Yebin flirts. A lot. Not as much as Eunwoo of course, but still quite a bit. But unlike Eunwoo, who tries to fluster every breathing thing, Yebin has her regular victims.

Sungyeon is easily worked up. And if Yebin thinks her Nayoung voice is a little hot, well...Yebin doesn't really have an excuse for that. But it's fun to watch Sungyeon get flustered, then get mad, then get Nayoung. It's predictable but entertaining.

(Once, Yebin made the mistake of trying to flirt with Eunwoo and the other girl pounced. Literally. Yebin still doesn't know why, and she doesn't intend to find out.)

Siyeon is fun to flirt with because Siyeon has fun flirting too. Yebin never knows what Siyeon will do when she leans a little closer than necessary or whispers a double entendre to her over breakfast. Half the time, the younger girl just flips her off and continues whatever she's doing, much to the chagrin of Nayoung, who tries to keep it G-rated before eleven in the morning. But when Siyeon is in the mood, she gives just as good as she gets. It's all fun and games and Yebin is just glad someone will play along with her.

Kyla's reactions to her flirting are adorable. Well, everything Kyla does is adorable. Except for her penchant for unintentional electrocution and that one time she broke the television. But Kyla is an American girl and apparently, they're even closer than the Koreans, so when Yebin uses a line on her (she saves the super cringey ones for Kyla), Kyla just laughs and, if Yebin is lucky, fumbles through a line of her own. It's adorable.

Minkyung is her favorite victim. The way Minkyung's eyes crinkle when she smiles is really pretty and the way she ducks her head a little before she laughs is adorable and the way she covers when she's in the middle of chewing to add her two cents to a conversation but no one can understand her is superhumanly cute and the way she looks like a goddess in the morning before she cleans up with her rumpled hair and the imprints of wrinkled sheets still on her cheeks is, yeah. Why wouldn't Yebin flirt with her?

As Yebin sees it, she's so full of love it makes no sense to not share it. It would simply be unfair of her to keep it all inside. Yebin doesn't see the harm in a little more love.

Or rather, Yebin hadn't seen the harm until now. Apparently, she had miscalculated. Her reputation as a flirt had been helpful at first as an excuse for the casual touches and greasy lines that she directed at Minkyung, but now Yebin realizes through her constant flirting, she has effectively landed herself in the friend zone. Or flirt zone. Or something. Yebin doesn't know what to call it because it doesn't have a name. No one has been stupid enough to do it except her. Not even the people on Yahoo answers. She checked.

It's her reputation as a flirt that lands her in this situation. She's face down on her bed, flailing her limbs and making all sorts of weird faces into her mattress. Yebin doesn't want to admit that this is all her fault, but it definitely is. If only she hadn't flirted so much with Siyeon or Sungyeon or Kyla. This is her punishment for not being flirt-monogamous. Yebin is sure of it. If only she-

"What the hell are you doing?" Yebin snaps back into shape and flips over to see Siyeon crossing the room to her own bed, arms full of clean laundry. "You almost nailed me in the face. Watch your feet."

"Sorry." Yebin isn't particularly sorry. She's having an existential crisis. Of course her limbs wouldn't be particularly organized. Siyeon wouldn't understand. In fact, Siyeon is part of the problem. If-

"Yebin? Are you alright? You're acting weirder than normal." Siyeon has paused on her way to the dresser with an armload of hers and Yebin's shirts. She's looking at Yebin with her head slightly tilted.

"I'm fine. Super fine. The finest I've ever been. Ever. Like so fine." Yebin can never let Siyeon know about her problem. Siyeon would never let her live it down. She's effectively relationship-blocked herself through flirting. The irony isn't lost on her. It's so stupid. She can never let Siyeon know.

"This is about your thing with Minkyung, isn't it?" Yebin sits up so quickly she falls off her bed and bangs her shin on Siyeon's bedframe while attempting to recover. Siyeon shuts the dresser drawer and crosses back over to her bed for the next set of clothes, nudging Yebin's limp, rubbery leg out of the way.

Yebin snaps her limbs back into place and takes her seat back on the bed, rubbing her shin and trying her best to look as normal as she can. "Wh-How-N-No! Minkyung? Who's Minkyung? It's not a Minkyung thing!" How does Siyeon know? More importantly: what does Siyeon know?

"Sure. Okay. I'd be a little nervous to admit my feelings if I was a humanoid monster too." Siyeon dumps an armload of socks into the underwear drawer.

Yebin has never felt more offended. "Excuse you, you little sentient toaster element. And what books have you been reading? How do you even know what is?" Yebin flops back down onto the bed before remembering Siyeon's main point. "And I don't have feelings for Minkyung!"

"Sure. Okay. You definitely aren't using the Maknae line as decoys to flirt with Minkyung. And you definitely don't stare at her literally every second you're in the same room with her. And it isn't you that uses any excuse to get all touchy feely with her. And-"

"I-What? No!" Yebin splutters. What? How did Siyeon even notice any of that? And if Siyeon noticed, how had Minkyung not? Maybe... "Are you in love with me?"

Siyeon bursts into laughter, almost tripping on the edge of the carpet. "What? What the hell, Yebin? Not everyone you flirt with is in love with you." Siyeon is done folding laundry and has crossed back to her bed to sit on it with her back against the headboard as she takes her book off of her nightstand. Her phone lights up from her nightstand and she glances at it. "Looks like Era of Maidens just saved the day again. And I'm not. Into you. In case that wasn't clear."

Yebin slumps down into her pillow, partially in relief, partially in resignation. Siyeon knows. Siyeon thinks she's super lame. Everything is terrible. "Is it obvious?" Yebin looks over when she doesn't get a response. Siyeon has her head buried in her book. "Siy?"

"Told you not to call me that." Siyeon doesn't glance away from her book.

Yebin scoffs. "DdiDdi then?"

Siyeon flips her off and resumes reading. When she finishes the page, she dog-ears it and puts it on her nightstand. She resituates herself so she's facing Yebin. "I swear I'll never finish a book with everyone coming to Dr. Park's relationship counseling."

That catches Yebin's interest. "Really? Who was stupid enough to ask you for advice?"

Siyeon raises an eyebrow. "You, apparently. And why don't you focus on your own elephant."

Yebin is lost. "My what? And I didn't come to you for relationship counseling. I'm not even in a relationship."

"Sure. But you want to be. And you're asking me questions that are relationship focused."

Yebin huffs. Siyeon always manages to be a little right. Maybe it's all the books she reads. "Whatever. Anyway, as I was saying," Yebin pauses, looking for a better way to say it. "Is it really obvious that I'm into her?"

"Who?" Siyeon is smirking a little. 

"You know." Yebin won't be caught dead admitting something like this out loud. Someone might have developed super-hearing overnight.

"Do I?" Siyeon is smirking harder.

Yebin hates Siyeon right now. How illegal is roommate smothering? Could it be considered a crime of passion? "You used her name in this conversation. You know who it is!"

Siyeon tilts her head a bit, smirk still firmly in place. "I want to hear you say it."

And Yebin wants Siyeon's smirk to fall off her face. But talking to someone might not be a terrible idea and the fact that Siyeon already knows spares Yebin the humiliation of explaining her predicament to someone else. 

"If you don't know who you have feelings for, I can't help you." Siyeon starts to reach for her book slowly.

"Fine." She really hates Siyeon. "Minkyung."

"What about Minkyung?" Siyeon is still reaching for the book in slow motion.

Yebin wonders if she might be able to pass strangling Siyeon off as a lack of control over her limbs. But first, she needs help. Yebin sighs and gives Siyeon the most powerful glare she can muster. "I like Minkyung."

Siyeon has finally stopped reaching for the book, but apparently, she isn't done tormenting Yebin. "Sorry? I didn't catch that."

"For goodness sake Siyeon! I like Minkyung!"

Siyeon has forgone the smirk in favor of a satisfied grin. "Why didn't you just say so?" Yebin snarls and Siyeon raises her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. I'll help you. But it's so fun to see you squirm. Like, in discomfort. Not rubber limb squirming. I see enough of that."

"Help?" Yebin didn't put up with Siyeon to talk about her limbs.

Siyeon nods training her face into a more serious expression. "So. You like Minkyung." She says it way too loudly for Yebin's comfort.

Yebin glances at the open door. She stretches to close it and crosses the room to Siyeon's bed. She sits, back against the wall. "Can you be a little quieter?"

Siyeon makes no effort to lower her voice. "I thought the issue was that Minkyung doesn't know you like her. I'm doing you a favor."

"Well, I-" Yebin hates when Siyeon is right. "Fine. But how do I get her to notice me?"

"You live with her. Her noticing you isn't the problem."  Siyeon's phone lights up again. She picks it up, looking at the notification on the screen before putting it back on the nightstand. "Nayoung says pizza tonight."

"Noticing me as a, a..." Yebin struggles to find the right word. "suitor."

"A suitor? Are we in a Jane Austen novel? Why wasn't I informed? I'd have worn my petticoat."

"Shut up. How do I get her to notice that I like her?"

"Well for starters, you might want to stop flirting with the maknae line. As fun as it is to see Sungyeon worked up and being Nayoung, it's messing with your chances with Minkyung. At this point, she's just another flirting target."

"But she's not just a flirting target, she's the flirting target!"

Siyeon raises both eyebrows. "That's weirdly the most romantic thing I've ever heard you say."

Yebin's instincts kick in. "I must not be trying hard enough, then."

Siyeon looks at her like she's an idiot. Her phone lights up. From this angle, Yebin can just make out the word cheese. "I just told you to not flirt with me." She picks her phone up again and types a reply.

Yebin shrugs. "Instincts. I'm so used to flirting with you."

"Well stop."

Yebin sighs, knocking her head against the wall. "This is impossible. Even if she's the only one I flirt with, how will she notice I like her?"

Siyeon rolls her eyes. "I don't know. Why don't you grow a pair and fess up?" 

Yebin has never heard Siyeon talk like that. "Is that an Eunwoo quote?"

Siyeon shakes her head. "From my book. And I'm serious. Why don't you just tell her? Are you too scared?"

Yebin narrows her eyes. Her courage is her pride. "The issue isn't fear. It's that there's no normal way to bring it up."

"True. But since when are you normal?"

"You're the least helpful person I could have talked to. "Yebin starts to get up.

"Wait." Siyeon reaches out and jabs her in the side lightly. "Sorry. I'll help. Maybe you might try pretending I'm Minkyung. Minus the making out. Not that you make out with her, but just remember I'm not her."

Yebin rolls her eyes. "Duh. She's way hotter than you."

"Taller maybe, but definitely not hotter." Siyeon wiggles her fingers. "Remember? I'm a toaster element. And I think you're scared."

Yebin scoffs. "Of you?"

"No, you idiot. Of telling Minkyung how you feel."

"I told you already. There's no normal way to say 'Hey Minkyung, you're hot as hell. Also, I like you. Wanna date?'"

Siyeon's smiling weirdly. "That wasn't that hard, was it?"

"Huh?" Yebin is confused for a second before she realizes Siyeon is looking past her to the doorway. Then a sinking feeling takes over. "Siyeon? Do I want to turn around?" 

Siyeon doesn't answer. Instead, she nods to the person behind Yebin. "Why don't you tell me?"

Yebin turns around slowly in a way she thought only happened in those dramas Kyungwon cried over at three in the morning, her sense of foreboding only increasing with each millisecond. 

Siyeon takes Yebin's panic rotation as her chance to escape. "Bye Yebin! Bye Minky!"

--

A/N

Hey guys,

I had about 200 words of this on my phone for a week that turned into the first less-than-100 words. I had no idea where it was going to go (and didn't until I wrote the last sentence). Fun fact: this is the longest chapter so far at 2201 words.

If it's unclear, Siyeon is a meddler and maybe shouldn't have a phone. The text (from Minky) was probably something like "nayoung says only cheese and pepperoni. i hate plain cheese :(" to which Siyeon might have replied "come 2 my rm and beg for some of my pizza. >:)" 

I love Min|k/g|y|eo/u|ng. I love from her forehead to her hands. She's my bias. Yebin's my second bias. (But gosh is picking a bias in this group hard...I love all of them so much.)

I have four more chapters to write before I will allow myself to repeat narrators. I want to get the feel of everyone before I start narrowing in on characters. Is Eunwoo next? Or Sungyeon? Or one of 2Won?

Anyway, I've been hinting at this for a while, and as fun as it is to have character dance around each other, I figured that wasn't a MinBin thing to do. They both seem like awkward go-getters. 

Again, thanks for reading and leave questions in the comments if you've got them.

Elly

(p.s. Era of Maidens is a generous translation of SNSD)