A/N: I don't know where I got this idea for a WonRin FWB AU from. I thought this would be 2 or 3k but it somehow turned into 5k on me. Well, I'm not complaining. Unnie line needs more love tbh.

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It’s the same routine.

They embrace each other, but they don’t hold each other. They fall asleep together, but they don’t wake up together. Yerin’s here for last night, but she’s not here for the morning after. She never is.

It’s the same routine, so Sojung doesn’t know why it still makes her ache to be left in an empty bed.

She could, of course, ask Yerin to stay. Yerin always leaves with a kiss to her forehead that Sojung doesn’t know to find affectionate or dutiful. Sojung always makes sure to keep her eyes closed and her breathing even, to feign sleep and hope that Yerin can’t hear her heart pounding.

Some might say that it’s cowardly for Yerin to leave when Sojung is (supposedly) asleep, but then again it’s not like it’s very brave of Sojung to pretend to be asleep. She tells herself that it’s just to make things easier, but nothing is easy about goodbyes or about Yerin.

 

She can’t really remember how it started. Well, that’s a lie. She remembers exactly how it started, how Sojung had caught her boyfriend cheating on her and, like she was sleepwalking, she found herself in Yerin’s apartment with no recollection of how she got there.

“That bastard,” Yerin says, even though she rarely swears.

“I should have known,” Sojung says bitterly. “He gets so many texts that he immediately goes off to answer, and he’s always ‘studying’ these days. Studying her body, maybe.”

“Hopefully he fails. Do you who she is?”

“No, but she’s really pretty.”

“Like you’re not?” Yerin scoffs, and something twinges in Sojung’s chest. “Besides, even if she looked like Im Yoona, that’s no excuse for him to cheat on you.”

Sojung swallows. “Maybe it’s not about looks. Maybe he thinks I’m boring, or stiff, or—”

Yerin doesn’t even give her a chance to finish that sentence. “Or nothing. Any guy who would cheat on you is a profound moron and doesn’t deserve you,” she says very seriously.

Sojung finds herself ducking her head, like she can’t make eye contact with Yerin for whatever reason. “Then who does deserve me?”

There’s a long pause. Sojung keeps her eyes down, even though she desperately wants to see Yerin’s expression.

“You’ll find someone who does,” Yerin finally says. Sojung expects Yerin, being the touchiest person in the world, to lay a hand on top of hers, or give her a pat on the shoulder, or just make some kind of contact. However, for once Yerin keeps her hands to herself. “There’s a big ocean out there with a lot of fish.”

“Maybe I’m tired of fishing,” Sojung says wearily.

“You want a fish to drop into your lap? That’s usually not how it works.”

Sojung doesn’t know what she wants. She only knows what she doesn’t want, and it’s another relationship that hollows her out more than it fills her up. She’s sick and tired of trying to find that hallowed other half only to feel like she’s losing pieces of herself in the process, of pursuing a significant other that just makes her feel insignificant, of seeking that elusive thing called love that is starting to feel like it only belongs in fiction, not reality.

“Do you want to watch some TV?” she asks, because she really needs an escape from the latter right now.

“Sure,” Yerin says, without commenting on the sudden change of subject. She reaches across Sojung to reach for the remote, but then she trips over something and the next thing Sojung knows, she has a lapful of Yerin.

Yerin freezes, but she doesn’t move. She’s not heavy, but Sojung can acutely feel the weight and warmth of her draped across Sojung’s thighs.

“Yuna must be rubbing off on you,” Sojung says, for something to fill the air except the strange tension rising between the two of them. “Be careful before you end up hurting yourself trying to adjust the thermostat.”

Yerin finally straightens up. “I don’t think anyone except Yuna can get to that level.” She rubs her hip with a pout. “Unnie, your knees are so pointy. I feel like you stabbed me with them.”

“You’re the one who fell onto me,” Sojung points out dryly.

Yerin’s pout only deepens. “I was trying to find the remote for you!”

“Okay, okay.” Sojung puts her hand over the spot where she supposedly kneed Yerin and gives it a good rub. “There, is that better?”

“Yeah,” Yerin says softly. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Sojung says, and as Yerin scrolls through the hottest recent dramas, Sojung finds her eyes lingering on Yerin instead. She would rather watch Yerin than Goblin any day.

 

Sojung wishes that her friends never found out about her and Yerin’s…whatever you would call it. It’s not even like she told them, but there are only so many excuses she can give for Yerin leaving her room in the early morning or vice versa. It’s kind of hard to pass it off as studying when they don’t have any classes together.

“You should really just tell Yerin unnie how you feel,” Yewon advises. Sojung wishes it were that easy.

“If you need some help on how to phrase it, I’d be happy to be of assistance,” Eunha says. Sojung doesn’t think she wants to say lines prepared by Eunha, who had tried to teach her ‘The Art of Romance’ earlier.

“Then we don’t have to watch you two look at each other with googly eyes all the time,” is Sinbi’s contribution. Sojung just ignores her.

 

Sojung thinks it’s not a good day when she forgets her laptop and has to run back for it, thus making her late for Economics, which happens to be her worst subject. It only gets worse when she tries to buy lunch in the cafeteria only to find out that she had exhausted the funds on her student card.

She concludes it’s an awful day when she sees Yerin embracing a girl by the soccer field, a girl with long red hair and the kind of face that belongs on a magazine cover, and then walk hand in hand with her toward the bleachers. Sojung doesn’t want to think about what they’re going to do there, what she had done with Yerin behind the bleachers only the previous week.

We’re not exclusive, she tells herself. She has the right to do anything she wants.

Or anyone, comes the unbidden thought, and no matter how hard she tries to chase it away, it lingers like an unwanted visitor.

“What are you doing, hanging out here like a creeper?” asks a familiar voice.

“I’m not being a creeper,” Sojung automatically protests.

Sinbi only looks at her with an unimpressed expression. Then again, that’s probably just her face.

“Why are you dressed in your soccer kit?” Sojung asks, partly curious and partly to change the subject.

“Because I’m going to play a game,” Sinbi says slowly, like she’s explaining a simple concept to a particularly dim child.

“Oh. Why isn’t Yerin with you then?”

Sinbi gives her a strange look. “Yerin unnie is injured. Didn’t she tell you?”

“No.”

“She pulled her hamstring again. She’s been having trouble with it.” Sinbi gives Sojung a look like it’s her fault, but that might also just be her face. “Why do you think she’s watching the match? She even bet against her friend from Dawon about who’s going to win.”

Sojung just looks at Sinbi blankly. “Her friend from Dawon?”

“Who we’re playing against today.” Back to the voice. “Geez unnie, don’t you know anything about your girlfriend’s life?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Sojung replies automatically, and even though it’s the truth the words leave a bitter taste in .

“…Right,” Sinbi says, waving that aside. “Well, there’s been a big deal over the game for ages since Dawon is our biggest rival, but I guess you don’t know anything about that.”

Sojung doesn’t and frankly she doesn’t really care. She makes an effort to watch the games since Yerin and Sinbi are both on the team, but as hard as she tried to get into soccer, she just can’t muster any enthusiasm toward the sport.

“So that girl with the red hair – she’s Yerin’s friend from Dawon?”

“Yeah.” Sinbi’s expression starts to change – into a smirk. “You didn’t think she was involved with Yerin unnie, did you?”

“No, of course not,” Sojung lies through her teeth.

“You so did,” Sinbi snickers. “You’re jealous!”

“Don’t you have a game to get to? You keep bragging about how you’re the star player. It doesn’t seem very good for the star player to miss the game.”

“The game is nowhere near starting,” Sinbi says dismissively. “And I don’t brag. I am the star player.”

“You don’t seem any better than Yerin.”

“That’s because you spend the whole game checking her out. Besides, do you even know how soccer works?”

“Of course I know how it works!” Sojung says indignantly. She’s watched enough games to know that, thank you very much. Even though she still doesn’t really understand the concept of offside and the back pass rule. “I’m a big supporter of our team.”

“Oh please,” Sinbi snorts. “You’re just a big supporter of watching Yerin unnie running around all sweaty and flushed. Don’t you see enough of that at home?”

“Yah, Hwang Sinbi!”

Sinbi had better watch herself. Star player or not, Sojung has no compunction about strangling her.

 

“Sojung unnie!” Yerin’s face lights up when she sees Sojung, and she waves at her with that dimpled smile that Sojung has never been able to resist. This time is no exception, as she finds herself sitting beside Yerin in the next moment, her red-haired friend nowhere to be seen.

“What happened to your friend?” Sojung can’t stop herself from asking.

“Oh, Sooyoung? She went to sit with her Dawon friends. We both get really intense during games, so I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to sit together while our teams face each other.”

Something loosens in Sojung’s chest, like a pressure valve has been released. “I didn’t know you were injured,” she says, squinting at Yerin like she should be able to make the word out on her forehead or something.

Yerin makes a face. “Yeah, I am. It’s not exactly something to brag about.”

“You should have told me,” Sojung says. “I would have wanted to know.” I would have wanted to be there for you. I still do.

Yerin shrugs. “You know now. It’s not a big deal.”

Except judging from the shadow lingering underneath her bright expression, it clearly is. Sojung may not care about soccer, but she knows how much Yerin does. She knows how much it matters to her, and that’s the main reason that has Sojung watching every home game their team plays.

“How long are you going to be out for?”

“A few weeks at least.” Yerin’s brows pull together, a wrinkle forming between them that Sojung wants to erase. “I hope not for any longer than that. We have a big game coming up in a month.”

“I’m sure you’ll recover before then,” Sojung says, meaning every word. “I’ve never known anything to keep you down.”

“Thanks, unnie,” Yerin says with a faint but genuine smile. “How did you find out anyway?”

“Sinbi told me.”

“Of course she did.” Yerin has an expression that’s part exasperation, part resignation, one that Sojung is familiar with when it comes to Hwang Sinbi. “She couldn’t keep shut if you used duct tape.”

“Isn’t that you?” Sojung teases, and Yerin gives her that signature pout of hers. Even though Sojung’s seen it a hundred times, it still makes her soften.

“You’d like to duct tape my mouth shut, wouldn’t you?”

“Maybe I would,” Sojung says, and if they weren’t sitting there along with all these other students in anticipation of a game, their conversation might have led somewhere else entirely.

Yerin gives her a look from under her lashes that makes Sojung swallow. “Oh look,” she says, her expression transforming in half a second. “It’s Yuna and Yewon!”

Sojung turns to see their two friends heading toward the bleachers arm in arm. “Where’s Eunha?”

“I think she’s with her friend from Dawon,” Yerin says. “That Japanese transfer student who was her pen pal.”

“Huh, it feels like everyone has a friend from Dawon. You guys aren’t going to transfer there, are you? I heard they have a pool and a buffet-style cafeteria.”

Yerin gives her a blank look. “You have friends there too, unnie. Didn’t Nayeon unnie transfer to Dawon last semester?”

“Oh.” Sojung scratches her head. “That’s true, she did.”

Yerin shakes her head. “And isn’t Nayoung unnie moving into that area? You’re going to be the one with all the Dawon friends. If anyone’s going to transfer there, it’ll be you.”

“I wouldn’t go there, or anywhere else,” Sojung says with certainty.

“The buffet isn’t enough of an incentive?”

“You’re not there, so why would I go?” Sojung’s mouth speaks before her brain can kick in. “And neither are Eunha or Sinbi or Yuna or Yewon,” she adds quickly.

“But you would miss me the most, wouldn’t you?” Yerin asks, looping her arm through Sojung’s and plastering herself to her side the way she does when they drag her onto rollercoasters and other rides that Sinbi calls fun and Yerin calls terrifying. Sojung is the only one who will sit with her, because whoever does is basically guaranteed to lose all feeling in the arm next to Yerin.

You wish, Sojung almost quips, or not as much as you would miss me. But somehow, she ends up saying, “Of course I would.”

And the dimpled smile Yerin beams at her makes her heart do a somersault.

 

It’s not like they ever set ground rules, but in retrospect Sojung thinks that maybe they should have. All the classic ones like no cuddling, no excessive kissing, no staying the night. Now that she thinks about it, they basically follow those anyway, even though they never established or even spoke about them.

She doesn’t know if that makes her feel better or worse. What does it mean? That they’re good at being friends with benefits, if that’s what they are? Is that something to be proud of, to be happy with? She doesn’t think she feels particularly proud or happy about the whole thing.

Then again. She does feel proud when she makes Yerin crumple with laughter at one of her jokes, even if it was a totally lame pun that she herself doesn’t even find that funny. She does feel happy when they’re watching a movie and Yerin uses her sleeve to wipe away her tears or cover her eyes during a scary scene. She feels so much around Yerin, about Yerin.

She’s not sure what that means either. That how she feels about Yerin and how she feels about this are different, maybe. That she doesn’t love this, but she does love—

Maybe it’s better that she doesn’t know.

 

“Pass me my highlighter, will you?”

Sojung absently hands it to Eunha, still trying to decipher a particularly complex graph in the textbook.

“…That’s my mascara.”

“Oh.” Sojung finds the actual highlighter and gives it to Eunha. “Why do you keep makeup with your pens?”

“You never know when you need a bit of a touch up,” Eunha says airily. “We can’t all look perfect all the time like you.”

Sojung blinks. “Me? I’m like, the farthest thing from perfect.”

“Look at you,” Eunha says. “Your legs are like, the length of my whole body. Your face is tiny. And your hair always looks like you’re filming a shampoo commercial.”

Sojung is left just gaping at her. Partly because of what she’s saying, but mostly because she’s the one saying it. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with Eunha?”

Eunha rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on. It’s not like I’m only capable of complimenting myself.”

Sojung merely raises her eyebrows in a classic okay, whatever you say expression.

“I was just thinking…” Eunha sounds uncharacteristically hesitant. It makes Sojung feel uneasy. “You and Yerin unnie.”

“What about me and Yerin?” Sojung prompts when Eunha breaks off.

“Well, when are you going to make it official?”

Sojung stares at her blankly. “Make what official?”

Eunha sighs so loudly that Sojung thinks she can audition to be the Big, Bad Wolf in The Three Little Pigs. She already has the bad part down pat. “Your relationship.” Duh, she doesn’t add and yet Sojung somehow hears it clearly.

“We’re not in a relationship,” Sojung says, and the bitter taste is back in .

“…Right,” Eunha says, in the exact same tone Sinbi had used earlier. “You’re just flirty and touchy and obnoxiously cute and engage in activities I won’t think about unless I want to be mentally scarred forever.”

Sojung valiantly ignores the last part, because she doesn’t want to be mentally scarred either. “That doesn’t mean we’re in a relationship.”

“Why aren’t you?” Eunha asks bluntly.

“W-what?”

“Why aren’t you,” Eunha repeats. “What’s holding you back?”

“That’s—that’s not… Why are we even talking about this,” Sojung says, hurriedly flipping through the textbook. “This is supposed to be a study session, not an interrogation session.”

“We’re talking about this because I’m worried about you, unnie,” Eunha says, unrelenting as always. “You and Yerin unnie.”

“Worried about us?” Sojung asks bleakly. “There’s nothing to be worried about.” There isn’t even an ‘us’ to worry about.

“Stop pretending to look at that textbook,” Eunha says, grabbing it from Sojung’s hands and carelessly throwing it aside, like they hadn’t both groaned about how expensive it was when they got their syllabus. “This is a serious conversation.”

“Okay,” Sojung says. “I’ll be serious, so don’t talk for a minute and just listen to me. Yerin and I… It’s complicated.”

“I don’t think it’s as complicated as you’re making it out to be.”

“What did I say about not talking for a minute?”

“You said it, I didn’t say I would do it,” Eunha scoffs.

Sojung has to take a deep breath so she won’t strangle Eunha. “It’s complicated,” she repeats. “We’re good friends and—”

“That’s just another reason why you should be together,” Eunha interrupts yet again. “She’s not just someone you met the other day, someone you can just cut out of your life if it goes wrong.”

“But if we make it official, then it can go wrong,” Sojung says, finally admitting to what’s holding her back. “If we don’t put a label on it, then…” She shrugs, not even sure what she’s saying, only how she feels.

If they become official, then they can become unofficial. If they get together, then they can break up. If she doesn’t really have Yerin, then she can’t lose her. She doesn’t think she can handle that, losing her. To go from an us to a me. She can’t.

“Why are you so sure that it’ll go wrong?” Eunha asks. “Haven’t you heard that saying? When you’re in a relationship, you either break up or you get married. Do you think everyone marries their significant other? Does that stop people from getting into relationships?”

“I haven’t thought about it like that before,” Sojung admits.

“Of course you haven’t,” Eunha says. “You were too busy worrying about what would happen if it ended when it hasn’t even started. Honestly, unnie, haven’t you heard – don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

“Okay, you’re starting to sound like a Goodreads quote dispenser. Is that your new hobby? Maybe you should start an advice column and spread your wisdom.”

“You know, I really think I should,” Eunha says thoughtfully. “It’d be a waste to just keep it all to myself.”

Now that sounds more like the Eunha Sojung knows.

“You’re lucky,” Eunha says. “People would line up to hear some wisdom from me but here I am, giving it to you for free.”

“I’m honoured,” Sojung says dryly. “Should I write you an IOU?”

“You already owe me for life,” Eunha tells her. “I’ll just add this to the tab.”

Maybe Sojung should reconsider Eunha’s fairy tale character. She could be a fairy godmother, but the really annoying kind who would probably turn you into a mouse if you didn’t listen to her. Sojung snorts at the mental imagery, and Eunha looks at her curiously.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Sojung says. “Hey, um, thanks. You know, for all this.”

“For my amazing advice? You know, I could still teach you the art of romance.”

“Er, thanks but no thanks.” Sojung reaches out and just manages to grab her textbook. “Now, we really have to go back to studying unless you want to fail the midterm.”

Eunha groans but doesn’t argue. Sojung considers that a small victory.

 

We need to talk. Okay, that sounded kind of dramatic but yeah, I have something to say.

Hey, want to come over? I want to talk about something.

Are you home? Is it okay if I come over? Just to talk.

Sojung deletes her umpteenth attempt at a text. None of them would come out right. She thinks about calling Yerin, but if she can’t express what she wants in writing, she doubts she can do it in speech. She would probably just mess it up even further.

Her phone chimes with an incoming call, and for a second her heart leaps – it must be Yerin, it has to be – but it’s not Yerin. It’s not even Eunha.

“Unnie, can you come over to my place asap? I need your help.”

“What’s wrong?” Sojung asks immediately, because if Sinbi says the words ‘I need your help,’ something serious must be wrong. She imagines Sinbi blowing up their dorm room or inciting someone’s wrath. Although the second one is basically part of Sinbi’s daily itinerary.

“I’ll explain when you come over. It’s just really urgent. See you soon.” And Sinbi hangs up, leaving Sojung with a dial tone to answer her questions.

 

Sojung knocks out of courtesy, but tries the knob right after to find the door unlocked and pushes it open. “What happened?” she asks briskly, walking into the room. “What trouble did you get into this time?”

But it’s not Sinbi who stares at her, but rather Yerin.

“Trouble?” Yerin repeats, sounding confused. “I didn’t get into any trouble. Did someone tell you I did?”

Sojung opens and then closes it again. “Sinbi did. I mean, she said she was in trouble. She called me a few minutes ago saying she needed my help, so I came over here.”

Yerin blinks, looking bemused. “Well, she didn’t tell me anything about that. She hasn’t even been here all day – she went out with Eunha in the morning and hasn’t come back.”

“She went out with Eunha?” Sojung repeats, getting a terrible feeling.

“Yeah. Do you want to call her?”

“No, I’m sure she’s fine.” She’s probably laughing her head off with Eunha right now.

“Well, I doubt the two of them can be in much trouble. They’re probably out there causing trouble.”

“They’d make a dangerous couple, wouldn’t they?”

“Like, an actual couple?” Yerin asks. “I don’t think either of them even likes girls.”

“I didn’t think I did either until you,” Sojung says casually. She expects Yerin to make a quip about how that’s because she’s so irresistible, but Yerin stays silent and just looks at her with an unreadable expression.

“Yuna asked me for dating advice the other day,” Yerin suddenly says.

“Yuna?” Sojung asks, and then, “Dating advice?”

“Yeah, she wants to ask Chaeyeon out. You know, her study partner from psych.”

Sojung has a vague recollection of the girl. “I hope you gave her some good advice.” She’s slightly hurt that Yuna didn’t come to her for advice, but she’d probably trust Yerin’s dating advice over her own too.

“She said that if it works out, maybe the four of us could go on a double date.”

“Well, we could,” Sojung says, smiling slightly at the idea.

“You mean, you’d want to?” Yerin sounds surprised.

“Well, sure. Why not?”

“I thought you wanted to keep this a secret.”

“It’s not much of a secret, is it?” Sojung points out. “All our friends know. Sinbi says something snarky about it every other day.”

“Sinbi’s snark is impossible to stop,” Yerin says absently. “It’s just that – I thought… You’ve only ever had boyfriends. I didn’t think you’d want to…”

“Make it public that I’m dating a girl?” Yerin doesn’t say anything, but her silence is enough of an answer. “Yerin, I’m not ashamed of my uality.” Still, not a word from Yerin. “Or of you,” Sojung adds, soft but firm.

Yerin’s eyes look a little too bright. “Sojung…”

For once, Sojung doesn’t press on the lack of honorifics. “Yerin.”

She has that feeling that she gets around Yerin a lot, like she wants to say so much but it still couldn’t possibly be enough. Instead, she simply opens her arms and Yerin steps into her embrace. Sojung’s arms come around her, wrapping tightly around her, and she can’t help but feel that Yerin is meant to be here, to be in her arms, to be with her.

 

Their mouths meet with an intensity that’s a notch above hunger, that’s closer to passion. Yerin says Sojung’s name a lot, murmurs it between kisses, gasps it against the crook of her neck. Sojung presses open-mouthed kisses against Yerin’s skin and, for once, is unafraid to leave marks. She says Yerin’s name too, and she says “mine” at least one time. Probably more.

Sojung falters when Yerin hitches a leg around her hip. “Your hamstring,” she remembers. “Are you going to upset your injury?”

Yerin gives her a look that’s somehow incredulous yet fond. “The only thing upsetting me right now is you.”

“Sorry.” Sojung’s lips trail along her collarbone. “How can I make it up to you?”

“Hmm, I can think of a few ways…”

 

Later, when they’re warm and satiated and tangled in each other’s arms, Yerin brings up a topic Sojung doesn’t really want to discuss during pillow talk.

“So Sinbi and Eunha planned this?”

“It seems like it. I should have realized something was wrong when Sinbi said she needed my help.”

“Well, you never know, she could have. You’re probably the first person that she would call for help.”

“Because I’m a doormat who can’t say no,” Sojung grumbles.

“Because you’re kind and reliable,” Yerin corrects. “You always put other people ahead of yourself.”

Sojung can feel heat in her cheeks. “You make me sound too great.”

“No, I’m just saying how you are.” Yerin sighs. “Why are you so against hearing compliments?”

Sojung narrows her eyes. “Have you been talking to Eunha?”

“About you? Not any more than usual.”

“What does that mean?”

“We talk about you a lot, unnie.” Yerin flashes her dimples. “Don’t you talk about me to our friends too?”

Sojung clears . “Possibly. Sometimes.” Yerin just keeps looking at her. “Okay, a lot,” she admits, and Yerin looks like a cat who just ate a saucer full of cream. “You like hearing that?”

“Well, of course,” Yerin says. “Who wouldn’t like hearing that the person they l-like feels the same way?”

She stumbles over the word ‘like,’ and Sojung’s heart stumbles as well, tripping in this path that one can only navigate with a clear head. But really, how can you have a clear head when you have a full heart?

Sojung clears , hoping that she won’t trip here, that she won’t mess this up. “I guess I never actually said it.”

“Said it?” Yerin repeats, voice unsure but gaze steady.

“That—” Sojung’s voice is hanging on by a threadbare rope, but she manages to step across it. “I love you.”

Yerin stares at her for a moment that lasts so long Sojung feels like the rope is at , threatening to choke her. Then, Yerin’s face splits into that smile of hers, twin dimples in her cheeks and even that elusive third one popping out above them. Sojung feels like she can’t breathe for a different reason.

“I love you too.”

 

Yerin must have given Yuna really good dating advice, because Sojung finds herself sitting with Yerin in a booth across from Yuna and Chaeyeon on a double date. It’s silly, but the word ‘date’ has her feeling a little giddy. She and Yerin hang out all the time, but they’ve never gone out on an official date.

Sojung thinks that this whole official thing has its appeal after all. Not that she’s going to tell Eunha that she was right all along. Eunha really doesn’t need an ego boost. Speaking of Eunha…

“Yuna,” Chaeyeon says hesitantly. “Are those your friends over there?”

“Where?” Yuna asks, eyes sweeping right over Eunha and Sinbi, who are hiding (ineffectually) behind menus. Sojung’s glad that Yewon isn’t with them; at least one of their friends has some sense. “I don’t see them. But hey, isn’t that Eunjin and Heehyun unnie?”

Chaeyeon groans and slumps a little in her chair. “Oh, no. They’ve actually come to spy on me.”

“I’m sure they’re just watching out for you,” Sojung says diplomatically, but she makes a mental note to talk to Eunha and Sinbi about their intrusive behaviour later. She doubts they’ll listen to her, but Yuna and Chaeyeon are shy enough without having to watch out for spying friends.

“But hey,” Yerin adds. “If you want to lose them, Sojung unnie and I will create a distraction for you.”

As she says it, her hand creeps up Sojung’s thigh, and Sojung finds herself as the distracted one. She grips Yerin’s hand and squeezes it in warning, but Yerin just laces their fingers together like that’s what Sojung was going for all along.

She can’t say she minds.

 

It feels like the same routine at first. Yerin opens her eyes and presses a kiss to Sojung’s forehead. However, she doesn’t make a move to get out of bed, instead stretching and curling up against Sojung like a cat seeking warmth.

“I know you’re awake,” Yerin suddenly says. “You’re terrible at feigning sleep, you know.”

“Am I?” Sojung finds herself asking.

“Yeah, you look way too peaceful. And you don’t snore at all, which – hate to break it to you – gives you away pretty quickly.”

“I don’t snore!” Sojung says indignantly.

“I only report what I see,” Yerin says with a grin. “Well, or what I hear.”

Sojung falls silent as something occurs to her. “So you’ve always known when I wasn’t really asleep?”

Yerin’s smile fades. “Yeah, I have.”

“So all those times you left…”

“I knew you were awake,” Yerin says quietly, “but I also knew that you definitely didn’t want me to know, so I went along with it. I guess we were both too good at pretending.”

Sojung lets out a slow sigh. “It didn’t do us much good though, did it?”

“No, it didn’t,” Yerin agrees, “but we’re here now. That’s pretty good, isn’t it?”

Sojung leans over and, wary of her morning breath, brushes her lips against Yerin’s forehead. Yerin’s eyes close for a moment, lashes dark against her cheeks, and Sojung realizes that it’s the first time that she’s kissed Yerin the morning after. It’s the first time that Yerin’s here the morning after. She can only hope that it’ll be the first of many.

“Yes,” she says, feeling a lump somewhere between and her chest, but it’s not a weight so much as it is a warmth. “It’s perfect.”

---

A/N: Somehow DIAFriend, TwiceFriend, PristinFriend and VelvetFriend all ended up happening, at least in mention, in this fic. Hoorah to girl group friendships. Remember - be Buddies, not Bullies!