red mondays—

nothing hurts quite like dr. sunny lee

(the quasi-bloomington au that nobody asked for)

Red is the colour of her cheeks after she comes when she’s regaining her breath. Red is the colour of her lips when she leaves for work. Red is the colour of her beautiful top on date nights even though the two of you stay indoors the whole time. Red is the fear that creeps beneath your skin whenever a relative asks you if you’re seeing a boy. Red is the annoyance on your face when they insist on setting you up even though you’ve said you’re not interested. Red is the passion that engulfs the room whenever the two of you are alone in the room. Red is Sunny Lee, queen of hearts. Red is...

.

.

.

The relationship is the messiest now that they’ve been dating for half a year: they know each other so well, inside and out. Sooyoung still doesn’t fully understand the torrent of feelings washing over her whenever she so much as looks at her girlfriend, but it’s a welcome thing. She feels warm all over her face, but she’s calm now.

(They don’t ever go out together, though, so that’s a little frustrating.)

This is how they met:

There’s a party on the first day of school organised by the Mathematics Department and all 332 students are invited. Sooyoung’s not happy about being dragged to a sad excuse for a bunch of young adults to get wasted, but Taeyeon can be quite persuasive when she wants to. (I’ll buy food right after, she says.)

Taeyeon’s left her to go to the food spread, at the other end of the courtyard. This is when she’s approached by a smiling girl, a full head shorter than her.

“Hi,” she says, “are you here alone?”

“No,” Sooyoung side-eyes nervously. “My friend is actually bringing me food right now.”

The girl winks at Sooyoung and leaves, just as Taeyeon reappears in her line of sight with a cup of whatever cheap booze they’re serving in each hand.

As Taeyeon approaches her, she looks at the retreating figure and whistles. “Dude, did you just get hit on by Dr. Lee?”

“Dr. Lee?”

“Dr. Sunny Lee, from applied maths. I heard she flirts around with students, so you better be careful.”

Sooyoung huffs. “Are we done here? Because I want to go eat now.”

.

.

.

 “Kim Taeyeon I swear if you keep dragging me to these mixers I will stab you,” Sooyoung honest to god actually growls as she puts on her best jeans.

(She’s only half serious. Dr. Sunny Lee, who teaches in the next hall whenever Sooyoung is in her statistics class, keeps eyeing her and smiling whenever they bump into each other. She’s maybe-sort of-kind of looking forward to seeing Dr. Lee, but it’s probably best not to say anything.)

Taeyeon, as is her wont, has left Sooyoung alone to flirt with the cute Hwang girl from her tutorials. Sooyoung’s tempted to just leave the place, but reckons she can get Taeyeon to buy her food for the whole week if she stays. She ventures around the building and sits on some stairs; she’s familiar enough with the school to be able to sit alone without feeling like a loser.

“Hi,” comes a voice from beside her, and she looks up to see Dr. Lee. “Can I sit here?”

Her answer, “yes,” comes in a squeak as Sooyoung’s hands fumble with the red solo cup. Her sides are warm now, and she’s not sure if it’s because of her jacket or Dr. Lee next to her.

“I’m Sunny Lee, by the way; I believe we haven’t formally met. You’re Kim Sooyoung, right?”

“Choi Sooyoung, actually,” she says with a smile.

“Right, sorry. So you’re taking pure maths?”

“Yeah… applied maths confused me a lot back in high school.”

“You know, pure maths is slowly starting to have real-world applications so you might want to rethink taking some app courses.”

Sooyoung takes a sip of her drink and looks at the person beside her. She has a nice profile, and she carries herself like she doesn’t have any care in the world, the way her posture and shoulders are straight. The way she drinks, however, is so ungraceful, so unlike a teacher (an adult) that Sooyoung can’t help but laugh.

The teacher beside her lets out a laugh as well. “Didn’t expect that, huh?”

“Nope.” Sooyoung says, and after a beat, “well, I’d better head back to the dorm now.”

They both stand up. They’re facing each other now, and Sooyoung can see just how warm Dr. Lee’s brown eyes are. They’re so clear, so shiny and it’s amazing how bright they are in the darkness of the night.

There is a moment’s hesitation between them before Dr. Lee stands on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on Sooyoung’s lips. Sooyoung doesn’t know what to do—her hands are still around the red cup—but once she closes her eyes she registers the pair of lips on her own and she starts kissing back, uncertain.

They only both pull back once they realise Sooyoung’s cup has spilled its contents all over the stairs. Dr. Lee looks at her with a curiously piercing gaze and one of her hands reach up to brush Sooyoung’s hair behind her ear. (This is an awkward gesture, considering Dr. Lee is so short, but there’s such poise to her movements, so practiced, like she’s done this many times before, that it feels like nothing.)

“Dr. Lee,” she says, her breath hitching. “I’d better go.”

“Please, call me Sunny.” She takes one of Sooyoung’s hands in between her own. “Would you like to maybe have dinner at my place, tomorrow?”

Sooyoung smiles, sheepish. It’s a wonder how she feels small in front of the lecturer. “Is this what lesbian courtship is?”

.

.

.

Sunny cooks the most delicious chicken pie. She cooks the most delicious lasagne. She can make mean cocktails (a skill she acquired from hosting many departmental parties), but she prefers the simplicity of pouring a soft drink into a glass. She’s not shy with intimacy, which is something that took Sooyoung about three months to get used to.

She spends Sundays at Sunny’s. It’s an unspoken arrangement, that every Sunday they have lunch together and Sooyoung stays the night. They never talk about it, but it’s a routine that they have easily fit into.

Now: she’s leaned back on Sunny’s sofa, reading, her legs rested on her coffee table (‘Please get your dirty feet off the table, babe,’ is a thing that Sunny constantly says to her, but to no avail). She’s got a test tomorrow and really, she should be in her dorm because there’s way less distractions there, but Sunny Lee.

It’s too late now; her eyes are on her girlfriend (the word still feels weird on her tongue, probably because she’s never said it out loud) making herself comfortable on the other end of the sofa. Sunny’s got a blanket draped over her thighs and she’s wearing her glasses, something she only ever does at home, and she has a book in her hands.

“Hey,” Sooyoung says, putting her own book down. “How many girls have there been? Before me?”

Sunny looks past her. There’s a blueness to her eyes, something foreign to Sooyoung. (She’s so warm when it’s only the two of them.)

“I don’t know,” she says softly.

Sooyoung looks down now, at Sunny’s hands clasped on her lap.

“Am I different?”

Sunny catches her eye. There’s a sincere curiosity in her voice when she asks: “Would you believe me if I said yes?”

.

.

.

(Sunny is so loud when they have . Sooyoung likes to see how loud she can get Sunny.)

.

.

.

Mondays are red because of this: Sooyoung leaves Sunny’s apartment with yesterday’s clothes, and she has to try slipping into the dorm without anyone noticing. She shares her room with Taeyeon, however, so this is largely unsuccessful. Taeyeon never says anything about her coming home in the morning every Monday, which is a relief, but this doesn’t stop her from prodding into her love life. (She’s a curious little duck.)

Sooyoung’s so happy these days, Taeyeon points out. It’s almost like she has every week.

Sooyoung spits out her milk and coughs like her life is being taken away from her.

Mondays are red because it’s the day farthest from Sunday. She hates the colour red.

.

.

.

After the milk-spitting incident, Sooyoung has the wits to bring an extra set of clothes when she spends the night at Sunny’s so that she doesn’t have to go back to the dorm in the morning.

Today, she can afford sleeping in. Today, she can afford to wake up with Sunny in her arms. At midnight, Sooyoung puts on a shirt from the floor (it’s probably Sunny’s) and a pair of . She slides behind Sunny. Now she can actually pull the shorter girl into her space. She loves how Sunny instantly warms her up. There’s a tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach, but it’s something that happens a lot lately, so it’s okay.

“I love you” is the last thing Sooyoung whispers before drifting to sleep. 

HAS ANYONE SEEN THE MOVIE BLOOMINGTON LET US TALK ABOUT THAT MOVIE BECAUSE STARK AND JACKIE'S DIMPLES OH MY LORD SAVE ME

also as u can see here im a huge maths nerd im thinking of majoring in maths or english/linguistics in uni

Ok so there's obviously gonna be a second part to this and it feels so rushed I'm so sorry I rly needed to get this plot bunny off my chest (also I'm thinking superhero AU does anyone know of any)

so, things that are gonna have part 2: the song I've been trying to sing, red mondays and probably kiss me bc actually 2 years ago I planned for that to be a trilogy

also if uve been on my twitter (which I highly doubt) you'll know that I am super bi and so here for twice, the girl group like oh my god if I wasn't in the closet on twitter (most of the people who follow me know me irl)... the things I would do

(also I might be deleting some of the chapters from 2012 bc of how atrocious my writing was)