Yuju dozed lightly in Umji’s bed with Umji laying beside her reading a book. On the floor, SinB and Eunha played Exploding Snap while they chatted about classes, sometimes including Yuju in the conversation when it pertained to her. As strange as it was, this whole scenario was becoming a more common occurrence for Yuju.

Most weekdays Yuju spent her time with Sowon and Yerin. It made sense, since they shared most of their classes together. They’d do homework together by the lake after classes, and when they finished, they’d grab their brooms and fly a few laps. This had been easier to do because quidditch had been cancelled for the season for unknown reasons, though everyone suspected it had to do with the paralyzed students. Yuju tried to ignore this fact and focused on staying in shape with Sowon and Yerin.

Those were the weekdays though. On the weekends, Yuju found herself with Umji, SinB, and Eunha more often than not. Usually, they all hung out in Umji’s room. It was almost always Umji’s because SinB and Eunha didn’t want to risk bringing both a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff back to their dorm, and Yuju didn’t want to know what her house would do to SinB and Eunha if they walked into the common room. However, Umji didn’t mind. Her roommates were seldom in the room anyways, so it was always just the four of them.

This day was like any other. After a week full of strenuous homework, they all just wanted to relax, so without even asking, they all made their way to Umji’s room.

Yuju was in and out of sleep, usually woken up by the Slytherins playing around. This time she was woken up by the sound of SinB as she hollered excitedly at beating Eunha for the third time in a row. On the other hand, Eunha huffed and threw her cards down, refusing to play with SinB anymore. SinB tried to needle another game out of Eunha, but she resisted.

“Yuju,” SinB said, turning to the Hufflepuff with wide, pleading eyes. Yuju never would’ve thought SinB of all people would have the deadliest puppy dog eyes, but after hanging out with her often enough, she realized that SinB could get most people to do whatever she wanted with just one look. “Will you play Exploding Snap with me?”

“Sure,” Yuju agreed easily, knowing if she didn’t that SinB would whine and beg until Yuju inevitably caved.

Yuju traded spots with Eunha and prepared herself to lose. While Yuju was decent at the game, SinB was competitive and ruthless. It was unsurprising that three games later, SinB was still the undefeated champion.

“No more,” Yuju told her.

She was relieved when SinB didn’t fight her on it, instead piling onto the bed. Yuju laughed at the sight of SinB carelessly sprawled on top of Eunha’s torso and Umji’s legs. After some rearranging, Yuju had a spot on the bed as well, crammed on one end by Eunha’s legs and next to SinB’s limp body. Honestly, she was such a kid sometimes.

While Eunha and Umji started talking about some book, Yuju looked down to where SinB was poking her side repeatedly. SinB looked up at her sheepishly and grinned. SinB wriggled around some, almost kicking Umji in the face, until she could look at Yuju without straining her neck.

Yuju took a moment to note that SinB looked better. There were still dark circles under her eyes, and Umji told her she still had trouble sleeping, but she definitely looked better than she had during their Hogsmeade trip. Yuju wondered what kept SinB from sleeping, but she saw the shadows in SinB’s eyes and knew it wasn’t her place to know. Not yet at least.

“Can I ask you something?” SinB asked in a low voice, eyes darting nervously to Eunha and Umji.

Yuju watched SinB in confusion and interest, nodding a yes.

“How’s Yerin doing?”

It took all of Yuju’s willpower to keep her reaction down to a mere widening of the eyes. Besides classes, Yuju knew SinB hadn’t really seen Yerin. Before whatever fight they had, SinB and Yerin were often found walking side-by-side around the halls as they traded quips, but now they avoided each other like the plague while also stealing glances when they thought the other wasn’t looking. It was kind of depressing.

“She’s good,” Yuju replied awkwardly, trying not to lie but also trying to respect Yerin’s privacy.

The truth was that Yerin had been moping. It wasn’t obvious if you didn’t know her, but Yuju had known her for years. Yerin seemed like the type to constantly be talking and playing, but she really did have her quiet moments. That’s how you knew she was okay. Yerin had a penchant for delving into pensive silences every so often. However, when Yerin moped she went into energetic overdrive to compensate for her negative feelings. The other day Sowon had told Yuju that Yerin had kept her up lately with inane chatting and games.

To anyone else, Yerin would look perfectly fine.

“That’s good,” SinB said with a sharp nod, looking like she was speaking more to herself than to Yuju. She bit her lip and stared at Yuju curiously, looking more like a little kid than Slytherin’s feared quidditch captain. “How are you doing?” SinB asked carefully.

While surprised, Yuju wasn’t entirely taken aback. Instead, she just tilted her head and stared back at SinB. It was strange how SinB was. Sometimes, she was loud and boisterous, a kid high on arrogance and youth. Other times, she looked small and tired and thoughtful. Yuju assumed this was what frustrated Yerin about SinB, but Yuju found it simply interesting.

When Yuju didn’t answer right away, SinB added, “I know it must be hard to be friends with us when you’re also friends with Yerin and Sowon.”

Definitely thoughtful. Yuju smiled brightly to reassure her and said, “I’m doing just fine. I enjoy spending time with all of you, and neither of you give me a hard time about it.” Then she thought back to what SinB said and smirked. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you calling us friends.”

Immediately (predictably), SinB’s cheeks turned an endearing shade of pink as she sputtered, “You’re imagining things, Puff.” To emphasize her point, SinB scrambled away from her and to the other end of the bed, squishing herself between Eunha and Umji. The other two girls whined at the intrusion, all of them elbowing each other until Umji caved and came to sit next to Yuju.

“You guys looked awfully friendly up until SinB ran away,” Umji commented curiously as she settled in beside Yuju. “What were you talking about?”

“Yerin.”

Umji’s nose wrinkled adorably. She shook her head and told her, “Enough said. SinB and Eunha’s moping has been enough for me to understand the gist of the situation.”

“Nice to know I haven’t been the only one having to deal with moping,” Yuju laughed quietly, careful not to draw SinB and Eunha’s attention. “What are we going to do with them?”

“Love them unconditionally,” Umji shrugged, like she’d come to this conclusion years ago. “They’re kind of walking disasters but they’re my walking disasters.”

This time Yuju couldn’t hold back her laughter and had to excuse herself from Umji’s room, just so she could escape SinB and Eunha’s pestering questions about what she was laughing at. Umji had tried to get her to stay, giving her best puppy dog eyes, but even she couldn’t compare to SinB’s. Yuju managed to get away, relatively unscathed, with an unspoken apology and a kiss to Umji’s cheek.

It was still early in the afternoon though, so Yuju decided to stretch her legs and go for a walk around the castle grounds. With all the drama that had happened lately, she didn’t really have the time to go as often as she’d like. As she walked, Yuju spotted Sowon and Yerin lounging under their favorite tree. Unsurprisingly, Sowon was tossing a ball in the air and Yerin was reading a book.

Yuju called out to them and jogged up to the tree, smiling and waving at them. Both of them waved back, but Yuju frowned slightly when she saw a sort of bitter exhaustion clinging to them.

“You look tired,” Yuju said without thinking as she walked up to them.

Thankfully, Sowon just laughed and Yerin rolled her eyes, closing her book with a sigh.

“And you look lovely too, Yuju,” Yerin replied pointedly.

Yuju just grinned sheepishly and plopped down in front of them. “While that could’ve used more tact, that doesn’t mean what I said isn’t true,” Yuju pointed out. “Is everything okay?”

“Ehhhh,” was the first sound out of Sowon’s mouth as the said girl furrowed brows while Yerin conspicuously avoided eye contact. “It’s been better,” Sowon settled on saying. At Yuju’s inquiring look, she elaborated, “We just don’t know what to do about Eunha and SinB.”

“What about them?” Yuju asked carefully. She could feel herself tensing up, but she forced herself to relax. It wouldn’t do to immediately lash out at them.

“We’re trying to figure out where we stand with them,” Yerin explained. “We want to believe they aren’t as bad as what the rumors make them to be.”

It felt oddly reminiscent of the shouting match SinB and Yerin had the other night, the whole who-are-you business. Frowning slightly, Yuju prodded, “But?”

“Come on, Yuju,” Sowon sighed, “they’re Slytherins. The big bad Slytherins. How can we trust that they aren’t just faking it all to trick?”

“They would never,” Yuju said without thinking, not that she regretted her words. Yuju had never been a particular fan of all the hate going on between the houses, but now that she actually knew Slytherins, Yuju loathed hearing such prejudice. “You’ve heard this before from them. Don’t judge them just on their house. If you’re really like that, you’d think I’m a talentless nobody.”

“You are no such thing!” Yerin exclaimed in surprise.

“Then SinB and Eunha don’t have to be arrogant blood purists who are just playing with you,” Yuju argued. Well, maybe they were a tad arrogant but that could be overlooked. “Listen, I’ve been spending time with them a lot, okay? I get what you mean. Sometimes they can be really cold and standoffish, but I know the two of you have seen them when they’re smiling and laughing.”

“How can they be both?” Sowon frowned. “How can I trust how they act?”

“People can be different around different people,” Yuju explained. “Wouldn’t you say you’re different around me than you are with your housemates?”

That was one thing about Gryffindors. They certainly had a naive sense that people were only what they were at face value. It baffled them to know that people could have layers. Yuju figured it had to do with the fact that the house itself tended to be outspoken and tactless, so that was what they were used to. Not to mention, that’s what Gryffindor valued, not seeing the point in Slytherin’s cunning masks.

“Eunha is always so suspicious of me,” Sowon said, but Yuju couldn’t tell if that was an argument or a question.

Yuju didn’t know when she became the guide to advice, but she answered, “Maybe because you’re always so suspicious of her.”

“She’s never given me a reason to trust her,” Sowon countered.

That’s when Yuju smiled sadly and replied, “But have you ever given her a reason to trust you?”

A/N: An update because Gfriend is celebrating their three year anniversary!