Taehyung leans against the lab table, finishing the last of the purification of his samples. His eyes are barely open after the multiple days of only four hours of sleep, and he hasn’t paid attention in a single class today.

Somehow, his research partner is not having the same issue, and she is very much alive and awake. Whoever says demons didn’t exist are wrong.

The events from the weekend keep playing over and over in his mind. More specifically, the one from last night. He couldn’t shake the thought of the girl against him, moving her sweet lips against his.

Meanwhile, Shira hums to herself, finishing the last of the pipetting and labelling her new samples before neatly arranging them into rows by date and procedure. She seems to notice Taehyung watching her, and she turns her head slowly, eyes wide and questioning.

Embarrassed, he whips his head towards his own work, writing in his lab notebook to record his efforts of the day. Slowly, his writing becomes sloppier as his eyes drift closed.

“Taehyung?” Sonha pokes at his shoulder, making him bolt back up, only to hit her in the forehead with the back of his head. “Ow…”

“Sorry,” He reaches a hand out, not sure what to do as she clutches at her forehead. “Are you alright?”

“Just fine,” She grimaces between her teeth, rubbing at the spot.

Taehyung is sure that he had hit her hard enough to bruise and he slips out of his seat, going over to the fridge that stores some samples and digs out the extra ice lining the sides. “Here.”

She wraps a paper towel around the ice and presses it to her head with a grateful smile, “Thanks. You should honestly just sleep.”

“Too much to do,” He shakes his head, using the permanent marker to label the tops of his samples, his tongue sticking out slightly as he writes in tiny handwriting to try to fit the top of the cap.

Sonha falls silent, putting her samples away in the fridge and sighs as she rolls up her sleeves to clean up the dirty glassware that had been left behind by the graduate students who relied on undergraduate labor.

Taehyung grabs a sponge, trying to scrub at the dried up agar on the glass. It would have been ten times easier to clean if taken care of immediately, but the people in the lab just left it for the younger members of the lab. Unfortunately, that is him and Sonha.

The last graduate student leaves the lab, followed by the lab tech. They’re the last people in lab again, and it isn’t even that late.

Taehyung wipes one of his hands on his shirt, swiping at his phone and turning on the music to keep him awake. Lately, the tiredness had been getting to him and even though he acted funny around the rest of the Bangtan members while they weren’t working, he couldn’t deny that the lack of sleep is getting to him.

Surprisingly, Sonha starts bobbing her head to the music, scrubbing at the glass in tune with the beat.

“You listen to rap?” He raises his eyebrows out of surprise, turning up the volume because of the lack of other students in the lab. The girl with the lab coat over bulky clothes is unreadable, he realizes.

She shoots him a smirk, rapping along and nailing it. Taehyung grins, singing along with the hook, and before the two realize, they’re dancing along, yelling out the song at the top of their lungs. The dirty glassware lays forgotten in the sink, covered in soap.

“Hey Taehyung?” She yells over the music, grinning.

“What?”

“If H2O is the formula for water, what’s the formula for ice?” She pauses, smile growing wider. “H2O cubed.”

Taehyung can’t help himself. He laughs.
 

“Shira. Shira. Shiraaaaa,” Jackson pokes at her and she rolls over, away from her textbook.

“Don’t you have your own work?” She points at his stack of paperwork, and Jackson takes off his hat, ruffling through his hair.

“You never told me about last night.”

“Shot Oh Sehun in both his calves, he thought I was a e and tried to kill me, and Jungkook from Bangtan knocked him out with a punch.” She blinks back at him, straight and to the point. Jackson raises his eyebrows for a further explanation, which she doesn’t really give.

“Also,” She adds calmly, p