Loving has always been easy for Sana. She has always been vocal about her emotions, wearing her heart on her sleeve and baring herself to those who accept her. Sometimes this openness hurts her, and she finds herself holding the remnants of her shattered feelings in her hands, watching as they slip through the cracks. At times like these, she finds solace in Tzuyu, who never says anything, but silently wraps her into a bear hug, rubbing slow circles on her back until Sana finally allows herself to break down and weep into Tzuyu's shoulder. 

Yet despite the heartbreaks it brings her, Sana cherishes the fact that she loves so openly. She throws herself into loving the other person, giving it her all, because what's the point if you hold back? Love has always been something for her to give out freely and to receive back in kind. She has always been a er for grand gestures, public proclamations of love, the kind that you find between the main characters of a movie, leaving you yearning back for the bittersweet taste of adolescence. Sana has been waiting a long time now for someone to sweep her off her feet. 

-

Love, Tzuyu supposes, is something to be shown subtly. It is buying a pack of choco pies for Dahyun on the way to class to see her eyes light up, sitting peacefully with Mina as they chat idly over coffee, earnestly telling Jihyo how much she looks up to her because Tzuyu knows it makes Jihyo's chest swell. It is waiting up for Sana when she goes out clubbing late at night, building a pillow fort together, wrapping the older girl in a blanket when her heart is broken yet again.

Tzuyu treasures her friends, and shows them through her love. For her, love is noticing the small things and simple acts of kindness. 

-

Sana and Tzuyu have always been a pair. Through high school and into college, they've both accumulated a string of exes amidst a changing flow of lovers, but they have always had each other. Jihyo always gives them a strange look when either of them mentions dating someone new, but has only ever asked once, "Have you guys ever thought about dating each other?"

Sana and Tzuyu had looked at each other for a moment, before laughing, shrugging the possibility away thoughtlessly. Jihyo never brought it up again, although the strange looks continued.

Later, Tzuyu had secretly wondered what it would be like to date Sana, pondering for a few minutes before deciding that it was impossible. They were comfortable together, having settled into a relationship that neither could quite put a name on, but it wasn't love. 

Minutes pass, and Tzuyu thinks again, this time that maybe they do love each other, but just not in that way. 

- 

Nayeon is the one who asks the question. The nine of them are sitting together outside, soaking in warm sunlight and generally enjoying each others' company, before Tzuyu's phone buzzes with a text from her girlfriend, Elkie, and she stands up to leave. She squeezes Sana's shoulder, mouthing I'll be back by 8, before waving goodbye to the rest of the group. 

Sana nods in response, humming out a noise of confirmation as she watches her friend's receding form. She lets her gaze linger a second too long, because the next thing she knows, Nayeon is waving her big hands in front of Sana's face to get her attention.

"Does it not bother you that she's dating someone else?' 

"Why would it bother me? Elkie is nice." 

"Yeah, but do you guys not have feelings for each other or something?" 

Sana laughs. "We don't have feelings for each other, Nayeon. We're just friends."

Nayeon quirks an eyebrow up, but drops the subject and Sana shrugs it off. It would be nice, Sana muses to herself, if the two of them were dating, but it's not something she would go out of her way to pursue. Not when they have each other like this.

She shakes her head and brushes the thought off as something that might have been, in another universe.

- 

The two of them continue like that for another year, always side by side, but never quite facing each other. Tzuyu has since broken up with Elkie, and Sana is now dating a junior called Jackson. He's sweet and funny, and his perfectly coiffed hair makes her swoon. On Valentine's Day, he greets her with a bouqet of roses outside of her classroom, and Sana squeals at the gesture. She thinks that maybe, just maybe, he might be the one. 

Two weeks later, Sana and Jackson break up. She doesn't tell Tzuyu why, and Tzuyu doesn't ask. Instead, she makes two mugs of hot chocolate and puts on a sappy romcom before settling into her usual place on the couch next to Sana. Sana doesn't miss a beat and lowers her head onto Tzuyu's shoulder, cuddling as close as she can. 

Halfway through the movie, Tzuyu looks down at Sana, who is deep in her own thoughts, biting her lip in the way that she does when she's focused.

"What're you thinking about?" 

"Do you think I'm destined to be alone?"

Tzuyu bites back a laugh. "Of course not. You'll always have me." 

Sana shifts closer, burying her head deeper into the crook of Tzuyu's neck and sighing. "Maybe things would be easier if I just dated you."

"We both know it wouldn't work out," Tzuyu laughs. Sana hums in agreement, and diverts her attention back to the movie.

Sana forgets about Jackson quickly enough.

- 

The first time Tzuyu senses a change is when she's reading, stumbling across a word.

Stagnant.

It nags at her, and she struggles to understand why before it hits her that she and Sana have been friends for almost six years. They have been at a standstill for almost six years. And for the first time, Tzuyu finds herself wanting more. The realization isn't sudden. It blossoms slowly throughout her, tracing a path from her chest outwards like petals unfurling, stirring her awake.

But Sana is dating Mark now, so Tzuyu remains patient, and loves her in the only way she knows how.

-

Sana and Mark last for almost eight months, long enough for Tzuyu to start doubting her feelings. She ends up dating Seolhyun and forgets about Sana. They still spend time with each other, but Tzuyu thinks that they have gone back to what they were originally, before she had dared hoped for something more, and she is satisfied.

She's never told any of their friends about her realization that day, but Jihyo had caught her staring a little too intensely at Sana and Mark one day and sends Tzuyu a knowing, pitying smile. 

-

After Tzuyu and Seolhyun break up, there's a rare period of time where both of them are single again. And this time, Tzuyu's feelings rush back into her in a frenzy, pulling at her from every direction into the same painful realization. 

The two of them are watching TV together when Sana casually remarks, "You don't seem that torn over breaking up with Seolhyun."

Tzuyu's breath hitches before she masks her surprise with a shrug. "I guess I'm not."

It's true—Tzuyu had been sad, but a persistent, battering urge to confess to Sana and let out her feelings, all at once in a single, relieved breath had overwritten those emotions.

Sana is looking at her curiously now, silently asking for an elaboration. "You know you can come to me for anything, right?" 

There's something so gentle about the way Sana says it that Tzuyu is frightened by how much she wants to say the words she tucked away deep into her heart eight months ago. She opens to confess, pausing for a moment and hesitating at the thought of ruining what they have now. But the thought leaves as fleetingly as it arrived, and Tzuyu makes up her mind.

Sana is looking at her so tenderly and warmly that Tzuyu knows there is no going back, no holding back. The two of them are on the verge, teetering on the precipice of something new.

Sana seems to sense it too. The curiousity slowly turns into gentle encouragement, and in that instant Tzuyu recalls every moment they've spent together—Sana, leaping from frame to frame in her memories, flitting in and out of her reach before finally coming to a rest in this very moment, where the two of them are staring straight at each other, facing one another head on. She melts into the warmth in Sana's eyes and remembers that Sana has always been there by her side and always will be, embracing Tzuyu in her love.

In this moment, she is finally ready, and she can finally say it.

"I think," she starts, the words tumbling out after six long years, but still every bit as earnest, "that I have always loved you."

A smile blooms beautifully across Sana's face. She has been waiting for Tzuyu for a long time now.