A husky voice flits through Jessica’s mind like a dream. She doesn’t respond to it in any way, until she feels the softness of lips graze her forehead, and then descend upon her own lips. She’s barely awake, but it doesn’t stop her from sighing in content at the contact.
 

“I have to go, Jessi. Radio show.” Jessica hears this before another soft kiss is planted on her lips. And even though every cell in her body protests her movements because she’s sleepy and tired from last night’s schedule—as well as the extra schedule she and Tiffany had added to their agenda involving the bed and barely any space in between their bodies—she lifts her arm up and pulls the other girl in.
 

Tiffany probably didn’t expect her to do that, because the younger girl gasps as she tries to regain her balance and not crush her girlfriend, who is oblivious to the possibility thereof and just yanks and yanks until she’s wrapped in Tiffany's warmth, much similar to last night.
 

Jessica is stuck in the haze between dream and reality, and her lips move of their own accord as they come in contact with skin and scatter across it lazy pecks. And Tiffany's chuckling lightly because Jessica is kissing her chin and her hair and hasn’t even met at least once because the blonde’s eyes are still closed, and Tiffany wouldn’t be surprised if she’s still asleep.
 

“Stay,” Jessica murmurs sleepily as she pulls Tiffany in even more, and the way she says it—like it’s instinct and barely a bout of conscious thought—fills Tiffany's heart with warmth, and she wishes that she could stay. Wishes that she can crawl back to bed, pull the covers up over the two of them and just be with Jessica in the early morning haze.
 

But work is work, and she has to detach herself before their manager becomes impatient and bangs on their door (their manager has learned the hard way not to enter such private places unannounced).
 

“I wish I could,” she tells Jessica regretfully before giving her a light kiss. “Go back to sleep. I’ll see you later.”
 

As Tiffany carefully stands back up, she almost laughs out loud when she hears soft snores coming from the other girl’s slightly agape mouth. She shakes her head in endearment and what feels a lot like love, and she pulls the covers up over her sleeping girlfriend. “Sweet dreams, Jessi.”

***

Their first date didn’t seem like a first date until they were on their third.
 

The girls love to hang out together during their free time, even with what little of it they had, because they’re friends—and for most if not all of them, it’s basically like spending time with family.
 

They usually go out in groups of threes, fours, or fives, but one day, Jessica asks Tiffany to go watch a movie with her. Tiffany nods excitedly and stands up from the couch to go and invite Yoona as well, but a hand on her wrist stops her.
 

Jessica’s hand lets go, but she timidly asks Tiffany if she wouldn’t mind that it’d just be the two of them.
 

Tiffany stays quiet for a moment, before a radiant smile breaks through her face and she says yes.
 

They both don't think too much of it at first, but Jessica clearly remembers her heart beating a little faster every time she meets Tiffany's smiling eyes in the dark of the theater as they laugh at the American romantic comedy playing on the screen.
 

Tiffany asks Jessica out to dinner for their second date, and Jessica doesn’t have to ask about it being just the two of them when she can clearly see the hope shining through Tiffany's eyes. Jessica still insists to this day that the pizza they ate that night is the best pizza she’s ever had.
 

They make their way inside the concert hall once the lights are off for their third, and have to leave before they are switched back on, but they don’t mind. After that, they take the long route home, walking with masks and caps on, their arms brushing from time-to-time until Tiffany finally takes the initiative and entwines their fingers together. They talk and laugh about the show they’d just seen, and this time, for the both of them, it really does feel like a date.
 

Tiffany walks Jessica to her bedroom door rather than just the front door, and they find this so amusing that they laugh with each other for a good long while—or maybe they just don’t want the night to end so soon.
 

But they can’t delay it any further, and Tiffany is the first to say good night. Jessica says it back, softly—hesitantly—making Tiffany smile, and Jessica gets lost because Tiffany's eye-smiles don’t look quite like that in public. Tiffany's broadcasted smiles have this devastating way of pulling you in and stopping your breath, but Jessica sees a hint of vulnerability in this one.
 

Before she can decipher the why’s and the how’s, Tiffany has turned away from her.
 

But this time, Jessica takes the initiative and spins her back around. Really, she should ask about the smile and the feelings and the why’s and the how’s, but instead she doesn’t let go and just pulls Tiffany in. She pulls her in until their breaths are mingling and Tiffany is all she sees.
 

Their lips brush against each other, and Jessica closes her eyes at the soft and almost-tickling sensation. Her heart flutters in anticipation, and Jessica thinks she’s never felt quite like this before.
 

Until Tiffany presses harder and Jessica gets enveloped in warmth and strawberries that give her oxygen and take away the breath from her lungs all at once. And now Jessica is sure she’s never felt quite like this before.

***

Public displays of affection are frowned upon. No—incredibly prohibited. Strictly prohibited. Overwhelmingly prohibited.
 

It’s just how it is. The two of them don’t even question it because they’re smart, even though the reasons and the stigma are clearly not.
 

Love is love. And as subjective as love may be, how can anyone question or judge something as beautiful as what Jessica feels for Tiffany, or something as amazing as what Tiffany feels for Jessica?
 

But they would. The public would, even if the logic is messed up and the reasons aren’t really reasons.
 

So they it up and hide their love from the cold, cruel world, because they know they’re safe and free to be Jessica and Tiffany—as real as how Jessica and Tiffany can be—in the warm, welcoming place they call home. Or what their friends would sometimes call the dorm. Would sternly call the dorm, as in ‘a place where there are other girls around,’ so Tiffany, please stop Jessica’s face off because I’m trying to eat my cereal in peace here. And Jessica, oh my god, Jessica, can you not rip Tiffany's clothes off before you get to your room?!

***

“It’s really falling fast this year!” Tiffany exclaims excitedly, holding out her hand to catch some of the falling snow.
 

Watching the first snow with Tiffany turned from a coincidence (it still boggles Jessica’s mind how three times can be a coincidence) into a routine of sorts for them. Tiffany told her that no matter where they are, if they witness the first snow, they would try their best to reach the other person—even through text (and selfies, Tiffany heavily stressed) if one of them was halfway across the globe.
 

They’ve watched it together for a total of eight times now, but in reality, what happens is Tiffany watches the snow fall, while Jessica watches her. And falls…again. They’re both watching beautiful things unfold before them, so Jessica thinks there isn’t much of a difference, really.
 

Maybe I should get some bangs, Jessica thinks to herself. Because Tiffany sure as hell looks good in them.
 

They fall across the girl’s forehead in light wisps, but the blackness of Tiffany's hair makes them stand out against her pale skin, and somehow Jessica is tempted to brush them back. Maybe if she gets some bangs, Tiffany would be tempted to brush them back too, and Jessica can steal a kiss from her girlfriend.
 

She watches in quiet intensity as Tiffany's bangs—and the rest of her hair—get overlaid with a few dozen tiny, white snowflakes. She thinks about how the white is such a huge contrast to the black, but somehow they fit and make for a good picture. Of course, she analogously relates this observation to the difference between her and Tiffany's personalities, because she’s poetic like that.
 

“Jessi! The snow is so—“ Tiffany and her smiling eyes turn to her, but she stops mid-sentence when she catches Jessica mid-snicker because of her little inside joke.
 

“Hmm?” Jessica bites her cheek to stop herself from full-on laughing at the look on Tiffany's face.
 

“Why are you- What’s so funny?”
 

“Nothing.” Jessica shakes her head. “Don’t pout. It wasn’t anything, really. I was just being cheesy in my head.”
 

“You? Cheesy?” Tiffany scoffs a little.
 

“Yes, Miyoung, I have my moments too. You drag me with you for this ‘first snow’ stuff, and I wax poetic about the snowflakes on your hair.”
 

“The snowflakes on my- Okay, you lost me.”
 

It’s hard for Jessica to say the words in her heart—about the beauty and the contrast and the overall good picture they make—so instead, Jessica plants a brief kiss on Tiffany's lips and hopes it’s good enough. “It’s getting cold and your lips are frosty,” she tells her. “We should go back inside.”
 

Tiffany hums, her eyes still closed. “More. Your lips are warm.”
 

Jessica can’t help but smile, and she can’t help but give in to Tiffany's demand and warm her girlfriend up with a few more pecks. “Okay. Now?”
 

“Just one more minute.” Tiffany wraps her arms around her, and Jessica doesn’t protest anymore.
 

Jessica may not be as enthusiastic as her very enthusiastic girlfriend when it comes to first snows, but she has to admit, watching the snow fall across Tiffany's hair and blanket them both in white is nothing short of beautiful. And she wishes that she can witness this kind of beauty for many more years to come.

A/N:

My main worry for this story was whether or not I was doing Jessica's character (aka her personality in real life) justice, since I'm not as much of an obsessed stan of hers as compared to TaeNy. But yeah, I hope I did, and I hope you liked the story! ^^ Thanks for reading!