Worst Day Ever

A/N: Just wanted to thank y’all for the subscriptions and comments you’ve given—this is my first time trying to write something a little more humorous, so reading about which parts people enjoyed the most, etc, has been super helpful. Please don’t feel shy about leaving feedback!

If Choi Yoojung had to describe her Produce 101 experience so far, she would have to call it, well, a Mess. Before December, she had considered herself an Emotionally Stable, Well-Adjusted Teenager. It was amazing just how quickly she had been proven completely wrong after receiving the first D of her life, being thrown into a dorm full of strangers, and being expected to master a full song-dance routine in three days.

But the worst of Yoojung’s ‘Emo Phase’, as Haerim dubbed it, peaked early on in the program. While it took a painfully long time to stop crying into her pillow every night, things really were looking better with the arrival of the Position Challenge.

Well, things were looking better until the third day of practice. Yoojung had tested out a new expression for her center segment and both her team and Team Growl collectively lost their over it. While running off to die of embarrassment alone was common for Yoojung, Doyeon had also disappeared and did not return for the remainder of practice.

In the years Yoojung practiced with Doyeon, her Super Best Friend never skipped lessons. Something was wrong, and everybody but Yoojung seemed to have an idea as to why.

“Hey, did you talk to Doyeon before she left? Is she okay?” Yoojung had asked Dani and Somi.

“She’ll be fine,” Dani had answered slowly, sharing a look with Somi. Yoojung had narrowed her eyes when she detected uneasiness, concern, and most importantly, guilt in their exchange.

“I swear, if you guys did something weird to her…” As extensive as Yoojung’s moral code was, all that flew out the window when it came to Doyeon. She would cut a if she had to.

“Geez Yoojung, relax. We’ll check up on her after practice, okay? She’s probably fine.”

When they finally returned to Team Bang Bang’s dorm room, Doyeon was already in her bunk, fast asleep. Yoojung had pouted, still concerned, but Dani had merely slapped her on the back and said, “See? She’s fine.”

The next morning, Yoojung determined that Dani was a Big Fat Liar and Doyeon was actually Not Fine. Even more, it was now clear that Doyeon was avoiding Yoojung. Yoojung’s Super Best Friend, who hadn't kept a single secret from her, was going out of her way to make sure they made as little contact as possible.

“Hey Doyeon, are you alright?” Yoojung asked, holding back her frown when Doyeon stiffened at her arrival.

“Yeah, I’m fine now.” Doyeon said curtly, not looking up from her eggs. “Sorry about missing practice.”

“Practice is one thing, but I care more about if you’re okay.” She knit her brows when Doyeon flinched. “Do you feel sick? Do you wanna talk about anything?”

“No, really, I’m fine. I—I gotta go.” Doyeon dumped the remainder of the breakfast in the trash and briskly left the cafeteria without sparing a single glance at her best friend.

Yoojung gaped, turning to Soomin and Haerim.

“D—Did you see that?” She blinked back tears—it was too early in the morning to have a breakdown and more importantly, she needed answers. "What was that?"

Soomin averted her gaze, frowning. There it was again—guilt. “I’m…not sure.”

Yoojung looked to Haerim, who was curled into a ball, muttering. She looked up to Yoojung, eyes wild.

“Twelve hours, Yoojung. Twelve. Hours. An entire night of Moon Prism Power and squeaking leather and melted chocolate and—and I don’t even know if you can call it spanking—and I had to film it all. I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done to you and Doyeon. I would take it back but it’s too late. Karma’s a , Yoojung. Karma’s a , and it’s out for me.”

Yoojung paused—did Haerim just use her favorite magical girl’s catchphrase and spanking in the same sentence?

“Uh, are you okay, unnie?”

Compared to Doyeon, Haerim looked much less Fine, but at least she was talking about her problems. As…strange as they seemed to be.

“Leave her be,” Soomin waved her off, completely unfazed. “I think you should find some time to talk to Doyeon one-on-one.”

Yoojung slumped, fearing that this was the perfect opening to potentially the Worst Day Ever. She shook her head, thinking back to the Suicide Prevention Class she had attended at Fantagio. Prematurely putting yourself into a negative mindset during a conflict is counterproductive, Yoojung reminded herself. It was a just a Not So Good Day so far, things could certainly get better. I just need to talk to Doyeon.

Yoojung arrived at Team Bang Bang’s practice room and brightened when she spotted Doyeon talking to Somi.

“Doyeon!” Yoojung practically skipped over to them, elated to see Doyeon smiling. “How are you?”

“Fine,” Doyeon swerved out of the way of Yoojung’s incoming hug. “Uh, I gotta go talk to Chungha-unnie about missing practice yesterday.”

“Oh, okay…” Yoojung smiled tightly, trying to ignore the sensation of her heart shattering at her best friend's rejection of their usual skinship. She turned to Somi, who was biting her lip. “...Do you think Doyeon’s okay, Somi?”

“She seemed fine, well, until you showed up.” Somi said, wincing when Yoojung’s lip started quivering. “B—But! Maybe it was just a coincidence?”

Yoojung nodded slowly. So it was more likely going to be a Definitely Not So Good Day, but things could certainly get better.

By lunch, Yoojung decided that indeed, it was a Bad Day.

Doyeon had blatantly gone out of her way to avoid every single one of Yoojung’s attempts to contact her in the past three hours. When Yoojung casually reached out to hold Doyeon’s hand, Doyeon crossed her arms. When Yoojung sat down next to Doyeon, Doyeon got up to stretch in front of the mirror.

“Did you see what Somi did earlier?” Yoojung tried one last time before lunch break.

“Yeah, I need to go to the bathroom.” Doyeon replied, making a beeline for the door.

“I—I’ll go with you!” Yoojung jumped up.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll go by myself.”

“O—Okay…” Yoojung turned back to Dani and Somi only to realize the rest of her Squad had already vanished.

Yoojung drooped, feeling more and more like an abandoned puppy as she slowly made her way towards the cafeteria. Although Dani and Somi were among Yoojung’s closest friends, they were being suspiciously tight-lipped about the whole situation. Perhaps she needed the help of someone else—someone with more wisdom. That was it—she needed the help of an Unnie.

Chungha was Yoojung’s first choice, as she was Team Bang Bang's leader and knew her and Doyeon the best. Oddly, Yoojung couldn’t find her anywhere, so she opted for the second best, but much riskier option: Lee Suhyun.

The other trainees often joked that despite being complete opposites, Haein and Suhyun were in the same company for a reason. “Do you know what SS really stands for? It stands for Super Slu—” Yoojung never did figure out what Juna was going to say, as Nayoung had bodyslammed Juna before she could finish. Super Slugs? Suhyun was kinda squishy…

So Yoojung approached Suhyun’s lunch table, consisting of her and Jellyfish's Unnie Line, with just a little bit of apprehension. When she got there, Suhyun was leaning in towards Nayoung with a playful smile, a hand under Nayoung’s shirt. Nayoung looked flustered (or was she queasy and Suhyun was rubbing her belly?) and Sejeong watched them, nonchalantly chewing on a cucumber.

“Oh! It’s Pick Me Center: Choi Yoojung!” Suhyun greeted her suddenly, and Nayoung jumped backwards, nearly falling off her chair.

“Hi,” Yoojung said, sitting across from them. She eyed Nayoung, whose face suddenly turned five shades darker. “Am I interrupting something…?”

“No, you’re not,” Nayoung clamped a hand over Suhyun’s mouth, squawking when Suhyun her palm. “Why do you do this to me?”

“What’s up?” Sejeong saved Yoojung from…whatever was going on between Suhyun and Nayoung. “You look a little troubled.”

Yoojung swallowed. “I just wanted some advice—it’s about Doyeon…”

“What about her? Is she sick?”

“No, and that’s the problem.” Yoojung slumped. “Physically, she’s totally fine. But she’s been avoiding only me all day and I don’t know why.”

“Trouble in paradise?” Suhyun’s eyes widened and she grinned mischievously. “Don’t tell me it has to do with you getting a crazy nosebleed after motorboating Doyeon’s s?”

“What? How do you know about that?” Yoojung blinked when Nayoung gasped indignantly at Suhyun and Sejeong suppressed a chuckle. “And what’s 'motorboating'?”

“That’s besides the point,” Nayoung gave a warning glare to Suhyun, who looked far too happy with direction the conversation was taking considering Yoojung and Doyeon’s Super Best Friendship was at stake here.

“Oh trust me, young one,” Suhyun nodded sagely. “I know all of the gay antics that go on around here.”

“Well it was just an accident, not a ‘gay antic,’” Yoojung flushed, trying not to recount how well, nice Doyeon’s s felt. “And Doyeon talked to me normally after that—she only started avoiding me after she disappeared from practice yesterday...”

“What happened right before she disappeared from practice?” Sejeong asked.

“Well we were just practicing like normal and I—oh,” Sejeong, Suhyun, and Nayoung raised an eyebrow when Yoojung suddenly paused, face flaring red.

“Oooooh, what’s this? Don’t tell me you did something even gayer than nuzzling your best friend’s s?” Suhyun winked and Nayoung batted her.

“Uh—I mean—I think facial expressions are super important in performing,“ Yoojung flustered, searching for words. “So during practice yesterday I tried out a new, more…intense expression during my center spot and everyone kinda freaked out—and then they were calling me—uh—hot—and Doyeon kinda blanked out and I was just super uncomfortable so Chungha-unnie gave us a break and I went to crawl in a hole and die so I don’t know what happened afterwards but Doyeon disappeared after that.”

Yoojung took a deep breath, her gaze steeled on the tabletop.

“Holy ,” Suhyun cackled. “You ing seduced Doyeon with a new setting on your Expression Switch! Looks like your Super Best Friend is avoiding you because you the y with her!”

“Suhyun!”

“Well that really could be the reason,” Sejeong shrugged.

“Wait, but she was the only one who didn’t think I was uh, hot.” Yoojung furrowed her brows. “And she’s straight. And so am I.”

“Oh, Yoojung, Yoojung, Yoojung,” Suhyun tsked, propping her cheek up with her palm . “Do we really need to give you the lesson on the Birds and the Bees?”

“Um, no,” Yoojung backed away from Suhyun’s predatory gaze. “You know Fantagio’s already given me a class on Ed.”

“For between boys and girls, yes,” Suhyun grinned wryly. “But did they give you lessons on how the y times work between girls and girls?”

Yoojung shook her head slowly, looking apprehensively at Sejeong and Nayoung. They looked just as uneasy as her. “I don’t see why I’d need to know that stuff, I’m straight—”

“Tell me Yoojung, do you think Doyeon’s hot?”

Yoojung blinked, then pursed her lips. “Well there’s no denying that she’s really, really pretty.”

“Then tell me this,” Suhyun grinned wickedly. “How did Doyeon’s s feel?”

“Soft,” Yoojung answered automatically, shrinking when Sejeong snorted and Suhyun leaned even closer.

“And tell me Yoojung, why is it that you got a nosebleed after nuzzling your Super Best Friend’s s?”

Yoojung couldn’t help the reddening of her cheeks. “I—I don’t know.”

“Did it feel good?”

“…Maybe?”

“I need you tell me the truth if you want us to help you~”

Yoojung squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing thickly. “Nice. It felt...nice. But! So do the hugs I have with her.”

“But it felt different that time, right?”

“I’m not sure,” Yoojung answered honestly. Her I Need To Crawl In A Hole And Die senses were tingling, and she tried to will away the sinking feeling in her stomach.

“What do you think was different? Do you think it has something to do with why Doyeon starting avoiding you after you seduced a room full of female trainees?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“There’s a simple answer to all of this, my dear child, and it’s called arousal. Face it Yoojung, you want to fu—“

“That’s enough!” Nayoung exploded, face potentially even redder than Yoojung’s. She roughly pulled Suhyun out of her chair. “I will not just stand by while you just—just mock this pitiful, gay child instead of helping her and her Super Best Friend come to terms with their ualities!”

“I’m sorry Yoojung, I think it’s best if we leave,” Nayoung bit out, dragging Suhyun away in a headlock. “Please talk to someone—someone more sane and with a better moral compass about this. Like—Like Chungha.”

“I waaf heypung huh!” Suhyun spat out the bread roll Nayoung stuffed into . “Educate yourself, Yoojung!”

“Sorry,” Sejeong grinned sheepishly as she trailed behind them. “I hope you figure things out with Doyeon.”

Yoojung stared after them, still processing what the hell just happened. She stood up slowly, a hand on her head. Yoojung stumbled out of her chair. What did arousal have to do with anything? And did she imagine it or did Nayoung just call her a pitiful, gay child?

Chungha.

Yoojung shook her head wildly, remembering that Nayoung had told her to go to Chungha. Latching onto that thought like a life-preserver, Yoojung staggered out of the cafeteria.

Yoojung anxiously wrung her hands when she checked her wristwatch. Only five minutes of break remained. Although she couldn’t find Chungha earlier, Yoojung had realized it might have been because she didn’t check any of the unoccupied practice rooms. She checked every Rap, Vocal, and Dance room to no success.

She paused when she heard a shuffling noise coming from one of the conference rooms she passed by.

“Break...over...have to go.”

Yoojung perked up when she recognized Chungha’s voice. She turned the knob, knocking quietly as she pushed open the door.

“Chungha-unnie? Can I talk to you about something?”

She squinted into the darkness when no one responded, reaching for a light switch.

“Is anyone in here? HelloooooooOHMYGOD!”

Yoojung shrieked when the lights bled into the room and gave her a clear view of Shin pressing Chungha against a wall, her hand in Chungha’s—

Shin jerked away from Chungha, who Yoojung now realized wasn’t wearing a shirt and Yoojung fell on her , covering her eyes.

“Oh—oh—oh my god, I am s—so sorry,” Yoojung spluttered. Abort mission, ABORT MISSION! “I’m j—just gonna go.”

She miraculously jumped to her feet while keeping her hands clamped over her eyes.

“W—Wait! Yoojung!”

Yoojung sprinted away, heart hammering against her chest. She blindly ran through the halls, trying in vain to keep the image of Shin putting her hand down Chungha’s pants from permanently burning itself into her memory.

Oh my god oh my god oh my god—

“Whoa!”

Yoojung slammed into a figure and tumbled onto the ground, letting out a strangled squeak.

“Yoojung-unnie! What’s wrong?” Somi propped her up. “Are you okay?”

Yoojung desperately shook her head, peeking out of her fingers to see the rest of Team Bang Bang staring at her in concern. Despite Yoojung’s I Need To Crawl Into A Hole And Die alarm ringing wildly in her head, she shakily got to her feet. Her eyes flickered to Doyeon, who was rubbing her chest, and Yoojung fell back on the floor at the realization that she had run into Doyeon’s s again. Yoojung crumpled into a ball, suddenly assaulted by the mental image of Doyeon without a shirt and Yoojung putting her hand into Doyeon’s pants and—

“Yoojung!” Chungha burst into the room, panting. “That was—”

“Holy , Chungha-unnie! I think Yoojung’s having a panic attack!”

Vaguely, Yoojung realized that it was getting increasingly difficult to breathe. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to recall what her doctor had said once about hyperventilating—but all she could think about was how Chungha and Shin had been doing something gay and now she was thinking about doing something gay with her Super Best Friend and this was why Doyeon was avoiding her and Nayoung had called her a pitiful, gay child and—

Yoojung blearily opened her eyes, squinting at the crack of light peeking in through the doorway. She rose slowly, noting that she was still in her grey hoodie and sweatshorts. The muffled bass of Bang Bang filtered into the room, and Yoojung jerked forward, realizing it was night and the last thing she remembered was from noon.

She crumpled her sheets, allowing a single tear to slide down her cheek. It was officially a Terrible Day now.

Yoojung sniffled miserably, wondering how basically everything could go wrong in one day when things had been going so well before. Yoojung glanced at her wristwatch. There was still an hour until practice was over and quite frankly, Yoojung was not in the mood to face anyone right now.

“Get yourself together, Yoojung,” Yoojung clenched her fist. She needed to approach this from another angle, as Getting Advice and Having A Breakdown had proven to be, well, totally ineffective.

She fumbled around her sheets for her iPhone, recalling Suhyun's final words to her: “Educate yourself, Yoojung!”

If there was one thing that always pulled through for Yoojung, it was Self Education. When her old dance teachers had scolded Yoojung for lacking expression on stage, she had spent months studying CL’s facial expressions in 2NE1’s music videos and eventually perfected her Expression Switch. After being sorted into Group D, she relied on Self Education to master Pick Me and ace her re-evaluation.

Yoojung opened up Safari, went up to the search bar, and hesitated, unsure of where to begin. Educate herself on just what, exactly? She recalled a certain word Suhyun had said and tapped at her screen, beginning her first lesson.

Searching for ‘motorboating’…

“Alright, good job today everyone. Now go wash up!”

Chungha clapped her hands. She winced when her teammates dispersed lifelessly for the showers, worry mirrored on their faces. She chewed on her lip, feeling largely responsible for Yoojung’s panic attack earlier.

“Chungha?”

Shin peeked into the doorway, holding up two energy drinks. “Is little Yoojung okay? We gave her quite the spook.”

“Hey,” Chungha smiled halfheartedly and took an energy drink. “She had a bit of a breakdown…I’m going to check on her now, actually.”

“I’m sorry, I should have stopped when you said you had to get back to practice,” Shin apologized as they made their way over to Team Bang Bang’s dorm room. “I’m sorry for blowing up Yoojung’s head, too.”

“I don’t think that’s…quite the correct figure of speech,” Chungha laughed lightly before giving Shin a quick peck on the cheek. “But don’t worry about it. Let’s talk later, okay?”

“Of course.” Shin clapped Chungha on the back before taking off. “Good luck with awakening The Little Gay—I bet on her after all!”

Steeling herself, Chungha downed the rest of her energy drink and slowly opened the door. She squinted at the hunched silhouette in the far corner of the room, illuminated by what appeared to be a phone screen. So Yoojung was awake. Tucked into a corner on the floor instead of well, her bed, but she was awake.

“Yoojung?” Chungha called out quietly. Yoojung’s affinity for Small Corners increased exponentially when she was upset, so Chungha braced herself for the worst.

When she got no response, she cautiously crept forward and gingerly placed a hand on Yoojung’s shoulder—

—And jumped back when Yoojung screamed bloody murder, throwing her phone into the air. Reflexes kicking in, Chungha lunged for the phone, barely grabbing it out of the air before it could hit the ground.

They froze, Yoojung turned towards her in fetal position and Chungha in a half squat, phone tightly clutched in her right hand. Yoojung looked at her like a deer caught in headlights, her face strangely flushed. Her eyes whipped wildly from Chungha to the iPhone in her hand. Chungha tilted the screen slightly towards her. Yoojung trembled, as if ready to pounce on her.

Instinct told Chungha that things would go very, very wrong if she even took a single peek at whatever the hell was playing on Yoojung’s phone. Slowly, she stuck the phone forward, screen facing Yoojung. She kept eye contact with Yoojung until she finally placed the phone—screen facing down—into Yoojung’s shaky palms.

“H—Hey,” Chungha started carefully as Yoojung quickly locked her phone and slid it under the closest bed. “Sorry about the scare I gave you earlier—I mean the scare from after lunch, but—uh—I'm also sorry for scaring you a second ago.”

“It’sfine. Sorryformissingpractice.” Yoojung too closely resembled a caged animal and Chungha quickly determined she wouldn’t be able to coerce the tiny girl to move from her corner.

Sighing, she squeezed herself next to Yoojung. She knew this was technically breaking the rules of the bet—and it would be counterproductive to her wallet to help Yoojung out when she had bet on Doyeon—but the sanity of her Cute Dongsaeng was more important at this point.

“...You know, it’s okay to like girls.”

“Like, it’s okay to like like girls,” she continued when Yoojung didn’t respond.

“…Because all love is good?”

“Chungha-unnie, what is love?” Yoojung finally turned towards her, eyes dangerously watery.

Well, .

“Uh, well,” Chungha cringed—that was a loaded question. “It’s when you feel strongly enough about someone that it takes priority over other things in your life?”

“Then…what’s the difference between love between a couple and love between best friends?”

Well, .

“Well, for one thing, there’s often an—um—ual attraction involved in a love between a couple,” Chungha grimaced. She was trained in years of dance, not whatever the hell this was. As much as everyone liked to claim Chungha was Produce 101’s best mediator, this was far, far beyond her level of experience.

“So…like when someone wants to the other senseless?”

Well, shi—

“Wait—what?” Chungha whipped her head towards Yoojung, who was still looking up at her innocently. “Where did you learn that phrase?”

“On the Internet,” Yoojung mumbled. “Did I use it right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Chungha nodded slowly, now with a much better idea of what Yoojung was watching before she came in. She made a mental note to set up Parental Controls on Yoojung’s phone at some point. “Anyway, it’s okay to like like a girl, in—uh—that way.”

“But—But,” Yoojung buried her face in her knees. “Doyeon’s been avoiding me ever since I made that expression during practice. She thinks I’m gay ‘cause I was trying to seduce everyone in the room and now she—she hates me ‘cause I made that face at her too and I probably am gay ‘cause—‘cause her s were just so soft—and I ruined our Super Best Friendship and—and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, deep breaths, deep breaths,” Chungha rubbed Yoojung’s back before she could start hyperventilating again. “Y’know, I don’t think it’s helpful to jump to all these conclusions before even talking to Doyeon herself."

“I’ve been trying to talk to her all day though…”

“Then maybe try and talk to someone who might have an idea of what’s going on? Dani and Somi looked a little guilty earlier during practice…”

“Soomin too,” Yoojung narrowed her eyes, before nodding sharply to herself. She wrapped Chungha in a tight hug and jumped to her feet. “Thanks Chungha-unnie, I knew you’d be more helpful than that Super Suhyun-unnie.”

Chungha gaped as Yoojung shuffled out the door. She huffed sharply, running a hand through her hair. She needed to have a little talk with Produce 101's resident 'Super .'

Soomin put down her Ice Sparkling Water as she ran through her lines in Monster once again, sighing in frustration when it still didn’t sound quite right.

She had escaped to an empty practice room after Suhyun had tried to rope her into something involving Haein, Hyeri, and literal ropes once practice was over. Considering how broken Haerim looked after spending a night with Haein and Hyeri, Soomin bolted the second Hyeri innocently held out a camcorder towards her. The past three days had been far too hectic and alarmingly , so she was grateful to finally get some peace and quiet.

“Soomin, are you in here?”

Well, so much for that. Soomin sighed quietly and turned to Yoojung, who stood meekly in the doorway.

“What’s up?”

“Can I talk to you about something?” Yoojung asked, and Soomin pushed herself off the wall, feeling the déjà vu kick in.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go get Haerim,” She arched an eyebrow when Yoojung grabbed her wrist, shaking her head.

“Actually, can we talk, just between us?”

“Oh, sure.” Soomin blinked, a bit flattered that Yoojung had sought her out for a one-on-one conversation. “This is about why Doyeon’s avoiding you, right?”

“Yeah,” Yoojung replied before putting on the most Serious expression Soomin had ever seen her childhood friend don. “I’m going to tell you something and I need you to tell me your honest opinion, alright?”

“Sure, sure,” Soomin rolled her eyes, mentally preparing herself for an exhaustive list of Doyeon’s Obvious Qualities this time.

"Okay, here goes," Yoojung inhaled sharply.

Better safe than sorry, Soomin reached into her pocket and the voice recorder on her phone. She took a swig of her Ice Sparkling Water, knowing this would probably take a good ten minutes—

“—I think I want to Doyeon senseless.”

—and promptly sprayed it all over Yoojung.

Doyeon wandered aimlessly through the halls as she toweled her hair dry. Although she was clean and smelled of fresh lavender, she still felt like a very large and very smelly pile of .

She had avoided Yoojung the entire day just because she realized that she possibly, just maybe, might want to potentially…Bang Bang her Super Best Friend.

Doyeon scowled at her own pun, whipping her towel to the side.

It broke her heart to spend the entire day ignoring Yoojung, who had been trailing after her like a lost puppy. Then Yoojung had nearly barreled her over after lunch, before having a literal freak out over something and fainting. At that point, Doyeon had put aside her own problems and dove to catch her best friend before her head hit the ground.

Doyeon exhaled roughly through her nose. It was most likely her fault that Yoojung was so stressed and she would never forgive herself for doing that to Yoojung. But every time she even looked at Yoojung, she was reminded of that dream and of that look and how Yoojung had pulled so roughly at Doyeon’s hair and how much Doyeon had enjoyed it—

“Doyeon?”

Doyeon gasped and jerked back at the sound of her best friend’s voice. In front of her, Yoojung stood, looking absolutely miserable and sopping wet with…Ice Sparkling Water?

For the first time that day, they made eye contact. Yoojung’s face twisted and she crumpled onto the ground, sobbing.

“Y—Yoojung, what's wrong?” Doyeon quickly knelt down and dabbed at Yoojung’s hoodie with her towel. "What happened to you?"

“Was with Soomin—talking about how I made you angry—and I made her spit out her Ice Sp—Sp—Sparkling—and she started choking—and went to the infirmary and—and—” Yoojung hiccupped. “This is the Worst Day Ever.”

Doyeon’s heart sunk at just how miserable her best friend looked. She ignored the tears welling in her own eyes and wiped Yoojung’s face dry. “I’m so sorry for avoiding you, Yoojung—none of this should have happened. I’m not angry at you, I swear.”

“B—But I seduced—and—on your s—and—and—”

What was with everyone and her s lately? Doyeon shook her head. “No no, you didn’t do anything wrong, Yoojung. I was just being an idiot.”

“…Really?” Yoojung’s lip quivered, and Doyeon pulled her into a tight hug. Doyeon sighed when Yoojung squeezed back—it had only been 24 hours, but she had really missed hugging her best friend.

“Really.”

“Then—Then, you’re a huge buttface.”

Doyeon cracked a smile. “I am a buttface.”

“But you’re not even a buttface,” Yoojung sobbed into her shoulder. “You’re a ing bombshell.”

Doyeon paused at the sudden expletive, blinking in confusion when Yoojung seemed to become even more distraught after saying that.

“Here,” Doyeon pulled Yoojung up, keeping her pressed against her side. “Let’s get you cleaned up and into bed.”

Once they reached Team Bang Bang’s dorm room, everyone was fast asleep. When Doyeon finished tucking Yoojung in, Yoojung latched onto her arm, looking up at her like a small child.

“Stay with me until I fall asleep?”

It was an innocent request, totally normal for one Super Best Friend to ask of another Super Best Friend. They had shared the same bed multiple times in the past during sleepovers and it was fine. But that was before Doyeon decided Yoojung was...hot. She swallowed slowly. “Of course.”

Doyeon slid under Yoojung’s covers and her side to face Yoojung. Yoojung smiled for the first time that night, intertwining their fingers together. Doyeon smiled back, trying to calm her racing heart.

Like this, Yoojung was like a puppy, and most certainly not hot. Get your mind out of the gutter, Doyeon.

They stayed like that, savoring each other's warmth, until Yoojung’s eyelids finally fluttered closed. Just as her breathing began to even out, she whispered,

“I love you.”

Doyeon, who had been drifting off herself, was wrenched back into full awareness. She gaped at Yoojung, suddenly hyperaware of how close their faces were and how much she wished that Yoojung had said that whispering huskily into her ear—

Doyeon threw herself out of the bed, covering . She cursed under her breath—of course Yoojung only meant it in a platonic way. But god Doyeon wanted so much more—

She fumbled around in the darkness, gathering another change of clothes. She ran straight for the showers, not bothering to change out of her clothes as she jumped into the blast of cold water again. She fell to the ground, groaning.

“I’m the worst Super Best Friend ever.”

Next Time: The flu helps Doyeon come to terms with her Thirst.