One Shots {Chaelisa}

{past}

A/N: credits goes to the awesome annamorris

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"Don't yell at me like I'm a fucking child!"

"Don't throw scissors!"

Chaeyoung's protest is weak against Lisa's surprising anger. She hasn't seen her girlfriend like this since Ella, Jisoo and Jennie's daughter, had meddled in her photo studio.

They'd been working in the kitchen, struggling with a new recipe Roseanne had torn from a magazine. She'd asked Lisa to pass her the scissors to open a package of frozen peas, and the tool had been tossed haphazardly across the countertop, sent skittering to the floor near Roseanne's bare foot.

Their standoff lasts only a moment longer before Roseanne caves. "I'm sorry. I... that wasn't necessary."

Lisa shakes her head as if warding off a haze. She pinches the bridge of her nose, a guilty expression plastered across hard features.

''No, no, it's my fault. I overreacted."

"I just worry, you know. That's all it is," Roseanne says. "It's the teacher in me. Got to keep all my kids safe." She means it to be a joke, she really does, but she doesn't miss the way Lisa winces.

"I-, I'm sorry-"

"Ah, I'm fine. It's fine."

Lisa tries to shrug her off, the way she always does, the way she's had to her whole life. Just letting things roll off her back as if nothing bothers her, never letting her cracks show.

"Lisa..." Chaeyoung prompt is soft, gentle, as if she's speaking to a cornered animal.

When Lisa meets her gaze, her eyes are world-weary. They flicker with the memories of someone far older than the lines of her face reveal. Her shoulders seem to carry the weight of several lifetimes, and Chaeyoung is determined to share the burden. Lisa sighs and settles on their soft couch.

"I've, ah, never quite been a kid," she begins awkwardly. Roseanne smiles encouragingly. She knows vulnerability does not come easily to Lisa.

"Had to grow up fast, you know. 'Tween caring for myself and a baby, wasn't much room for recklessness. 'Specially accidents in the kitchen." She pauses here, and Roseanne understands that this isn't about her.

It's about a little girl forced by the world to take on far more than should be expected of a child.

Lisa runs a nervous hand through her unruly curls before continuing. She shakes her head.

"Even in the system, even when the grownups were supposed to be lookin' after me and Jennie.... well, it was hard to believe a bloke to have your best interests at heart when he had his hand up your top the second his wife left the house."

Lisa's alluded to her time in foster care but never expanded much beyond mentions of pervy men. Rosie had suspected, on the rare occasions that she had permitted herself to speculate, that Lisa and her baby sister had seen some of the worst the system had to offer. Chaeyoung had never probed, only offered a warm embrace when frustrated men raised their voice or someone stepped a bit too close.

And, for the most part, that was enough. Lisa would tell her if she wanted to, and until today, she'd never shown any inclination.

"It's just a bit strange, even still, having someone to look out for me. Never really been treated like a kid before." She clears her throat.

"I know you can take care of yourself," Chaeyoung says sincerely. "I didn't mean it to come off that way."

"I know." Lisa takes her hand. "Just a sore spot. Still getting used to having another person around and all that." She waves dismissively.

"Well, you'd better get used to it," Roseanne teases. "You don't have to do everything yourself anymore."

Lisa hums and lays her head in the crook of the blonde's neck. "Can't say I'm upset about it."

"Just as long as you promise not to go around tossing scissors across the room." She can all but hear Lisa rolling her eyes.

"Yes, Miss Park."

"Oh, is that where we are now?" The older girl laughs sweetly, leaning down to meet Lisa's lips with her own. She can taste the apology, the forgiveness, on her tongue.

Lisa doesn't often speak of her past, and Roseanne, ever patient, will never push.

But, after that day, the stories come just a little easier, the weight on Lisa's shoulders a bit lighter. Their love, built on trust and communication, grows stronger.