“So how’s it going? Anyone being mean to you that I need to beat up?”

Lying flat on her stomach on her tragically empty double bed, Nayeon squinted at the laptop screen as Sana moved around on the other end, trying to get a better connection.

“It’s fine.” Sana’s voice was a second behind her face, and Nayeon pushed her laptop a little to the left to try and make it better. “It’s not like the police can catch me. When they ask Momo and Mina they both lie and say they haven’t seen me. But yesterday Momo and I were caught shopping together, so we had to stage this epic fight. I think we accidently punched each other like twice.”

“Glad to hear you’re having fun.” Nayeon genuinely meant it, even if she missed Sana like crazy. “How’s Chaeyoung doing?”

“Oh she’s thriving.” Sana laughed. “Momo’s YouTube channel has been raking in brand new subscribers ever since Chaeyoung started varying the content.”

“I still can’t believe she went with you just to teach Momo fortnite dances.” Nayeon shook her head. “I mean, I get why you went, because three months is a long time to be away when you never left Japan before. But she really just heard that you were going back for a week and basically invited herself along.”

“She’s a confident kid.” Sana agreed, the screen freezing for a few seconds. “Remember what she told Jihyo when she got sick of the talk?”

“’I eat your kid for breakfast, I know what I’m doing.’ is pretty hard to forget.” Nayeon shuddered. “At least it stopped Jeongyeon halfway through her ridiculous song.”

“Only because she spent the next five minutes trying to whack Chaeng with the guitar.”

“I don’t blame her.” Nayeon said with a grimace. “I know they’re grown adults with a healthy life, but if I think about them doing it, it’s like picturing my little sisters.”

“Agreed.” It was Sana’s turn to shudder. “I don’t have siblings, but after being around you and your friends, I can’t help but see them as kids.”

Even through the screen, Nayeon could sense Sana’s sadness. Tomorrow she was going to go visit her parents. Nayeon wished she had something helpful to say, but she hadn’t spoken to her family since becoming a supervillain. She didn’t want to get them wrapped up in this, and she didn’t want to know if they were disappointed in her. But Sana needed to know, and all Nayeon could do is be there for her. If tomorrow ended badly she would be on the next flight to Japan ready to comfort her girlfriend and shower her with love.

For now, she could change the subject.

“One good thing about Chaeyoung going away is that Tzuyu is very miserable.” Nayeon smirked. “Her sadness entertains me.”

“Nice try. Jihyo already sent me photos of you two cuddling on her couch.”

Damn Jihyo. Always exposing Nayeon, even to her own girlfriend.

“Alright fine.” Nayeon sighed. “We both miss you two so much that we spent all day yesterday in Jihyo’s apartment watching trashy romance films.”

“Aw babe.” Sana’s giggles were worth the humiliation Nayeon felt. “I’ll only be here a few more days. I promise to let you know about all the shenanigans.”

“Like you can get up to much with your two goody-goody hero friends looking over your shoulder.” Nayeon teased.

“You’d be surprised. Chaeyoung’s been a pretty bad influence on Momo.”

“That… actually doesn’t surprise me. This is the girl who proposed to Tzuyu in the middle of a jail cell by rapping while Dahyun beatboxed. They had to wait until Jihyo showed up to bail them out in order to get the rings.”

“The management really likes her though. They told Momo that MoChaeng TV was a good way to reel in a broader range of fans, and Momo basically took that as a go-ahead to hire Chaeyoung as her personal PR manager.”

“I bet Mina loved that.”

“I could see her soul leave her body every time Chaeyoung came running in with a new meme dance. But there was this one video she liked…”

“Oh?” Nayeon leant closer to the screen, relishing the sparkle in Sana’s eyes.

“Momo did a dance cover of Move, and Chaeyoung was supposed to film her but she ended up focusing in on Momo’s abs instead. We showed Mina the video and when it ended, she just stood up and yanked Momo into the bedroom.”

“Seems Chaeyoung is helping everyone over there.”

“You could say that.” Sana smiled. “It was just us two in the living room after that and we actually had a nice conversation. I told her we should bond because we both missed the girl we were dating, and then she cried for a few seconds because she thought I meant that Tzuyu was dating both of us.”

“How…”

“She smelt like weed. I didn’t question it.”

“Fair enough.”

They were both silent for a beat after that. Ordinarily Nayeon would enjoy the peaceful companionship, but since Sana wasn’t actually next to her the silence just made her panic that the call had lost all sound.

Screw Skype. Next time Nayeon was coming to Japan with her, co-dependency be damned.

“You still there?”

“Yep.” Sana said, struggling to hide a yawn. “Just thinking about tomorrow.”

“It’ll be fine.” Nayeon said, trying to sound completely confident. “You’re taking Momo and Mina with you, your parents love you and they already know you’re a lesbian so that’s one struggle down. All you have to do is convince them that being a supervillain is a worthwhile way of life.”

Damn, that last part didn’t sound convincing at all. Sana smiled, but Nayeon could see the worry still in her eyes.

“I think I’m going to try and get some sleep.” Sana blew a kiss to the camera. “I love you.”

Now Nayeon knew that Sana was really badly worried. Ending the call without mentioning Skype was not normal, especially since they’d joked about it before she left.

“Don’t stress too much.” Nayeon blew a loud kiss back. “I love you too, and I’ll be there tomorrow if you need me.”

It looked like there were tears in Sana’s eyes, but she waved goodbye and ended the call before Nayeon could be certain. She sighed, rolling onto her back and staring up at the ceiling.

“ you Jeongyeon.” She grumbled. “’Just try and spend a week away from each other Nayeon. It shouldn’t be that hard Nayeon. Liar.”

Since Jeongyeon was asleep on the other side of the city, she didn’t respond to Nayeon’s accusations. With no Sana and no one to annoy, Nayeon gave another grumpy sigh then flopped over to try and sleep.

Her bed felt cold without Sana.

God, she was such a sappy gay. It was all Sana’s impact, Nayeon used to be cool and closed off before she met her.

Yeah, as grumpy as she was there was no way she could spin that as a good thing. Sana had changed her life for the better, and Nayeon loved her for it.

As soon as Sana got back, Nayeon was showing her just how much she appreciated having her in her life. A nice romantic dinner, maybe a movie and an act or two of supervillainy, then a fun night in a five-star hotel doing all sorts of things that would make their friends blush if they told them.

Oddly enough, thinking about that made Nayeon drift peacefully off to sleep.

“So what’s the point of this clone? How come they’re in charge?”

“Maybe if you shut up, we could watch the episode and find out.”

Nayeon tossed a piece of popcorn at Tzuyu, but it was a half-hearted effort.

“I don’t get why you like this? I know it has lesbians but still, how did you even find this show?”

“Don’t act like you weren’t laughing when Alison let her neighbour choke to death.” Tzuyu munched on her popcorn as she clicked onto the next episode. “Your cackling almost ruined the scene. And I found this show through the internet, the same way you find all that weird you like using as inspiration.”

“Ok, first of all how the do you know what I watch? You’re like twelve, there should be Parental Controls on your internet.”

“I’m nineteen, Chaeyoung and I literally had Skype last night, and I heard about your habits from Jeongyeon who heard it from Momo who heard it from Sana. Apparently, she’s really pleased at how good you’ve gotten at tying ropes.”

“Really? She said that?” Nayeon beamed. “Good, I was worried I tied them too tight last time but this one video which was mostly centred around choking looked really hot and I-”

Tzuyu turned the volume up on the TV, and Nayeon pouted. It was only fair that if Tzuyu got to traumatise her by being an adult and vocally admitting to having with her fiancée, then Nayeon got to traumatise Tzuyu back by discussing her own escapades. capades, if you will.

made her think of Sana. Everything made her think of Sana really. Her hand strayed to her phone. Sana would be visiting her parents right about now. Was it going ok? Was she crying or happy? What if she rang in the next minute and Nayeon’s phone died for some reason?

“You’re worrying again.” Tzuyu’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “She’ll call if things go wrong, so just enjoy the fact that she hasn’t called yet. It means she’s fine.”

“Right.” Nayeon focused on the show. “Why is Sarah running again?”

“Kira’s missing and creepy men are chasing her.”

“Got it.”

They were halfway through the episode when Jihyo came in the door from work. She took one look at them and shook her head.

“This is just sad.” she declared. “We’re going out. No more moping.”

“We’re not moping!” Nayeon protested. “Could a mopey person do this!”

She held up the bag of popcorn. Jihyo didn’t seem impressed.

“Microwave popcorn? Yeah, they could. Now get up, we’re leaving in ten minutes.”

“Where are we even going?” Tzuyu slumped further into the couch. “There’s no point in leaving the house. Everywhere I go I’m reminded of Chaeyoung.”

Nayeon was so tempted to make fun of her, but seeing as she was still checking her phone every minute, she knew she couldn’t. Tzuyu wouldn’t hesitate to roast her back and Nayeon always got her feelings hurt first. It was slightly less embarrassing than when she was a teenager and a twelve-year-old could make her cry, but still not worth it.

“We’re going to the skate park.” Jihyo announced. “So grab some gear. Nayeon, your old skates are still in the closet.”

“Just like you were.” Tzuyu couldn’t resist adding, even though Nayeon was quick to whack her with a pillow for it.

“Shut up! At least when I came out, I was a confident gay. You’re still shy and nervous even though you have a fiancée.”

Tzuyu’s face lit up at the fiancée comment, and Nayeon rolled her eyes, knowing that any hope of a good fight was lost. She left her frenemy floating in happy Chaeyoung feelings and went to find her skates.

The skate park was mostly empty by the time they got there, which wasn’t unusual for a Tuesday morning. Jihyo tied Tzuyu’s skates and Nayeon helped her with her helmet, and for a moment it was like they’d gone back in time to when they’d first became friends. Tzuyu, a shy little ten-year-old alone in the skate park, and Jihyo immediately seeing her wobbling around the place and deciding that she was theirs. Jeongyeon used to push Tzuyu up the ramps then catch her as she flew down. Whenever the younger girl fell, Nayeon would quickly fall herself in an over the top clumsy manner, and Tzuyu would always giggle instead of crying.

Then two years later that fateful summer camp incident occurred, and while Jihyo and Jeongyeon moved past it quickly, Tzuyu’s dynamic with Nayeon changed permanently. It was the beginning of their rivalry and their journey from friends to the archnemesis they were fated to become.

“Are you done staring at nothing? Jihyo and I want to have a race.”

Nayeon blinked, her reminiscing cut short. Her hand immediately went to her pocket, where her phone was still silent. No news from Sana, that was good right?

Couldn’t worry too much now. Just focus on what was in front of her.

“Of course I want to race! As if I would ever pass up the chance to destroy and humiliate you.”

Tzuyu didn’t even roll her eyes, yet her expression radiated sarcasm.

“You couldn’t beat me when I was ten and you were fourteen. You think you can beat me now?”

“I let you win! Jihyo, tell her!”

Jihyo was busy doing flips. Disgraceful, you could never count on your friends when you really needed them.

“Alright fine, let’s race. But this time when I beat you, you must admit that my powers are cooler than yours.”

“A time stick? Cooler than super strength? Good luck convincing anyone of that.”

“It’s called a reversal light and when I beat you, you will give it the respect it deserves!”

Nayeon did not beat her.

Nor did she beat her in the rematch. The whole thing was rigged, she decided. Tzuyu had much longer legs, therefore Nayeon deserved a head start. But no, Jihyo declared that Tzuyu had won fair and square, and so Nayeon had two choices. She could accept her loss gracefully, or she could argue loudly with both of them.

Naturally, she chose option B.

“No, screw you! Super strength should count as a drug! If this was the Olympics she’d be disqualified!”

“I’m pretty sure roller-skating isn’t an Olympic category.”

“But you don’t know for sure, do you? Besides, I saw you drink that protein shake before we left! Any non-biased referee would agree that-”

Her phone rang, and just like that Nayeon stopped arguing and answered, skating away so she could talk to Sana in private.

“Hey baby. How did it go?”

“Good.” Sana sounded much happier than yesterday. “It was really good Nayeon. They were super sad at first, they kept asking if they’d done something wrong. But then I explained about meeting you and falling in love and how we didn’t kill people or really hurt people that much and how we basically saved the hospital and probably the world. So yeah, they took it well in the end.”

“That’s good.” Nayeon’s whole body felt full of relief, as if she was the one who’d faced her parents. “I’m so happy for you Sana, you have no idea. I’m just… so relieved that you still have them as a part of your life.”

“You sure you don’t want to talk to your mom?”

“No.” Nayeon laughed. “Not at all. This really is just genuine happiness for you. I was so worried today, I almost booked a ticket to Japan before you rang, even though I knew Jeongyeon would make fun of me.”

“Well we can’t have that.” Sana’s voice was back to it’s normal teasing cheerfulness, and Nayeon felt like crying with joy. “If you really miss me that much we need another Skype session. Maybe fulfil the promise we made at the airport…?”

Nayeon gave a quick glance behind her. Tzuyu and Jihyo were playing happily together, doing tricks on the ramps.

“I can be home in ten minutes.” she said. “Celebratory Skype ?”

“Celebratory Skype .” Sana agreed.

Nayeon grinned, not even bothering to take her skates off as she rolled out onto the street.

“I love you so much, and I’m proud of you.”

“I love you too.” Sana’s voice was soft and full of promise.

“Nayeon get back here! We still have your shoes!”

Nayeon looked behind her, seeing Jihyo furiously skating after her waving a pair of boots in the air. She gripped her phone and skated harder, grinning when she heard Sana’s giggles through the speaker. The wind whipped in her hair as she zoomed down the street, ignoring Jihyo’s screams as she jumped over a car.

Nayeon just threw back her head and laughed.

Life was good.