabbed your neck in place, tilting it to face her. she leans down and placed her forehead against yours. and you found your breath stuck, hitched in your throat as you dared not move or make a sound. this was all too much for you! that loud and noisy thumps of your heart rang in your ears, and you wondered for a moment if yu iseol had heard it too.
hm. you're not sick.
she states, matter-of-factly and lifts herself off the platform, walking over to the clothesline where the hanging laundry had almost been forgotten. she collects the clothes calmly, as though whatever she pulled on you just now was just any other regular day.
you remained lying on that wooden platform, mind reeling from what just transpired. you wanted to yell, to scream, to throw yourself off the cliff but you couldn't do that while she was still here. you choked back from spitting out blood in sheer agony. if your senior sister kept playing with you like this, you doubt you had any longer to live.
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chung myung wonders what deity he had disrespected in his past life to be stuck with kids like yu iseol.
when she had come to him and the other three in the middle of training with the pretext of asking for a friend, he hadn't thought so far to expect a disaster like this.
he looks up to the heavens where his sa-hyungs and friends were looking down on him and contemplates if he should just lock these two girls in a room until they sort out themselves.
i am so... fucking tired of you all...
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