[A/N]

 

i apologize for the wait but here it is! (ish)

yes this is a fluffy chapter.... rip me

 

ᵘᵘᵁᵁᵁᵘᵍʰʰᴴᴴᴴʰ get a room

 

---

 

 

"Miss Nayeon," the teacher sighed. "I'm sure you know you can't take notes like that."

 

He couldn't believe that even if Im Nayeon was quieter now, he still had to scold her. He thought the start of a relationship for Nayeon would make her more tame, but he thought wrong. A few students who weren't updated on the recent gossip of the school turned towards Im Nayeon and...

 

The hand she was holding unto?

 

Mina paused her note-taking and waited for her girlfriend to speak up, because, well, her girlfriend was Im Nayeon. She was still unfamiliar with the amount of PDA they've been showing lately, and looked down on her notes with a certain redness on her cheeks. She should've expected that being in a couple with arguably the most popular girl at school would garner some attention, but she didn't expect her own girlfriend to be doing most of that work.

 

"I happen to be left-handed, sir," Nayeon teased (lied). Her right hand was occupied at the moment and no one, not even the teacher, could stop her from letting go.

"You don't even have a pencil out."

The class watched as Nayeon stiffly bent down, not wanting to undo her hold on Mina's soft left hand, and reached for the only pen she kept in her bag. The teacher raised an eyebrow at her as she sat back up with a smirk.

He wanted to get used to Nayeon's recent... antics, but he couldn't help but get distracted by this side of her he hasn't seen before. Well, he couldn't possibly be more distracted than Nayeon was with Mina. He didn't know if he preferred when Nayeon slept in class or when she didn't take her eyes off of Myoui Mina. (But much to his dismay, Nayeon's eyes weren't on him in both cases.)

Maybe he should make Mina stand in front of the blackboard so Nayeon could somewhat pay attention to what he was teaching.

"Y-your hand's sweating," Mina whispered. She held back her giggle as Nayeon abruptly let go, wiped her palm against her skirt with a strong enough force to start a fire, and went back to holding her hand.

 

 

Mina looked incredibly soft on that Wednesday morning. Her fluffy red earmuffs matched her fluffy red cheeks as they walked through the snow. They made it hard for her to hear Nayeon at times, but Nayeon just spoke louder so she wouldn't have to take it off.

Either way, the harsh wind made it troublesome for them to talk. They spent most of the walk to school in silence, making a mutual decision to speed walk there to avoid freezing to death. (Nayeon couldn't tell Mina how adorable she looked squinting at the cold while half of her face was taking cover behind her also matching red scarf.)

Mina had a hard time keeping her hood on from the powerful gusts, which obviously didn't go unnoticed by Nayeon. Mina was about to give up on constantly lifting it up and let her small head succumb to the chill until she felt a slight tug at her hood.

And despite Mina's protests, despite the cold getting to Nayeon's hand through her thin gloves, despite her arm aching from being lifted that high, despite looking like an idiot on their way to school, Nayeon held onto Mina's hood to keep it from falling. And she wasn't planning on letting go for the rest of the way.

 

 

They didn't care for the rumours anymore. They, especially Nayeon, made sure everyone saw their hand-holding, their affectionate touches, their semi-awkward attempts of a hug.

 

 

Nayeon, of course, was proud to show off. (Mina was as well, but she wasn't the one smirking at every passer-by, supposedly trying to make everyone jealous.)

Nayeon was proud to show off even when she forgot her gloves one day. Even if that day had sub-zero temperature. Even if Nayeon was sure she might lose her hand from frostbite. Even then.

Because she had Mina's hand in hers. Because Mina slowly dragged their intertwined hands into her jacket pocket, just like how they do it in dramas. Because Mina also wanted to keep her warm, but not before muttering a lighthearted 'idiot' at Nayeon's forgetfulness.

 

Because even if Nayeon was an idiot, she was Mina's idiot.

 

The students realized that the rumours weren't affecting them anymore. Most believed that they were indeed not faking it. Some envied the way they looked at each other. Some rejoiced that Nayeon was spending her time on other matters than bullying. (Even if she wasn't any less intimidating when she wanted to be.) Some wished they could find their own Myoui Mina to their Im Nayeon, or the other way around.

 

 

-

 

 

Mina and Nayeon were like any other couple.

 

"U-um," Nayeon hesitated. "How do people do this?"

 

Any normal couple going through normal couple things.

 

"You're... kind of really s-stiff," Mina quietly muttered as she felt Nayeon tense up.

 

And just like any other couple, things were awkward at first.

 

"I'm trying my best, okay," Nayeon huffed. Her position didn't exactly seem as natural as she would've thought. She was pretty sure she wasn't doing it correctly, because her arm started hurting.

 

But with time, they started to be more and more familiar with each other-

 

"D-do... you want me to bend down a bit?" Mina shyly asked. She felt like Nayeon was doing all the work. "You don't really look comfortable."

"That's because our heights are almost the same," Nayeon grunted, having trouble reaching over. "Lemme just..."

"O-ow," Mina winced.

 

-or not.

 

"I'm sorry-" Nayeon panicked, retracting her arm.

"It's okay! You... can keep it there."

Mina was closer than usual. This much skinship made it hard for Nayeon to breathe. Nayeon nervously glanced down at Mina.

They haven't done this before, and Nayeon didn't know how Mina was going to react. She didn't want to seem forceful into doing something Mina wasn't ready for.

But the small smile on the corner of Mina's lips reassured Nayeon.

It was a smile that meant that Nayeon was doing something right.

 

"Hope I don't start sweating," Nayeon breathed out in prayer.

Mina snorted at Nayeon's accidental confession.

"Wait-I-I didn't say that out loud... did I?"

Mina bent down by laughing harder that Nayeon's arm almost fell from her shoulders.

 

The couple had tried something different today. Nayeon offered to put her arm over Mina's shoulders as they walked, rather than holding hands. As Mina was just slightly smaller in height, Nayeon had to lift her arm higher to fully wrap it around Mina.

They considered this as progress in their relationship as they've successfully eliminated all the space in between them-

 

"You..." Nayeon playfully tightened her grip around Mina's neck in embarrassment. "Stop laughing!"

Unfortunately, Nayeon's hand slightly grazed a certain area on Mina's torso by accident. She abruptly pulled back in shame and distanced herself from Mina, who put her hands over her chest.

"I-I'M SORRY!"

 

-or not.

 

 

-

 

 

Mina snuggled closer into Nayeon's neck. It was a friday night after another long week at school, and they decided it was a perfect time for a movie night. The flashing screen of the random romantic comedy they selected was the only light in the room, illuminating their faces and the shape of their legs under the shared blanket. 

 

"How does he do that so coolly?" Mina wondered. 

The male lead had pulled back the girl from her wrist as she was walking away. He grabbed her just gently enough to not hurt her, but strong enough for them to end up face to face. Mina admired how romantic it looked.

"Hmph," Nayeon huffed out of jealousy and courage. "I could show you how."

Mina's soft laughter in the crook of her neck made her confidence melt, and Nayeon decided that she could show Mina... on another day.

 

Mina felt that she was obviously not the one with the most experience in relationships, and she had to put most of her trust into Nayeon leading the way. She let Nayeon hold her hand first, hug her first, put her arms around her first. She knew Nayeon made sure Mina was comfortable with everything, and she appreciated it. However, Mina still wanted to contribute to their relationship, even if Nayeon didn't mind taking the first step.

She saw Nayeon excusing herself to go to the bathroom, and Mina saw her chance. She wanted to be able to do something first this time. But the only thing on her mind was every romantic gesture from the movie they were watching, and Mina decided she was going to give it a try...

 

Mina suddenly grabbed unto Nayeon's wrist as she got up, but she didn't calculate how much force she was supposed to use as she saw Nayeon rapidly leaning backwards, seemingly going to crash onto Mina.

But Nayeon's reflexes took over and she turned around, landing on one knee on the seat cushion and one hand on the couch behind Mina to steady herself.

Her position was awkward, her heart was beating, she almost fell on Mina, but Nayeon found herself towering over the girl, half-straddling her, and most importantly... they were face to face.

 

"Like... like this?" Mina quietly said, looking up at Nayeon for reassurance. Is this how you do it?

 

Nayeon couldn't see Mina's face clearly. Her body was blocking the light of the TV screen that was still playing their movie in the background. But what she could see was how close she was to Mina. She could still feel the grip Mina had on her wrist, and she was starting to feel her arms and legs weakening by the second. 

Nayeon was flustered, Mina was flustered, but they both knew the only thing that can come out of this situation. Nayeon opted to go with the flow and time seemed to pass slowly as she started to slowly lean forward. She watched as Mina nervously shut her eyes in anticipation, and-

 

And Nayeon pulled back with a small cough.

 

"Sorry, I..." Nayeon apologized as she cleared and stood back up properly. "I almost fell on you."

Mina immediately opened her eyes again at the sound of Nayeon's voice and snapped back from her daze.

"Oh... oh! Yeah, no, it's-" Mina stuttered. She remembered she was holding unto Nayeon and nervously let go with a sad smile. "-it's okay-it's my... my fault..."

 

Nayeon had to restrain herself from bashing her head into the wall from embarrassment on the way to the bathroom. She washed her face with cold water, hoping the blush on her cheeks would dissipate. 

 

It wasn't the right time, Nayeon thought.

 

She was insecure.

Im Nayeon was insecure. 

She didn't want their first kiss to be like this. Not with her popcorn breath, not with the possibility of her accidentally burping from all the Pepsi she drank, not when... not when she didn't know if she was ready or not.

Nayeon started regretting it. It was the perfect setting. No one was around but Mina. No one was around but the person who made the effort to initiate it, the person who probably wouldn't care about her bad breath, the person who Nayeon let down. She mentally slapped herself, wishing she could turn back time.

 

Nayeon should've leaned in.

 

 

-

 

 

"Is this part okay..." Mina took a deep breath.

 

And apparently Mina wanted to try a lot of things for the first time. And one of those things caught Nayeon off guard in the middle of class. It caught her so off guard that Nayeon didn't know how to react to it. The invulnerable Im Nayeon, Queen Bee of their school, was knocked out cold by a single word uttered by the only person who was deemed powerful enough to defeat her.

 

"B... babe?"

 

Nayeon opened to respond, but nothing came out after she just realized what Mina had called her. 

 

"B... b..." Nayeon's brain felt like it was malfunctioning. was twitching and moving, but she couldn't let out a single word. "B-b..."

 

Babe... Mina's words echoed in Nayeon's mind.

 

Nayeon nervously smiled at Mina, who was waiting for a response (to her question or to her term of endearment, Nayeon didn't know). But before the grip she had on her pencil made it snap in two, she immediately raised her han