Kwon Yuri is late. It's not an unusual occurrence, if the semester so far is anything to go by, but she's never been quite this late.

Not that Yoona’s counting or anything. It's just that the woman is hard to miss, always lurching in fashionably late and pulling out her notebook without sparing a glance at the professor's scowl.

And fine, she'd attract attention even if she was on her best behaviour. Not everyone is tall and tan with smooth silky hair and looks amazing in aviator glasses. She suffers enough teasing from her friends not to at least acknowledge it in the privacy of her own thoughts.

As if on cue, the tardy student herself pauses breathlessly at the auditorium door, appearing to have run the entire way over. Although she did find the time to fill an oversized thermos, which she clutches protectively to her side. She scans the room for only a second before she moves to drop on the empty seat by Yoona’s side.

The signature aviators are perched on the top of her head, resting on her wet hair, and Yoona appreciates the effort to shower even though she was running late. The thermos has already been placed on the otherwise empty desk, which seems likely to remain that way as Yuri appears to have neglected to actually bring a bag, let alone a notebook or a pen.

She slumps in her seat, vacant eyes following the professor as he struts around the room and expands on something that Yoona should probably be paying attention to. But right now she's a little busy studying Yuri’s profile and wondering just how hungover she really is.

The object of her inspection is only still for as long as it takes for her breathing to return to normal. Then she’s opening her jacket wider and pushing her hair away from her neck, before giving up with a sigh and straightening up in her seat to take off the stuffy jacket entirely. Amid her jerky attempts to free herself, Yoona glimpses her arms flailing ever closer to the thermos, until a stray elbow connects and the precious container is flung sideways and straight at the ground.

Yuri follows the trajectory with sheer panic, then pauses in surprise as a hand unexpectedly shoots out to save her coffee. It remains immobilized between the two desks while Yoona recovers from the unexpectedness of it all, giving Yuri enough time to let her gaze travel upwards along the arm and over to the face of her unknown saviour. Her eyes widen almost comically and Yoona isn’t sure whether it’s because of who she’s sitting next to or simply because she hadn’t even considered that there was a human being in the next desk over.

“You dropped your coffee”, she says sweetly, pointing out the obvious. After an awkward moment of silence where Yuri’s response would be, if she were interested in making one, she places the thermos back in its original place and shifts back.

Her classmate’s eyes, having returned to their normal size, clearly indicate her haggard state, suggesting that the lack of response is nothing personal, but more a general attitude towards the world at this particular moment. As if on cue, Yuri finally mutters a toneless “Thanks”, along with a brave attempt at a smile that doesn’t get very far. Then she turns back to the front of the auditorium, pulling down her glasses with the hand that isn’t resting protectively around the coffee. She’s already slumped back down on her chair in a perfect reproduction of the rebel student, but something in the performance feels so studied that it’s almost endearing.

They get through about ten more minutes of class, with Yoona making some kind of effort to follow along after her distraction cut her off completely from the lecture. Unfortunately, she can’t just tune out, because the lecturer is known for his abrupt changes of topic and she has to be ready to jump in at the next one.

Yuri doesn’t seem to share her concern. In fact, the only thing that indicates that she hasn’t fallen asleep behind those sunglasses is the periodic raising of thermos to lips and then back down to the desk.

With the part of her brain not focused on the lecture, Yoona wonder if she’s really going to be wearing those things for the entire class. They’re cool, yes, but it’s such a degree of affected coolness that it would cross over to ridiculous if it were anyone but Kwon Yuri wearing them. Maybe that’s the point, to remind everyone of who she is and of what exactly she can get away with.

Or maybe the auditorium lights and her hangover aren’t getting along that well.

“Ms. Kwon” Apparently, Yoona isn’t the only one paying attention to Yuri, and now that the lecturer has decided to address her from all the way across the auditorium it’s a safe bet that most eyes in the room are on her. “Would you care to share with the rest of us why you feel the need to wear sunglasses to my class?”

Yuri straightens up at the mention of her own name, but rather than look chastised she simply breaks out into a cheeky grin. “Mondays, am I right?”, she asks jokingly, a hand coming up to scratch at the back of her head.

There it is again, the bravado. It’s excessive to the point where it comes across as obnoxious, but there’s something in Yuri’s posture that disarms the aggressiveness and makes the whole thing look almost cute. It’s the way a hint of insecurity undercuts the arrogance, making her sound like she’s genuinely grasping for an excuse rather than simply antagonizing an authority figure.

And yes, it’s a little hot. Maybe that’s why, when displays of this type usually leave Yoona rolling her eyes in annoyance, this time she finds herself biting the inside of her cheek to keep from chuckling along with the rest of the students.

The professor seems significantly less amused. He sighs with displeasure, saving his response for when the room quiets down. “Given that you were thirty minutes late today and arrived in such a state of… dishevelment. I would like to remind you that if it clashes so drastically with your personal plans you are free to stop attending altogether”

“Don’t tempt me”, Yuri mutters under her breath, and this time Yoona can’t stop a smile from spreading across her face, which doesn’t go unnoticed by either the woman next to her or the professor. The look of pleased surprise in Yuri’s face almost makes up for the stern glare she receives from across the auditorium.

“I’m not holding my breath over Ms. Kwon, but I expected more from you, Ms. Im”, the lecturer says severely. Yoona only nods at the reprimand, secretly hoping that her neighbour would have something more to say. She’s happy to receive her revenge by proxy, even if she can’t be the one to tell him to stick his condescending attitude in certain places.

Unfortunately, no reply is forthcoming and the professor picks up the lecture where he left off, apparently satisfied at the state of things. Yoona looks at her suddenly silent companion to find her face twisted in displeasure, her hands tightly clenched around the thermos. After a moment’s deliberation where she chews on her lower lip almost viciously, she slumps back down on her chair and removes the sunglasses, placing them on the desk. She glances guiltily at Yoona, but looks away before she can even offer a supportive shrug.

The rest of the class goes by without interruptions, although Yoona spends most of it wondering if she should offer her companion some paper and a pen. Yuri doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to the lecture, and she can’t imagine why she doesn’t just get up and leave altogether, but if she had paper she could at least do some doodling to pass the time.

But the only thing that seems to interest Yuri at the moment is looking straight ahead and occasionally fixing the professor’s back with venomous looks. It seems strange that she’d be so affected by his words, she certainly doesn’t seem the type to care about anything short of disciplinary action. And honestly, Yoona would rather be the one the teacher had given up on than the one who had to smile and nod and pretend she cared at all about being in his good graces.

As usual, everyone has already packed up their belongings and is sitting on the edge of their chairs by the time the professor announces the end of class, so they all rush by Yoona as she takes her time putting away her notebook. Yuri seems to be no exception, as Yoona rises to find an empty desk where her neighbour used to be, but she quickly notices the familiar figure coolly leaning against a wall, just outside the auditorium.

As she approaches the exit, Yuri steps towards her, looking uncharacteristically shy. “Hey, uh, sorry if I distracted you in class or something”, she says casually, although the apprehension clearly shows in her eyes, ruining her effort to look casual. “I don’t want to be, like, a bad influence”

Yoona giggles at the spectacle, because it’s really too cute not to. And now she begins to understand why Yuri always wears those aviators, because her eyes really can’t hide anything at all. The whole spectrum of human emotion flashes through them in a second and then they settle on a mixture of surprise and hurt, so Yoona hurries to clarify her reaction. “I thought you were supposed to be a bad influence”, she says with a coy smile. “You know, with the sunglasses and the leather jacket”

Yuri smiles back, reaching up to pat her sunglasses where they hang from the neckline of her t-shirt. “Yeah, but I pull it off, right?” Her grin is cocky, but her voice hints that the question isn’t entirely rhetorical. That softness tugs harder at her lips and she smiles wider in response.

“It’s cute” Her teasing has the desired effect, and Yuri raises an eyebrow as though to dismiss the suggestion but can’t hide the flustered surprise that shines in her eyes. “Fine”, she adds with a half-shrug, like that raised eyebrow was enough to make her reconsider her opinion in a second. “It’s also kind of hot”

She feels a little awkward saying it, but the reaction is reward enough, because Yuri seems too shocked to even pretend at nonchalance. Then her phone buzzes insistently and she doesn’t need to check to know that it’s Tiffany wondering where she is, so she steps away from a slowly recovering Yuri and tries to get her bearings.

She’s off with a wave, but not before turning around for one final remark. “And that professor’s a , so I don’t really care what he thinks of you or me” Yuri’s shock is tinged with amusement this time, and Yoona giggles at the appreciative smile spreading over her face.

(...)

“What are you so smiley about?” Of course, Yoona has about five minutes of peace before the other girls are all over her with their probing questions. She tries to speed up and put some distance between them, quickly leaving Tiffany too far behind to ask any more questions.

“Did someone trip and fall in the parking lot?” Of course that doesn’t work with Sooyoung, who easily matches her pace and is only further encouraged by her avoidance.

“You’re the only one who laughs at that, Sooyoung” Really, those two can never keep their curiosity to themselves. Seohyun is the only one who reigns them in and at least she can always count on her to say these mature comments and end the conversation before it takes on a childish tone. “And besides, it’s Monday, so obviously she’s smiling because of Kwon Yuri” No, Seohyun is as bad as the other two. Worse, because she’s actually observant and puts her thoughtfulness to very bad use.

She finally slows down, seeing no reason to keep jogging along if her secret’s out anyway. Tiffany gratefully approaches, trying her best not to look winded, and rests a hand on her shoulder in an action that Yoona would guess is about 50% supportive and 50% to be able to catch her breath.

“She’s smiling more than usual”, Sooyoung cuts in. Great, now everyone is suddenly paying attention. She should have picked up lunch on the way here, that’s always an efficient distraction. “Now she’s smiling less than usual, but that’s probably because we’re annoying her”, Sooyoung adds with a grin.

Tiffany’s gasp has nothing to do with being out of breath. “Did something happen? Did you talk to her?”

“She sat next to me”, she finally admits with an eye-roll, because otherwise this will drag on forever. TIffany loves love and she will stop at nothing to live it vicariously through others. As expected, she immediately squeals in excitement and demands that she share everything.

“She got there really late and the teacher got mad at her and also a little at me, because she’s the worst and I shouldn’t sit next to her or whatever. And then after class she apologized for getting me in trouble” And that’s all they’re getting, because if she admits to flirting she’ll definitely never hear the end of it.

“What did she say?”, Seohyun cuts in, looking almost starry-eyed.

“Oh, Yoona, I’ve always loved you and admired you from afar, and now I have the perfect opportunity to proclaim my love - Ow” Thankfully, Tiffany reaches over and smacks Sooyoung before Yoona has to do anything about it, but it’s too late to stop her cheeks from reddening. Not because she would like that or anything, more because she’s being put on the spot and it’s embarrassing to be teased like this.

Seohyun is the only one who notices, because the other two are too busy bickering, something about how Tiffany should be careful about smacking people with much longer arms. She doesn’t address it, but she does clear . The bickering couple stops to listen.

“Sooyoung, what were you saying before, about a party?”

“Seriously? We’re in the middle of making fun of Yoona, we can talk about the party later”

She yelps again as Tiffany reaches out for a second smack. “We are not making fun of her, we’re helping!”

“How are you helping?”, Yoona cuts in, but she doesn’t get an answer because Sooyoung is already talking.

“And you just want to talk about the party because Taeyeon is going”, she teases, smirking as Tiffany’s mouth abruptly clamps shut before she can even voice a protest.

“What party?”, Yoona asks without much hope, but thankfully Seohyun is still paying attention to her.

“Sooyoung’s friend Hyoyeon is throwing a party”

“And Taeyeon is coming” Sooyoung wiggles her eyebrows at Tiffany, but the latter can’t get another smack in because she expertly dodges out of the way. “I’m wise to your tricks now, little one”

“I’m not little, you all are just really tall”

“Is that why you like Taeyeon? Finally someone shorter than you” Yoona fights the urge to laugh along with Sooyoung, mostly because making fun of Tiffany’s crush seems like a poor strategic move for someone in her own position.

“Girls, please!” Seohyun looks exasperated, as she usually ends up feeling whenever she tries to get the three older girls to follow her plans. “Who else is friends with Hyoyeon?”

“Sunny?”, Sooyoung immediately suggests. “Tiffany, you’d like her, she’s even shorter than Taeyeon - Ow, Seohyun, what the hell?”

“Focus. Who else?”

“Oh right, I almost forgot!” Sooyoung nods excitedly at Seohyun, then spins around to drape an arm around Yoona’s shoulders. She leans in close and flashes a smile. “Yuri’s coming to the party, Yoona”

She feels her lips quirk into a smile against her wishes and sure, there’s a part of her that wants to dismiss it with a “and what about it?”, but she also really wants to go to a party with Yuri and maybe have a whole conversation that isn’t about school.

For once, her friends are kind enough not to mock her weak attempt at nonchalance. Instead, she is met with a round of bright smiles. Sooyoung pulls out her phone. “I’ll ask Hyoyeon if I can bring a couple of plus ones”

(...)

“Are we still on for Friday?”

The four of them are split between the three sofas that make up all the seating in the dorm living room. Yuri stretches fully across one, legs dangling off the edge, with Hyoyeon and Sunny each taking up half of the one across from her. On the sofa between them is Taeyeon, lying on her stomach and appearing to pay more attention to her colouring book than to any of her friends.

“Nope”, she replies easily, not even bothering with eye contact.

“Well, you were never on, so no surprise there” Yuri snorts at Sunny’s response and turns in a vain attempt to find a more comfortable position.

“I’m just glad we’re not doing this on Sunday anymore, I almost missed my Monday morning lecture”, she groans at nobody in particular.

Hyoyeon and Sunny exchange looks and their lips twist into matching smirks. “Yeah, wouldn’t want you to miss your really important lecture” Both women snicker and Yuri opts to ignore them.

“I don’t get it, just skip it”, Taeyeon offers with a shrug.

“It’s the lecture with Yuri’s crush”, Sunny finally elucidates once it becomes clear that Taeyeon genuinely doesn’t know what they’re talking about. She nods along a few times and mumbles a “Right”, but it’s not very convincing.

“What’s her name again?”, Hyoyeon asks, evidently abandoning the attempt at keeping Taeyeon up to date.

Yuri digs herself deeper into the sofa, trying to hide the slump in her shoulders. “Im… Something. I don’t know”, she admits gruffly.

“I can’t believe you don’t even know her name, didn’t you sit next to her? You even talked to her after class” Sunny sure does love rubbing it in. Yes, Yuri is very bad at talking to girls. Yes, she got flustered and forgot to even ask her name. Nobody’s perfect.

“I’m guessing her name’s Yoona” They both look at Hyoyeon, who’s studying her phone. “Sooyoung’s bringing her to the party, I forgot to tell you”

“What do you mean, she’s bringing her to the party? How do you even know it’s her?” Yuri almost falls off the couch in her sudden rush to get up. She finally succeeds and moves across the room to drop down between Sunny and Hyoyeon. The latter scoots away before she can pull her phone off her hands.

“Desperate much. I’ll read you the text” She clears , taking a dramatically long time to get started. Yuri lunges for the phone again, but she’s stopped by a foot on her shoulder forcefully pushing her back.

“Hey Hyoyeon can I bring some friends to the party on Friday? You already know Seohyun and then Yoona has class with your friend Yuri and Tiffany is just tagging along because she likes - ” Hyoyeon suddenly stops reading, pausing awkwardly before rereading the last part. “Because she likes parties”

Taeyeon’s head has finally moved away from her book and she’s staring fixedly at the phone in Hyoyeon’s hands. Three pairs of eyes move to land on her and she’s suddenly surrounded by teasing smiles. “What was that last thing you said?”, she asks obliviously.

Yuri takes advantage of the distraction to peek over Hyoyeon’s shoulder and read the message herself. Glimpsing the ending, which of course does not say “because she likes parties” but rather “because she likes Taeyeon”, she focuses on Yoona’s name, savouring those two syllables and the way they roll off her tongue.

It feels strange to finally put a name to the face. Yoona. Her name is Yoona. And Yoona is beautiful. She has the prettiest face she’s ever seen and she looks beautiful when she smiles, when she frowns in confusion, when she’s focusing so hard on the lecture that she doesn’t notice Yuri staring.

Their latest interaction still hasn’t stopped playing on repeat inside Yuri’s mind. Yoona’s flirty smile and bright giggles caught her so completely by surprise that even now, days later, the simple thought of them leaves her tongue-tied with a stuttering heart.

And now Yoona is going to the party on Friday, mere days away, and Yuri is so happy but she also feels terrified at the idea. She keeps imagining a million ways she could mess it all up. Yoona doesn’t know her, she’s tried so hard to keep up the cool and detached image that as soon as she relaxes and lets out her inner nerd she’ll lose any chance she ever had. This is the worst thing that could happen.

This is the best thing that could happen. She can’t wait for Friday.

“I said you should pay more attention when your friends are talking” Hyoyeon’s snappy retort pulls Yuri back to reality. “Anyway, you should come to the party”

Taeyeon nods absently, doing a very poor job of pretending she’s unaware of why Hyoyeon is suggesting it. “Maybe just this once”

The three women studying her break into only slightly teasing cheers.

(...)

The house isn’t that full but something about the loud music and the dim lighting and the way everyone is slightly drunk and talking just a little too loudly makes it feel almost claustrophobic. It didn’t take very long for the four friends to become separated, not that Yoona is particularly worried about that. All of them are perfectly capable of holding their own in a house party and she’s sure it won’t take long for her friends to be happily socializing with acquaintances are strangers alike. Seohyun has the ability to captivate people with something as mundane as ordering vegetables by how healthy they are, Sooyoung knows everyone wherever she goes and Tiffany walks into a room and immediately befriends all its occupants.

Meanwhile, Yoona is just looking for a slightly quieter corner to sip at her drink before going on a mission to find Yuri. They were greeted at the door by an enthusiastic Hyoyeon, already a bit tipsy, but she was the only one of Sooyoung’s friends to come meet them. Before they were separated, Sooyoung pointed out a small girl with purplish-pink hair, who was apparently Sunny, and Yoona is pretty sure she’s walked by Taeyeon in her exploratory trek across the apartment. She couldn’t be sure, though, because all she has to go on are the many pictures of her she’s seen from Tiffany’s browsing through all her social media, and the fact that she was leaning so far into the wall that she seemed ready to phase through it and into a much quieter, emptier room.

There’s been no sign of Yuri. As she walks, she tries to study the faces around her, which is a difficult task given the terrible lighting, but she’s pretty sure she’d be able to recognize her crush under much worse conditions, so she just keeps walking and looking and hoping for a quieter corner.

Luck finally blesses her, dropping down a balcony right in her path. The air outside is slightly cool, but it’s a pleasant contrast to the heat generated by so many people in such a small closed space, and she takes deep breaths with gratitude. She takes her time, nursing her drink and leaning out to gaze at the dark sky above. Barely any stars are visible, but she squints against the blackness to try and find them.

Her back is against the door, so when someone comes in she can’t identify them. The intruder pauses by the entrance, as is evidenced by the silencing of footsteps and the sound of music filtering through the open door.

“In or out”, she says teasingly, although her voice is too soft to contain any real recrimination. “You’re letting out all the cold”

“We’re outside, I think there’s enough cold to go around”, the intruder replies, although she obediently closes the door and walks over. Yoona doesn’t turn around, waiting for Yuri to settle by her side.

“I was looking for you”, she admits easily, emboldened by the alcohol she’s already ingested. Although that might not be very convincing, when her glass is still half-full.

“Up there?” She turns to the side to roll her eyes at the teasing question, but Yuri is somehow much closer than she’d expected and she’s struck speechless at the way her eyes shine brightly and seem to capture all the light around them. Yuri seemed ready to follow up with some quip, but her lips have paused halfway through the action and they’re just staring at each other.

“I was looking for you, too”, Yuri finally says, pulling back just a little. “But first I had to have a couple of drinks. I was hoping for liquid courage, but I think I just got worse at talking”

Yoona giggles at her easy confession of nerves. Her own feel a little frayed, so she takes a larger drink of her cocktail. She should look back at the stars, avoid looking too interested, too clingy, but she doesn’t want to draw her eyes away from Yuri. She’s not even sure they could be convinced to cooperate.

“They say liquor loosens the tongue” Her tone is teasingly flirty, hoping to create a cool detached image this way. “So maybe it’s not all bad”

“No, that’s definitely bad” Yuri laughs at her own words and Yoona joins in. It’s hard to look cool when Yuri is being this adorable, so she drops it altogether and opts to step closer to her instead. She rests her free hand on her arm and pretends she doesn’t notice the way her eyes jump to it, then back to Yoona’s face, then somewhere to the right of her, blinking more than is entirely necessary.

“Why did you come to class 30 minutes late with a hangover?” She brings her hand up, dragging across the sleeve of Yuri’s shirt, until it’s resting on her shoulder.

“I wanted to see you” Yuri’s eyes widen as soon as the words leave her lips, too busy focusing on Yoona’s touch to filter her thoughts.

“I guess the liquor thing was true”, she points out with a giggle. Her hand moves to rest against Yuri’s neck and she steps a little closer.

The balcony is swallowed in darkness. Neither of them bothered to turn on the outside lights, so the only illumination is whatever light filters in from inside, but mostly the crescent moon that keeps peeking out from between the clouds. It’s a grey, colourless light, so their features are washed away almost to a monochrome.

It’s almost sad, Yoona thinks, that the colour is so fully drained from the scene that she wouldn’t even be able to tell if Yuri was blushing. Then again, it might just be too cute to handle. She is already having enough trouble keeping her cool under Yuri’s searching eyes, disoriented but eager.

“I really like you”, Yuri admits in a low whisper, because it doesn’t really make sense to talk any louder when their faces are this close together.

“I like you too”, Yoona replies with a smile, moving her hand to the back of Yuri’s neck, and letting her fingers comb into her hair. “Now, are you going to kiss me or not?”

Her tone is gentle, more a genuine question than an attempt at teasing, and Yuri seems happy enough to take it at face value, because she brings up both her hands, even though one is still holding onto an empty bottle of beer, and hooks them around Yoona’s waist. Then she pulls her in, across the few inches of free space that still remain between them, and kisses her.

And she might not be as cool as she tries to act, and she might be a lot more interested than Yoona ever expected, but she is certainly every bit as good a kisser as Yoona predicted. She leans into her, melding their bodies together as her fingers run through silky hair. Yuri’s hands remain chastely on the small of her back, only moving to encircle her more completely, and it’s sweet. It’s nice. It’s nicer than nice.

Eventually, they do have to separate, because if you kiss for too long at a college party it turns into sloppy drunken making out and that’s not where she’s hoping to take the relationship. Namely, she wants there to be one beyond tonight. So they pull apart, but her hand moves down and behind her own back to reach for Yuri’s and she holds it tightly, eliciting such a sweet smile from the woman that she almost wants to lean close and kiss it all over again.

Just as she’s pondering the possible consequences of doing just that, the door opens to reveal an excited Hyoyeon blinking against the darkness. “Yuri, you have to come see this, Taeyeon is trying to flirt”

She’s gone before either of them can react, and they break into peals of laughter at the fact that she hadn’t even noticed Yoona’s presence. “Taeyeon likes your friend Tiffany”, Yuri whispers in explanation. Yoona suppresses a shiver at the pleasant sensation.

“Yeah, Tiffany likes her too”

They gaze at each other in silence. Yoona doesn’t even have time to get lost in Yuri’s eyes before they’re drifting off towards the door. Her lips quirk up in amusement. “You want to go see Taeyeon flirting, don’t you?”

Yuri smiles widely. “You’ll understand when you see it” She tugs her towards the door with excitement.

“Is she as bad as you?”

“Worse”