a/n: i know it seems like i ended the first part of this story on a good note, but i definitely wrote the first part of the story and then some, so its actually didnt end, i just didnt want it to be forever incomplete so i just ended it back there in chapter 17 - but yeah hehehe the story goes on and i decided to come back to this because it is a slice of life that i wrote for everyone bc we all need some sweet fluffy goodness in the fandom

this will be in slow incremental updates (as you can see through my oneshot collection i am still working on finding what wenrene voice i want to write nowadays) i feel like ive kind of lost my way writing wenrene and its due in part that a friend of mine is no longer in the fandom, so ive been trying to figure out what about wenrene really makes the ship good and this story at the crux of it was borne from the wenrene dynamic i love so much so of course i wanted to add to it: it is fluffy, cute, our parents are dating, just many good things

anyway, this winter special is what i originally called "meet the kids" LOL we already know that sooyoung exists, but of course theres yeri which i still needed to introduce (trust me, finding her voice back in 2020 was the toughest BUT i will perservere!) and im kind of getting the groove of it...just slowly so please be patient

sorry for the long a/n but enough of me! onto a long time coming update (dont worry im chipping away at youre a reason and bae's anatomy - like i said...just trying to find my voice again) 

Wendy pulls on her purse when Joohyun comes out of her study. 

“Are you going out?” Joohyun asks. She comes down the stairs drinking blood from one of her silver cans and donning goggles on top of her head. She’d mention needing to run some tests for her company and pulling some research for her professor so when Wendy woke up, Joohyun was nowhere to be found. But Wendy knew that Joohyun was in her study being her mad scientist self.

And apparently she hasn't slept if she's just coming out of her study at her normal waking hour.

“Yep,” Wendy answers, pulling on her coat. “Did you get any rest?” 

Joohyun meets Wendy at the door. She places a hand on her waist and kisses her forehead. “Where are you going?” she deflects with ease.

Wendy frowns at Joohyun and takes her hand off her waist. “I’m going to meet Joy and Seulgi to see the Christmas lights,” she answers. “Are you going to sleep at some point?”

Joohyun slips out of Wendy’s grasp and moves to deposit the can in the recycling bin. “This is when I’m usually awake.” She goes to grab another can from the fridge. 

Wendy narrows her eyes at Joohyun and follows her to the fridge. She reaches for the can from behind Joohyun and slips an arm around her waist to pull her away from the fridge. “You need to rest,” she emphasizes. “Drinking this isn’t going to make up for the fact that you’re tired.” 

Joohyun chuckles as she lets herself be pulled away from the fridge. “You weren’t worried last night when it was round three--” 

“Aish!” Wendy scolds, squeezing Joohyun’s waist. “That’s not the point.” Joohyun continues to chuckle against Wendy. “You need to get some sleep. You get really cranky when you don’t sleep and hungrier, which is clearly not going to be good.” 

Joohyun rolls her eyes as she turns around in Wendy’s arm to hold her in return. “How long are you going out for?” she continues to evade. 

Wendy tilts her head at the question. “A little late. You know how Joy and Seulgi are.” 

“Are you going to see the Christmas lights for that long?” 

Wendy chuckles. “We are also going shopping and getting dinner.” 

“Aaah, okay.” Joohyun thinks for a moment before she asks, “Did you want me to drive you?” 

“It’s okay, I was going to take the train.” 

Joohyun looks outside and purses her lips. Wendy catches the quietness and realizes that Joohyun is asking her more questions than usual. Joohyun isn’t usually curious as to her comings and goings. “What’re you going to do?” she asks. 

Joohyun actually pauses for a moment to think. “I suppose I can keep working,” she thinks aloud before she quickly falls silent as if she’s rifling through her mind for something to do.

“Did you finish your work?” Wendy asks curiously. 

Joohyun nods before adding, “But I mean, there’s always work to do. I just got the pressing stuff out of the way.” She bobs her head back and forth, thinking of what else she could do. 

Then it clicks for Wendy. “Did you finish all your work so we could hang out?” she asks with a growing smile on her face. 

Joohyun’s cheek twitches in response. “We haven’t gone out together since we got back from Jeju,” she simply says. “I didn’t know you’d have plans this close to Christmas, but I should’ve guessed since Seulgi is from Seoul.” 

Wendy nods. “I usually spend Christmas with Seulgi’s family.”

“Ah,” Joohyun sounds. Again, trying not to give anything away but Wendy sees the flicker in her eyes, it changes into a deep brown color that makes her look innocent. And adorably lost. 

Wendy feels her heart smile at Joohyun. “You know? You can come with us,” she offers, rubbing the small of Joohyun’s back.

Joohyun shrugs. “No, it’s okay,” she responds. “I don’t want to intrude.”

Wendy chuckles this time, pulling Joohyun closer. “You’re not intruding. In fact, Sooyoung was complaining about how you weren’t answering your texts.” Joohyun’s eyes widen in surprise and Wendy nods affirmatively. “We have a whole group text going on.” She reaches for her phone in her purse with Joohyun still holding onto her. She pulls up the messages to show Joohyun. “See? She kept texting for you.” 

Joohyun clicks her tongue at all the messages with her name in it. “That kid…,” she murmurs. “That’s annoying. I’m glad I didn’t have my phone on me.”

Wendy laughs. “You say that but you were just about to start pouting because I was leaving to hang out with them.” 

Joohyun rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t going to pout. Like I said, I have some other work I could be doing.” 

“But you were trying to get a lot of work done, so we could spend time together,” Wendy points out playfully. “You know, you could’ve just asked me.” 

“Eung?” 

“I’d like it if you asked me out on a proper date.”

Joohyun thinks for a moment before she concedes. “I suppose that would clear things up better." 

Wendy pecks Joohyun quickly with growing excitement. "I look forward to it but right now, we should get going. The trains are busy today because it’s Christmas Eve."

Joohyun looks at Wendy with wide eyes. "I'm going too? I didn't say I was going."

"Of course you're coming! Why would I third wheel those two when I can bring my beautiful girlfriend?" Wendy leans in flirtatiously and bats her eyelashes.

Joohyun scoffs. "You're incorrigible."

They end up driving because someone couldn’t keep their hands to themselves and made them late. 

“You know we would’ve been a little earlier if you didn’t have to leave a massive hickey on my neck,” Joohyun says as she flips the collar of her peacoat up even though she has a scarf on. She isn’t cold whatsoever, but it’s a style that she intends to own at the moment. 

Wendy blushes and plays with the strap to her purse as she walks alongside Joohyun. “It’s not my fault you wanted to wear that button up,” she weakly argues. She glances at Joohyun, slipping her hands into her peacoat and striding alongside her like she’s on a runway. 

Joohyun glances over to Wendy with a smirk on her face. “I swear you're the vampire in this relationship by the way you keep attacking my neck,” she jokes.

“Yah!” Wendy snaps as she slaps Joohyun’s arm. Her eyes scan the area around them to make sure that no one is listening to their conversation. “You can’t just go around saying things like that. Can you?” 

Joohyun chuckles. “The less weird you make it sound, the less anxious you’ll be about it. It’s why when you told me all those things you caught onto, I tried not to say anything. It made you less suspicious of me.” 

Wendy purses her lips at Joohyun. “I am still a pabo about that,” she grumbles to herself. Joohyun shakes her head as they continue to walk. 

They meet Sooyoung and Seulgi outside of the fairgrounds where the lights are set up. Seulgi is sipping on hot chocolate while Sooyoung is taking selfies of them.

“Wait,” Wendy suddenly says, grabbing onto Joohyun’s sleeve. “Are we going to tell them that we’re dating?” 

Joohyun looks at Wendy in confusion. “I thought that was your intention when you dragged me out here.” 

Wendy rolls her eyes. “I did not drag you. I just said I wanted to spend time with my girlfriend.” 

Joohyun rolls her eyes in response. “Do you want to tell them?” Wendy nods, even if she's a bit nervous. “Okay, then we will tell them.” Joohyun grabs Seungwan's hand. She doesn’t wait for another response from Wendy as she strides forward towards the couple. 

Wendy is dragged over by Joohyun's determination.. 

As they approach, Sooyoung catches their presence first and stops taking photos to pout at the older woman. 

“Why are you two so late?” she whines. “The line for the ferris wheel got longer.” 

Joohyun looks to Wendy to answer and Wendy’s eyes go wide at how Joohyun wants her to answer. Wendy is halfway to stammering out an answer when Joohyun bluntly answers, “We were having .” 

Sooyoung’s jaw drops while Seulgi sputters out her hot chocolate all over the ground. 

Wendy automatically grabs at Joohyun’s shoulder in shock. Joohyun just looks at her with a cheeky toothy smile, her eyes a shining dark brown shade.

“Unnie!” Sooyoung exclaims. Both Wendy and Joohyun turn to look at her. She stares between the two of them with wide eyes. “You two are actually--” 

Seulgi suddenly starts laughing aloud as she sidles up beside Sooyoung and claps her shoulder. “You owe me 50,000 won and laundry this month!” 

Sooyoung looks at Seulgi, completely betrayed before she looks at Wendy and Joohyun again. “You’re joking right? You’re not--”

There’s a haughty smile on Joohyun’s face as she stares at Sooyoung. “Wendy and I are dating. Is that a problem?” 

Sooyoung’s jaw drops. “How did this happen? When did this happen? How come you didn’t tell us?!” 

“Less than the three years you’ve been with Seulgi,” Joohyun counters. Sooyoung turns a bright shade of red, while Seulgi once again sprays her hot chocolate onto the ground. “Exactly.” 

“Were you the one that told her?!” Sooyoung immediately advances on Wendy. 

“No! Of course I didn’t!” Wendy defends as she steps next to Joohyun. “How do you know it’s been three years?” 

“Wait, Joohyun unnie, you knew?” Seulgi interrupts with wide eyes. “Wait a moment.” She grabs onto Joohy