“Wheein.”

“Wheepup.”

“Wheein,” Hyejin whines, giving her Best Friend in The World™ her best impression of a scolded puppy look while still maintaining her fatality. Wheein, crossing her arms and glaring (even with that, she still looks extremely adorable because, well, she's Wheein), pointedly ignores the pawing at her arm and gives an icy huff. Then she fixes her cute glare on Byulyi and tries her best to look scary.

“I can't believe you guys had the nerve to keep something like this from me! Me, your friend! So you can go blabbing about it to Hyejin and poor Wheein here is left in the dark because she doesn't do psychology, blah blah, because she's a drama kid - oh, my heart has been wounded!” Wheein clutches dramatically at her chest for good effect. “Even Yongsun here knew, and she hasn't even known you for as long as I did! Excuse you, miss Moon Byulyi, how dare you withhold such information from me?”

Byulyi cringes a little, but she can't help the laugh - Jung Wheein is hopeless at looking angry, and it shows. “I'm sorry?”

“Sorry my !” Wheein gives Byulyi an aggressive air slap, nearly smacking the tray out of a waitress’s hands. “Oops, my bad, Eunbi!”

“Next time try aiming for the neck, it hurts more,” Eunbi the Waitress says, smiling an angelic cute smile to hide the satan she is inside (Wheein and Hyejin know; Hwang Eunbi and Jung Eunbi, though they share the same first name, are nothing alike). She places their orders on the table, starting by unloading the questionable quantity of cakes that Wheein ordered.

“Well, it’s only been, like, a week since I visited Dr Kim, so I suppose it's not too late?” Byulyi says hopefully.

“A week, a week,” Wheein mutters, and though her face still looks (cutely) mutinous, Byulyi already knows she's forgiven.

“You should really learn to keep your close friends updated, Psych, that way you're one step away from social isolation,” Yongsun says, sipping her black coffee. “Also, this is better than the stuff you make. You'd better step your game up, girl.”

“And you'd better shut up before you Catch These Hands.”

Wheein glances curiously between the two quietly bickering individuals. She doesn't really understand their dynamic. They seem really close, like, on a close friend level (of course not comparable to her friendship with Hyejin, because #WheeHye is still the number one brotp), and yet the way that they look at each other is completely alien to her. It's not like they're completely enamoured with each other, but it's not the way that friends should be looking at each other either. Wheein notices, but she decides not to say anything about it.

“Psych? Is that your nickname for her?” Hyejin asks.

“Ah, Byulyi just seems so overused, you know? I don't really know where Psych came from, it kinda just popped out one day. Sounded cute, I suppose.”

“Awwwwww,” Wheein and Hyejin chorus, clutching at each other in sync and blinking their dumb eyes at the older two.

“That was also back when I thought she was a demon or a succubus coming to haunt me from hell because of my sins or something. Like, I was having the whole yellow eye hallucination and all,” Byulyi winces slightly, “And the fact that some spawn of Beelzebub was trying to call me by a nickname was terrifying.”

“I'll take the fact that you called me a succubus as a compliment, because not everyone is pretty enough to be a succubus,” Yongsun says, eating a chunk of double chocolate cake while batting her eyelashes at Byulyi.

“Yeah yeah yeah, so you're pretty,” Byulyi mumbles darkly.

“I feel like I'm watching an extremely lesbian soap opera,” Wheein says to Hyejin in a whisper-but-not-whisper, all while keeping her eyes trained on Yongsun and Byulyi.

“Please don’t make me choke.”

“Oh don’t worry, I bet there’s more that you should be choking on-”

“Please shut your heteroual mouth up,” Byulyi hisses, pointing her coffee spoon at the pup threateningly. “Anyway, as I was saying, like, seven minutes ago, Dr Kim said that he’s positive of my recovery and repressing of psychotic symptoms.”

“You do seem to have the remarkable ability to repress emotions,” Hyejin says, half full of apple crumble.

“However good she is at repressing emotions, I think I have to take the cake for this one,” Yongsun says smoothly, sliding her fork across the table and stealing a chunk of one of Wheein’s double chocolate cakes. She shoves the forkful into and gives Wheein an infuriatingly innocent grin.

“What the hell, Yongsun!” Wheein says, appalled.

“Aw, Wheein, you should be glad that you’re in the comani of my wonderful sly self instead of complaining-”

“Did you just say comani instead of company?”

“Did I?”

Wheein and Yongsun stare at each other for a good ten seconds, before Wheein says, in a low voice full of emotion, “Decal?”

Yongsun loses her grip on her fork and grabs Wheein’s outstretched hand. “Comani?”

They both proceed to burst into a flurry of fake crying, in which they somehow miraculously manage to avoid getting their hair all messy with cake, and Byulyi and Hyejin can only watch from the sidelines in wonder and mostly confusion.

“How did this meeting today turn from me telling you two about my psychological condition to Wheein and Yongsun bonding over...what...decalcomanie?” Byulyi whispers to Hyejin, who can only shrug, because hell if she knows either.

“This just reflects our weird friendship,” Hyejin whispers back, “At least Wheein seems to be accepting her?”

“And you’re saying that you’re okay with Yongsun?”

Hyejin shrugs again, glancing at the two still fake crying about decal and comani. “Yongsun seems like a fairly decent person. You didn’t see her trying to suppress her panic when she saw the Unmentionable happen last time, she was trying to act all tough but I could see that she was goddamn scared. She cares about you, and she cares a lot. I think that’s enough to make me think of her as a good person.”

Byulyi purses her lips, feeling that warm feeling in her chest again, and she swallows. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”  

It takes a good three minutes of Decal! Comani! until Wheein and Yongsun cool down and Wheein decides that she wants Yongsun as her future sister-in-law.

“Why sister-in-law and not just sister?” Hyejin questions.

“Obviously because Byul is our sister from another mister and they're Meant To Be, so yeah, I think sister-in-law is an appropriate term,” Wheein says, smiling her dumb dimpled smile, and Hyejin nods approvingly.

“What meant to be?” Byulyi blanches. “Me? With Yongsun? Ugh.”

Yongsun gasps, clutching her heart, and Wheein mimes her heart shattering into pieces. “I'm hurt, Psych. Did I not give you a cute pet name, become your favourite patient and also charm your pants off? I'm very insulted.”

“First of all. I didn't ask for the pet name. Second of all,  I don't show favouritism, and third of all, I'm less charmed than I am disgusted,” Byulyi says, ticking off her fingers as she goes. She ends off with a mock bow and sips her coffee with her pinky sticking out.

“K.O,” Wheein proclaims solemnly, and Yongsun proceeds to lay her head on the table in defeat.

“Well played,” Yongsun mumbles from her position on the table, raising a hand to give Wheein a high five. “It was a valiant effort, Comani.”

Hyejin makes a hurt expression. “So now you're so close to Yongsun that you can almost finish each other's-”

“-sandwiches? No no no, Hyejin, Hyejin is the only one best friend I have!” Wheein cooes immediately, latching onto the sulky Hyejin and rubbing her arms soothingly. “Decal is only my sister-in-law, nothing else! You're still my bff Hyejin!”

Byulyi sips her coffee in the midst of the chaos and shakes her head, smiling fondly. I'm friends with a bunch of idiots.

Byulyi then realises that they have really deviated from the main topic of their meeting at the cafe - simply for Byulyi to get her friends up to speed with her condition. And she finds that this is much better than talking about her condition, because they are bickering like they always do and joking with each other, all of them acutely aware of Byulyi’s psychological problems, yet for now not acknowledging it as a somber topic. It lessens her fear of her friends unintentionally excluding her because of the boundaries that they are afraid to cross - they treat her as they always would, and she's grateful for it.

As the other three talk, she watches. Her eyes fall naturally upon the woman sitting next to her. Yongsun has her hair down and she's in a plain white shirt and jeans - she still looks the same, but Byulyi can sense that she's changed a lot. The Yongsun she's seeing now is miles different from the Yongsun she knew six months ago.

And while the current Yongsun still has the capability of being the Yongsun from six months ago, Byulyi has the sense that she doesn't want to.

“Oh, Byul,” Wheein says, dragging her back to the present.

“Yeah?”

“Have you been keeping up with Mememoo news lately? I can't remember who you're a fan of, but recently there was this article about Wheel Tin communicating in signs with a deaf fan!” Wheein’s eyes get all sparkly like some anime character’s. “Wheel Tin is my fave, fyi.”

“Wheel Tin knows sign language? That's really great of her. I haven't been keeping up with Mememoo lately. Just - issues, y’know. But Wheel Tin - wow.”

“Yeah! I know a few basic signs, but not enough to communicate.”

“Ooh! Teach me, senpai!” Hyejin says.

Wheein proceeds to show the three other women a series of signs, tongue poking out from between her lips as she tries to remember them. She gives up after the seventh sign, for ‘I'm hungry’, because she forgot the rest and she wants her cake.

While Yongsun Googles curse words in sign language and Wheein expands her extensive swear list, Hyejin speaks to Byulyi.

“How long are you keeping your job for? You said you're going on hiatus, right? I hope this isn't a sensitive question or anything.”

“Oh, don't worry, it's not sensitive. I'm just - I don't know, a little upset about it. Um, I have one more week to tie up any loose ends with my patients before I go on hiatus officially. Why?”

Hyejin hesitates. “Wheein and I were wondering - since you'd be out of a job and all - if you ever needed financial support or anything, we don't have much, but we could always help-”

“No - Hyejin-” Byulyi stammers.

“Hyejin,” Yongsun interjects, and Byulyi falls silent. Yongsun smiles at Wheein and Hyejin, and something in the smile - fierce, yet soft, and protective - makes the two listen up as well. “Thank you for offering, but you two are in Uni, you'll need the funds for your education. I'm working and you're forgetting that I was once engaged to a filthy rich dude who left money in my account, so I will provide for Psych until she can get another job.”

“Rich, cool, pretty and knows more swear words than a sailor,” Wheein sighs. “Best sister-in-law ever.”

“Since when was this an agreement? I do have money saved, you know,” Byulyi huffs, though it doesn't really sound angry because damn, she's so goddamned touched by Wheein and Hyejin. What did I ever do to deserve such good friends?

“It was an agreement since forever, hun,” Yongsun says, “Just roll with it. I'm providing for you, and that's that. Full stop. Period.”

“Assertive. I bet Yongsun’s a dom and Byulyi’s a sub,” Hyejin whispers loudly.

“I can hear you, !” Byulyi yells, groaning. Touched-ness revoked. My friends are all idiots.

-

After Wheein and Hyejin left the cafe to return to their dorm - “Assignments, damn assignments all the time,” Wheein muttered - Yongsun and Byulyi remain sitting on their chairs.

“So,” Yongsun an eyebrow. “You going anywhere?”

“Well, it’s a Saturday so I would normally just go back home but,” Byulyi sighs. “I don't really feel like going home now. It's kind of depressing being alone at home on a Saturday.”

“Well,” Yongsun says, standing up. “Good thing you’re not alone today then. Come on, let’s go walk around that park that’s near here, I’m really full of cake and I need some digestion aid right now. Uh,” She pauses, “if that’s okay with you?”

“No - yeah, that’s fine,” Byulyi mumbles, slinging her bag on her shoulder and standing as well.

“Leggo,” Yongsun kind of smiles, and they walk out of the cafe together into the moderately warm afternoon. Byulyi sticks her hands in her pockets, and there’s a comfortable silence that settles between them.

When did it get so comfortable between us?

Byulyi gnaws on her lower lip as they walk. The park that Yongsun was talking about is only about five minutes away, and by the time they reach it, Byulyi’s bitten through skin and she’s sorely regretting her bad habit. She the blood off her lower lip and focuses on the feeling of the sun on her skin and breathing in fresh air.

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