Yongsun studies the steady rise and fall of Byulyi’s chest as the other woman lies prone on her back, mouth wide open in a silent snore.  She sighs, slipping off her pink rubber dish-washing gloves and crossing over to throw a blanket over Byulyi,  They’d just had dinner and been talking, Byulyi’s eyes flickering slowly open and closed as she tried to concentrate on Yongsun’s rambles about the laundry she’d been drying that day and the conversation she’d had with the butcher that ended up getting her a 25% discount on a good cut of pork.

Yongsun pauses with the blanket in her fingers, tilting her head a little as she watches Byulyi’s chest move steadily with each moment.  If she’d been in the other world as a dragon the movement would have stirred something primal within her.  Even now, playing the charade of Byulyi’s maid, she could feel her teeth lengthen a little at the sight.  Without thinking she sits on the edge of the couch, her dress brushing the side of Byulyi’s arm.  She leans forward, swallowing at the sweet scent at the base of the other woman’s throat.

“Is it worth it to pretend to pretend to be a human?” Wheein had asked with a wry smile the last time they’d seen each other.  “She’ll die soon, anyway.  If not from being overworked by her job, then by the natural progression of time.  A lifetime for them is a blink of an eye for us.”

Yongsun reaches forward, tentatively and traces the curve of Byulyi’s jaw with a finger.  She lets her eyes close for a moment as she feels the warmth of Byulyi’s skin beneath her hand.  Her mind drifts back to when Byulyi had drunkenly asked her to live with her, the bloody sword that had cursed her to a painful death still clutched in her hand.

“Come live with me!” she’d shouted with a big smile.  Yongsun was still clutching at her side, transformed into a human form due to her weakened state.  She’d glanced behind her at the forest clearing that had been her prison for the past few weeks as she’d slowly been dying. 

“Yong?”

Yongsun blinks slowly at the name, brought back to the present by Byulyi’s eyes sleepily opening.  She starts to pull her hand back but Byulyi’s fingers circle her wrist and keep her hand pressed to her cheek.  Yongsun swallows at the warmth. 

“Where’d your mind go?” Byulyi asks, voice scratchy from sleep.

“To you.”  It always goes back to you.

“When’d I fall asleep?”

“Not too long ago.  I was just doing the dishes.”

Byulyi smiles at that and loosens her grip on Yongsun’s wrist.

“It was nice falling asleep to that noise.  The last time I’d heard that was when I lived at home in high school.”

“If that sound would make you happy, I’d gladly let you fall asleep to me washing the dishes every day.”

Byulyi’s groans and rolls away from Yongsun, turning into the couch.

“It’s too late to hear your weird comments.”

“They’re not weird if they’re honest,” Yongsun grumbles as she tries to lean forward to nuzzle into Byulyi’s shoulder.  Dragons did this all the time as a means of showing affection.  But of course as usual, the action made Byulyi stiffen and squirm away.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“I was expressing my affection for you.  You didn’t like it?”

Byulyi turns around to stare at Yongsun, eyes narrowing in concentration.  She simply tilts her head in confusion, unaware of why exactly the other girl seemed to be calculating something in her head.

Suddenly, Byulyi reaches out and a hand through Yongsun’s bangs, scratching at her scalp in a way that has her eyes flutter.

“You’re more like a big dog than a dragon.”

“D-dragons are not to be compared to some low-level mammal!”

Byulyi’s mouth twists in amusement at the indignant way Yongsun rises from the couch, eyes heated and teeth bared.

“Did I make you mad?”

Yongsun huffs but says nothing as she turns back to the kitchen, turning on the faucet with an angry flick of her wrist.  The only sound in the apartment is the slosh of water in the metal sink as she furiously scrubs at the dishes with her rubber gloves.  

“You’re mad at me.”

“Dragons aren’t creatures to be so petty as to take offense at such a comment.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

Yongsun huffs in response, continuing her scrubbing.  

And then warm arms wrap around her waist and she drops the plate in the sink with a clang.

Warm breath tickles the side of her neck as Byulyi whispers into her skin.

“Silly dragon.”

Then the warmth is gone and Byulyi walks away for her bath, leaving Yongsun with soapy dish water and very warm cheeks.