If there was one thing Yoo Jeongyeon did not sign up for, had never wanted and was honestly making her reconsider the joys of on-campus living, it was the pair of pom poms lying neatly on the bed in the other end of the room that was gonna be her home for the next year. Never in her life had she imagined that she would have to share a room with an honest to god cheerleader.

 

And it just got worse.

 

“Hi!” The girl exclaimed happily as the door sprang open, revealing her. “Are you Jeongyeon?”

“I-” Jeongyeon started, but her voice caught as the blonde waltzed happily into the room followed by a brunette whose gaze was slightly out of focus, hand in the blonde’s and a smile twitching on her lips. Then finally snapped out of it and looked from the brunette to the blonde. “Yeah, I’m Jeongyeon.”

“Cool, I was hoping you were her and not some weirdo who’d gotten the idea of stealing your space. I’m really not very confrontational so I don’t like being rude.” The blonde rambled. “I’m Sana, Minatozaki Sana.”

“Mina-”

“-tozaki, yeah, it’s Japanese.” Sana interrupted happily. Then without warning she reached down, grabbing the edges of her shirt, pulling it over her head without a care in the world.

“Sorry, we’ll be leaving soon to let you unpack, there was just an unfortunate kid in the cafeteria who spilled coffee on my shirt.” Sana beamed at Jeongyeon as if she wasn’t displaying both strings and lace on the very intricate powder blue bra. It was very hard not to look. Very- oh thank god, she turned away. She didn’t seem to have noticed at all, just dug into her top drawer, talking into it.

“I hope you’ll settle in nicely here,” Sana emerged with a floral top, pulling it over her head as she continued, “I’m sure we’re gonna get along just fine!”

Jeongyeon stared. What kind of weird dream was this? Everything about this Sana girl screamed cutesy, she was practically glowing in pastel colors. Get along… sure, she hadn’t done anything wrong, but honestly, she was not in any way Jeongyeon’s taste, and the way the friend kept staring was kind of freaky.

“Oh, Momoring, did you bring your cheer uniform or do we need to head by your room on the way?” Sana asked, turning to the brunette.

“I think it’s being squashed somewhere under my algebra-book.” The girl - Momoring? (What kind of a name was that? Japanese too?) - grinned.

“How do you never forget anything?!” Sana clicked her tongue and received nothing but a chuckle and a shy shrug from Momoring. Still a weird name.

 

It turned out Minatozaki Sana wasn’t just a blonde cheerleader, but the cotton candy kind of cheerleader who collected perfumes and had stuffed animals on pink sheets. And then the blonde thing. It was that kind of expensive bleached blonde that was somehow still well-cared for - the kind idols had if they were lucky - probably only still attached to her scalp thanks to a bunch of hair-products that Jeongyeon had no idea how to pronounce the names of. But it wasn’t just the blonde and the frills and the astonishing amount of necessities that apparently came in pastel colors. She was… peppy. And loud. And whenever she was in the room, she was regularly surrounded by her equally loud friend (Momo, not Momoring, Jeongyeon learned a few days later) and they would sit on Sana’s bed and sing along to songs and practice dance choreographies on the limited floor space between the beds and laugh so loudly Jeongyeon sometimes wondered if there had been an amplifier installed somewhere on her side of the room. Even Jeongyeon’s expensive headphones couldn’t block out the laughter. Especially Sana’s. The pitch just went right past the noise cancellation and into Jeongyeon’s head and she was sure she’d hear it in her nightmares.

She however seemed to have no problem with Jeongyeon whatsoever. Would always ruffle her hair when she walked by or wave exaggeratedly at her in the cafeteria or in the hallways and though Jeongyeon never really let her start a proper conversation, she wasn’t shy trying to.

 

“You do know there’s this concept, Yoo Jeongyeon, called being kind.” Jihyo explained dryly one day sitting in the cafeteria at lunch. Jeongyeon had finally broken and ranted about Sana and Momo, but only after Jihyo had called her a grumpy three times in one minute.

“Don’t think she’s ever heard of it.” Nayeon chimed in.

Jeongyeon glared at them on turn. “I can be kind.”

“Really?” Jihyo feigned astonishment.

“ off.” Jeongyeon scowled.

“You’re really proving your point well.” Jihyo chuckled.

Jeongyeon huffed and rolled her eyes, taking a gulp of juice.

“Are you sure she’s not just trying to get with you?” Nayeon asked casually.

Jeongyeon stared her down from the other side of the juice. “No. And even if she was. No. Not in a million years. She has a My Little Pony plushie on her bed.”

“You could open your mind a little, it’s not that bad.” Jihyo insisted with a click of her tongue.

“What, My Little Pony?” Jeongyeon asked, digging into her pocket for her phone.

Jihyo looked like she was about to snap, but then composed herself. “No, I mean having a cheerful roommate. So what if she’s basically a pastel moodboard in human form, she’s kind, right? And besides, if it’s the rainbow pony she has on her bed, she’s definitely gay.

“She’s just not my type. At all.” Jeongyeon rolled her eyes. Didn’t mention that the plushie did in fact have rainbow colored hair. She didn’t need to fuel the fire.

“You’re just saying that cause she’s a cheerleader and you’re a nerd.” Nayeon pointed at Jeongyeon with a bread roll. “But it’s such a cute combo, do you never watch het movies?”

“Okay, first of all, your bi may love those ty second grade rom-coms but I set higher standards for my eyes, my eyesight is already less than 20/20. And second of all, it’s called being grunge, not being a nerd.” Jeongyeon reached out to swat away her hand and the bread roll. Next to her Jihyo was almost choking on her orange juice.

“G-grunge.”

“ off!” Jeongyeon growled. Ignored the rest of Jihyo and Nayeon’s teasing, looking at her phone instead. Tried to find out if it was a responsible decision, according to tomorrow’s schedule, to stay up until midnight in case Day6 really did release the comeback schedule her feed had been speculating about. She would rather die than miss the hype.

 

The first week turned into two, and those doubled as well, and all of a sudden it was October and Sana had not gotten the least bit less annoying.

It was gonna be a long year. Very long. Because there was no way she could escape to Nayeon and Jihyo’s room more often than she already was. They had to be allowed to be girlfriends from time to time. But Sana was still always using their room and more often than not, Momo accompanied her.

 

The first month the weather had at least still been somewhat okay to sit outside where it was less noisy, but autumn was knocking, or in the case of tonight, hammering on the windows. Jeongyeon her pillow and noticed that the digital alarm on her nightstand read two in the morning. She had been woken with a jolt by a blink that lit up the entire room despite the blinds, immediately followed by a crack of thunder that shook the floorboards. Brilliant. Jeongyeon sighed and turned to face the wall, the sound of more distant rumbling in her ears as she closed her eyes, trying to fall back asleep.

But the next moment she was wide awake again. Because the bed had dipped, and Jeongyeon didn’t even get to complete the sudden thought that someone was coming to murder her, before the sheets were pulled down and someone crawled under them. Instinctively, Jeongyeon turned as much as the other body allowed, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“Sana, what the-” Jeongyeon started but was cut off by another blink followed by an even louder and faster crack than before. Then she heard the whimper. Felt the hands making fists around the fabric of her shirt and the face that pressed into her neck, Sana’s entire body shivering horribly.

It was instinct - pure instinct - for Jeongyeon to wrap her arm around Sana’s body and work the other into the space between the blonde girl’s shoulder and head, a hand in her long hair, shushing her.

Sana’s cheek was wet as it pressed against Jeongyeon’s neck, and the sniffles were muffled but definitely there. Was she... Crying about thunder? Another blink made the younger girl start, her knee hitting Jeongyeon’s, and a sob slipping past her lips. Only to get her to lie still, Jeongyeon wrapped her leg over Sana’s too, their bodies flush against each other.

Sana wasn’t just scared. She was downright terrified.

“It’s just thunder, you’re okay.” Jeongyeon said quietly. Received only a whimper in response, but felt how she pulled Jeongyeon closer. And really, she was in no shape for Jeongyeon to deny her.

Another crack, and Sana’s body jolted so bad the top of her head hit Jeongyeon’s jaw. Jeongyeon held her tighter. Combed through her hair and shushed her.

“I’m sorry-” Sana whimpered.

“It’s okay, you’re okay.” Jeongyeon said even she really didn’t mean it. The last thing she wanted was to be up at two in the morning holding a sobbing girl because of a little thu- jesus, that crack was loud - maybe more than a little thunder. But still. It wasn’t okay. But there was nothing to do about it now. Couldn’t very well kick the girl out of her bed and back into her own. She would probably just curl up in a ball on the floor if Jeongyeon tried. If she could just lay still and not try to rip Jeongyeon’s shirt, grasping it that hard.

“Sana.” Jeongyeon tried, but the blonde just shook her head fervently and clung even tighter.

There really was no getting out of it.

 

This was definitely not how she had expected to spend her night, but much less had she expected to fall asleep around the girl, the bed too small and the sheets too warm with both of them under them. But there was no denying the fact that she had fallen asleep somewhere between the wish that Sana would get her together and the realization that Sana counted Jeongyeon as someone to go to for help - maybe even a friend? And now the light was streaming in from the edges of the curtains, lighting the dorm room subtly, but enough for Jeongyeon to be quite sure that it was day. And Sana was still there. Was still making fists around Jeongyeon’s shirt, one hand way too close to Jeongyeon’s right . Fast asleep. And to make matters worse, Jeongyeon’s legs and arms were still wrapped around the blonde, keeping her safe even now where she was drooling onto Jeongyeon’s neck and shoulder. Yeah, no. It was time to get this girl out of her bed. And take a shower - both the drool and the clammy sheen of sweat covering her body from being cooped up so close, was making it very hard not to feel gross.

“Sana…” Jeongyeon pulled back her arm and leg, grabbing Sana’s left wrist, trying to pull her hands away.

The blonde merely mumbled and shuffled closer. Then her right hand moved to rest over the older girl’s and Jeongyeon cursed. Pulled back until first her , then her head and lastly her shoulders hit the back wall, top shoulder banging into the little display shelf Jeongyeon used for her albums. She halfway expected to get hit in the head by her Silver Moon version of Moonrise, but not even she could be that unfortunate. Karma might’ve outdone itself if that had happened, as Sana’s hand was still on her .

“Sana!” Jeongyeon said loudly, the blonde jolting finally. Jeongyeon’s shoulder ached, but she ignored it. She really needed to get Sana’s hand away before the younger girl realized. No need to make awkward turn downright embarrassing. Finally Sana retreated both her hands, grasping at the sheets in an almost childlike manner as she opened her eyes drowsily.

“Jeongyeon…?” Sana’s voice was raspy with sleep, and Jeongyeon tried to ignore it. “What…”

“Well, you’ve been sleeping in my bed if you’re confused by the current proximity.” Jeongyeon explained impatiently. Tried to sit up, but only managed to bump her other shoulder into the shelf as well, this time feeling how the Moonrise album tipped onto the back of her head. Then heard a giggle from Sana. Grumbled under her breath and reached behind her to get the album back in place. Then corrected her shirt, studying the wrinkled fabric where Sana had held on for… well, how many hours? What time was it even?

“What?” Sana asked, blonde hair splayed on Jeongyeon’s pillow, staring up at her, apparently completely comfortable laying there.

“What time is it?” Jeongyeon asked, forgetting the pain and the awkwardness for a moment. Sana frowned and turned, but almost fell out of the bed. It was definitely not meant to accommodate two people. But Sana just acted fast, one arm stretched out, palm against the floor and a bubbly giggle escaping her lips. Then she huffed, grabbed her phone from the nightstand with the free arm and pushed herself back into the bed, staring at the display on the phone.

“Still twenty minutes until my alarm goes off.” Sana shrugged.

“Oh good.” Jeongyeon felt her shoulders fall. Then tense, her head hitting the album again. “.”

“What?”

“If it’s twenty minutes to your alarm that means it’s forty minutes past mine.” Jeongyeon hissed, letting the album fall onto the bed as she crawled over Sana’s legs, stumbling as her knee bumped into Sana’s thigh. With a quick glance around, Jeongyeon grabbed jeans and a t-shirt from the neatly folded but not sorted stack of clothes on her chair.

“But it’s Tuesday?” Sana asked from Jeongyeon’s bed.

“What?” Jeongyeon turned.

“It’s Tuesday, your classes start later than mine on Tuesdays.” Sana explained.

Jeongyeon stared for a moment. Was it Tuesday?

As if she had read Jeongyeon’s mind, Sana turned the display towards Jeongyeon. A picture of Sana and Momo at what seemed to be some kind of amusement park was background to the white numbers and letters informing Jeongyeon that it was indeed Tuesday, and that there were still two hours to her class.

And then Sana was giggling again.

“Shut up.” Jeongyeon grumbled, scowling at the blonde girl in her bed.

Sana’s giggles stopped immediately, but then her eyes glinted and she grinned.

“Make me.”

And really… There’s not a manual on how to handle standing in boxers and a wrinkled t-shirt, with some peppy girl staring up at you like that; especially when she’s staring at you like that from your own bed. So really, what was Jeongyeon supposed to do, if not just quickly escape to the bathroom to shower, and then get the hell out of the room. And she really did try not to note or react to the fact that Sana was still lying in Jeongyeon’s bed when she came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later. Just grabbed her keys and walked out without a word.

 

From that day on, Sana was different. It wasn’t a major change, but she just wasn’t nearly as annoying. She was still a pain when she insisted on ruffling Jeongyeon’s hair or practiced her dance moves while Jeongyeon was trying to complete her game, but her laughter wasn’t cutting through any other sound to the same degree, and her approaches to making conversations got more natural. Once Jeongyeon even caught herself thinking it was quite nice when she and Sana had ended up talking about music. Although, that was probably just the amusement of getting to see Sana trying to air-drum to Dowoon’s rhythms and fail miserably. Not that Jeongyeon let her know how bad it looked. But even though most other personality aspects of Sana had improved considerably since the thunderstorm, there was one feature that still managed to annoy Jeongyeon enough to make up for the rest.

Sana seemed to like Jeongyeon’s bed a lot more than her own.

She hadn’t slept there since the night of the thunderstorm, but she did suddenly sit in it when she was tying her shoes and even one time after a shower, wrapped in her towel, cross-legged, working a scented lotion into her cheeks and forehead. And what could Jeongyeon do but just stare at her? Was she supposed to yell? Kick Sana off the bed and apply yellow tape to the middle of the room like a five year old? This was just that part of living with another person she’d have to get used to, and it wasn’t like they couldn’t both fit on there.

One night, however, Sana stayed completely on her own side, by her own accord, and it was almost freaking Jeongyeon out. Had she been offended by Jeongyeon since she was like that? Well, no matter why, it was just good riddance, as it finally gave Jeongyeon an opportunity to sit by herself with her headphones on to ignore the sound of the rain beating against the windows. Tried to work out one of the new songs without actually playing it on her guitar. If she really had offended Sana somehow, there was no reason to fuel the fire. But maybe she shouldn’t have gotten herself so caught up in the song, or she would’ve noticed Sana squirming on her bed. Would’ve heard the whimpers. But nothing occured to Jeongyeon until a single blink lit the room, and then the distant sound of thunder played ever so subtly under the sound of Jae strumming wonderfully. Instinctively, Jeongyeon turned to look at Sana, but didn’t find the younger girl in her bed. She was right in front of Jeongyeon, shifting her footing every few seconds, gripping her arms and biting down on her lip.

“What?” Jeongyeon asked, taking off her headphones. Knew exactly what, but really hoped she was wrong. If this was going to become a habit for- and apparently it was. Because next thing Jeongyeon knew, Sana had crawled over Jeongyeon, settling between the older girl and the wall. Shuffled under the covers and pressed herself against the wall.

“Sana, you-”

“Hug me.” Sana’s voice was demanding, but the shiver made her sound almost desperate more than anything else.

“I-”

“Jeongyeon.” Sana’s eyes were big as she looked up at Jeongyeon.

Jeongyeon cursed and rolled her eyes, disposing of her phone, ignoring the fact that she was still wearing her day clothes. Just crept under the covers and pulled Sana from the bed, into her own arms. And it was only just in time, as another blink lit up the room, and Sana started shivering.

“Why are you so afraid anyways?” Jeongyeon asked impatiently, Sana’s arms wrapping tight around her waist. A small shrug was all Jeongyeon got as an answer.

“It’s just positive and negative charging of ice crystals and graupel inside the clouds, it’s nothing to be scared of.” Jeongyeon tried.

“I know that!” Sana snapped, her voice threatening to break, and she yelped at a new blink, burying her forehead in Jeongyeon’s neck.

 

And there was nothing to do from there. Well, except maybe she should kick Sana out of the bed now that it was midnight and the thunder had passed, and Sana was still there. And Jeongyeon was still wearing jeans and her plaid shirt. Was still holding onto Sana, the younger girl clinging to her as if it would mean the end of her life if she let go.

“Sana, there’s no more thunder.” Jeongyeon said finally after several minutes of inner discussion about whether to just give up and move over to Sana’s bed instead - but really, there was no way she was going to do that. Not with the amount of plushies and floral patterns adorning Sana’s bed.

“I know.” Sana’s voice was quiet and muffled against Jeongyeon’s skin, and Jeongyeon felt like pushing her away. The feeling of Sana’s lips brushing against her skin was quite distracting.

“You’re still here.” Jeongyeon said. Didn’t let go. Didn’t even loosen her grip in the slightest.

“I know.”

“Why?” Jeongyeon asked. Felt her stomach turn without really being sure why.

“You’re warm. And comfy.” Even if Sana’s voice was quiet, there was still a playfulness in it.

“I’m not a damn pillow.” Jeongyeon grumbled. “You have a bed of your own! And lots of cuddly plushies that aren’t me.”

“Just say if you want me gone.” Sana mumbled against Jeongyeon’s skin. If Nayeon ever found out that Jeongyeon’s neck had been in such close proximity to Sana’s lips, she’d never hear the end of it.

“I-” Jeongyeon wanted to tell her to scram. Definitely wanted to tell her that. So why wasn’t letting her talk?

Sana giggled and shuffled closer.

“What?” Jeongyeon groaned.

“You’re cute.” Sana muttered happily.

“Shut up.” Jeongyeon wrapped her leg over Sana’s. If she was gonna have to lay here all night she was damn well not gonna have her jeans chafe, and this way she could at least pretend it was comfortable.

“Make me.” Sana’s voice was barely audible, but Jeongyeon’s stomach reacted anyways. Please could Sana just stop? But then again… It wasn’t the worst.

Except for the jeans.

And except for the fact that suddenly Jeongyeon woke, and it was definitely not morning, but a single pat to the sheets next to her confirmed that she was definitely alone.

“Sana?” Jeongyeon’s voice stuck slightly in , raspy and full of sleep.

No answer.

Then Jeongyeon saw the light under the door to the bathroom. Heard the flush and then the faucet. Good. Wait, no, not good. Okay, if Jeongyeon just turned her back then maybe Sana would go back to her own bed instead. So Jeongyeon should definitely turn. Definitely- and the door unlocked. And Jeongyeon should’ve at least closed her eyes, but she didn’t and Sana found them too fast.

Sana grinned. Brilliant.

“Miss me?”

“No.” Jeongyeon said flatly.

“Mm, right.” Sana grinned, walking over to her.

“Nope. No more. Use your own bed.” Jeongyeon sat up.

Sana stopped. Tilted her head and then nodded. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” Jeongyeon said. Sana nodded again and then turned around, walking to her own bed, crawling under the sheets and curling onto her side, grabbing the sheets.

“Goodnight, Jeongyeon.”

Jeongyeon barely heard her. “I- Goodnight, Sana.”

Then Sana closed her eyes, and Jeongyeon got up, grabbing her pajama pants from the chair and walked into the bathroom.

Sana was apparently fast asleep when Jeongyeon got back down. Good for her.

 

Jeongyeon considered lying the next morning, when Jihyo asked why she looked like a dead rat. But she was barely awake and not in any way able to lie in a convincing manner. So she simply told them the truth, however omitting the part that she had barely been able to sleep after Sana had gone, her mind running way too fast, until around three in the morning when she had finally gotten a few hours in.

“Wait, so she slept in your bed?” Jihyo asked, hands frozen, spoon in the air in front of her, the milk dripping dangerously back into the bowl.

“Yup.” Jeongyeon pressed her lips together, staring into the coffee cup. Knew that if she drank now it would definitely burn her tongue, but the coffee fumes were not nearly enough to wake her properly.

“Because of thunder?” Nayeon added.

“Yup.” Jeongyeon nodded. “She’s terrified of it.”

“But what about a few weeks ago? There was a huge thunderstorm then, this one was nothing.” Jihyo frowned, disposing the spoon back into the bowl of cereal, clearly sensing Jeongyeon’s omission.

Jeongyeon shrugged. It didn’t matter if she said it or not, they knew.

“You’ve already slept together before last night?!” Nayeon asked.

“Shh!” Jeongyeon hissed. “Slept not slept.”

“You had cuddles with the cheerleader.” Jihyo sniggered.

“Involuntarily.” Jeongyeon specified.

“Did you tell her not to?” Jihyo asked.

“No.”

“Did she ask if it was okay?” Nayeon asked.

“Ish? Told me just to tell her when.” Jeongyeon admitted, finally sipping from her coffee. It burned her tongue. But it was a necessary price.

“.” Jihyo grinned. “You’re crushing on the cheerleader.”

“Am not.” Jeongyeon rolled her eyes.

“You so are.” Jihyo chuckled. “God, the punk and the ballerina.”

“No, that’d be those two.” Jeongyeon nodded her head in the direction of an elegant girl from their year sitting next to a shorter girl with purple hair.

“Fine, so the nerd and the cheerleader.” Nayeon shrugged.

“I’m not a nerd.” Jeongyeon scowled. “I’m just-”

“A nerd.” Jihyo insisted. “You just gotta own it, nerds are cooler than your so-called grunge hipster ideal anyway.”

“I’m not an anything. I’m just Yoo Jeongyeon.”

“But you wanna be someone. Someone who’s half of that sentence. Sana being the other.”

“Definitely not.” Jeongyeon glared, regretting that she hadn’t just shrugged it off.

Nayeon looked like she was gonna further the argument, but then Jihyo nudged her, and though Jeongyeon didn’t have a clue why, she was still thankful.

 

Nayeon was right. Jeongyeon did want to be someone, and possibly Jihyo was right too that there was a bit more nerd to her than she had wanted to admit. But growing up with that word hanging over her like a term used to bully her made it really hard to stand proud. Even if it was probably the truth. But they were both wrong about Sana. There was nothing more than maybe acquaintanceship between them. They weren’t even friends, and Jeongyeon had no desire whatsoever for them to become friends. Whatever perfect pink life Sana had lived or planned to live, it wasn’t one Jeongyeon had any intention of being a part of.

Yet somehow, there was this part of her who couldn’t help but wonder where the hell Sana was. It was Sunday but it was only three in the morning and Jeongyeon knew that Sana was at a party. Knew that she and Momo and the other cheerleaders had been invited to a party. Five girls had somehow fit in the room seven hours earlier, all doing hair and makeup, using so many products that Jeongyeon had to keep the windows open for hours to get the smell of hair-spray and too-sweet perfumes away. But an hour ago she had seen Momo swaying happily down the hallway with another girl who Jeongyeon only recognized as one of the five girls from earlier. And Sana was nowhere. Wasn’t answering her texts and the call went straight to voicemail.

It wasn’t any of Jeongyeon’s business though. She could be anywhere and it wasn’t Jeongyeon’s business. Wasn’t her business. Wasn’t her- but she was still up. Still checked the phone every two minutes. Checked the hallway and even the stairs outside the dorm building. No Sana.

Had probably just gone home with someone and forgotten the dorm rules. The rules that were there to prevent anyone from getting hurt. You text or call your roommate when heading to and from parties to make sure no-one goes missing. The fact that they even just had to have such rules was bad enough but now Sana wasn’t- wasn’t… honestly, Jeongyeon should just sleep. Hadn’t even changed to pajamas yet. Just waited, stuck between considering how to murder a roommate without anyone finding out and worrying that someone else was doing it for her right now. If something had happened. If-

The door opened.

With her heart in , Jeongyeon jumped up from the bed as Sana stumbled inside, stopping dead with the door halfway closed behind her.

“Jeong?”

“Sana, you- what-” Jeongyeon tried to form a sentence, but the only thing she could see was the mud on Sana’s face, the blood on her knee and several twigs caught in the blonde hair.

Sana smiled faintly. “You’re still up...”

“Of course I’m up, you didn’t call and I saw Momo and-” Jeongyeon’s voice broke and she watched as Sana closed the door behind her, standing lost and bleeding in front of it. There was a tear in her dress.

It wasn’t a choice. Wasn’t even a fully conscious decision for Jeongyeon to walk over to her, wrapping her arms around Sana. She smelled like beer and dirt and the last remnants of her candy sweet perfume.

“My phone died…” Sana mumbled into Jeongyeon’s shoulder, arms hanging limply by her side. “... Jeongyeon you’re squashing me.”

Jeongyeon released her. Stepped back, reaching up to get the twigs out of the blonde hair.

“Why are you still up?” Sana asked. Her eyes were hooded and her voice slightly monotonous. Still influenced. Obviously not fully aware of her own state. She winced a bit when Jeongyeon pulled the last twig from her hair.

Jeongyeon didn’t answer. It didn’t matter why she was up, it mattered why Sana looked like she did.

“What time is it?” Sana asked.

“Three, I think.” Jeongyeon answered. She wanted to ask what had happened. Wanted to make sure someone hadn’t- hadn’t tried anything. God, whoever did this to her… But she couldn’t get herself to ask. Couldn’t form the sentence. Ask who had hurt her like this. So Jeongyeon did instead the only thing she could think of. Led Sana gently to Jeongyeon’s bed and sat her down on it.

“Wait here.”

“O-okay?” Sana said, smiling weakly as Jeongyeon hurried into the bathroom for water and toilet paper. Then she crouched in front of Sana. Wetted a piece of toilet paper and started cleaning Sana’s face of dirt and dried mud. Watched how she frowned, almost trancelike.

“Why are you-”

“Your face is full of dirt…”

“Oh, well… well, that makes sense then.” Sana nodded, pressing her lips together.

When she was done, Jeongyeon disposed of the stained piece of toilet paper and took a new one. Wetted it.

“This is gonna sting.” Jeongyeon warned, before pressing the wet paper to the scrape on Sana’s knee. The younger girl jolted and winced.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry. I’m trying- we need to clean it.” Jeongyeon said, then took a deep breath. “Are you- are you hurt anywhere else?”

Sana shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. My ankle hurts because I tripped over a branch but… oh, that’s probably how I got dirt on my face.”

“You were in the forest?”

“Yeah, I was trying to cut through it to get home faster because I didn’t have power on my phone.” Sana explained.

Jeongyeon stared up at her. “You… you chose to walk through a dark forest known for the things that happen in it, to get home faster? With no phone?”

“I have my phone it’s just-”

“Sana, a dead phone is no phone!”

“I know but I just wanted to get home, Momo and Tzuyu had already gone and I was getting lonely so I just wanted to go home. But I kept stumbling and tripping… I think I’m more drunk than I thought.”

Jeongyeon felt the frown deepen on her face. “So… so you weren’t attempted murder or something? There was no-one after you?”

Sana’s shy laughter filled the room and she shook her head. “My balance is just off after the third shot.”

Jeongyeon sat back on the floor. Stared up at the blonde girl in her bed. She was just fine. An idiot, but fine. Everything inside Jeongyeon was stirring. Relief and anger and then something she couldn’t define but it was something that was stronger than the others.

“Jeongyeon?”

Jeongyeon didn’t answer. She had been wrong. The one thing she had not signed up for, apparently wasn’t living with a cheerleader. It was deadass falling for her. Because fighting the need to get up and kiss said cheerleader after cleaning her scraped knee definitely fell under the category of ‘more than acquaintanceship’.

“Jeongyeon, I’m fine.” Sana said. “I’m just a fool and- what are you doing?”

Good question. Really, a very good question that Jeongyeon would quite like to get an answer to, as she got off the floor of their college dorm. Wasn’t really sure how, but was suddenly standing, leaned over the girl. Too close.

“You’re acting weird, what’s-”

“Shut up.” Jeongyeon muttered, studying Sana’s face, hands cupping it.

“Jeongyeon, it’s supposed to be me who’s tipsy and acting weird and-”

“Shut up, I’m…” Jeongyeon trailed off. Was so close to her now and it was so stupid.

“You look like you’re gonna kiss me.” Sana said with amusement in her voice when their noses touched.

“I… am.” Jeongyeon frowned at her own words.

“Oh.” Sana breathed. “Well, I mean I’m not opposed to it I’m just confused. I never really got the sense that-”

But the next word was muffled and lost as Jeongyeon pressed her lips to Sana’s. The overpowering feeling in Jeongyeon’s stomach celebrated against her will, and she tasted beer and salt on Sana’s lips. Felt how her hands made fists around Jeongyeon’s shirt, pulling her closer.

 

Somehow Sana was everything Jeongyeon had never agreed to, had never wanted, and couldn’t get enough of. And maybe that was the reason she agreed that they head to breakfast together the next morning, even if they were both exhausted, and even if she knew exactly what it entailed.

“That’s them.” Jeongyeon pointed at the couple sitting at one end of a long table in the far end of the cafeteria.

“Who’s who?” Sana asked.

“That one’s Jihyo” Jeongyeon pointed, “and that’s Nayeon.”

Sana nodded and repeated the names. And then they headed for the table.

Nayeon saw them first, a sly grin immediately spreading on her lips as Jeongyeon sat down with her tray.

“Is this the cheerleader?” Jihyo asked.

“No, I’m the girlfriend.” Sana said casually as she sat down next to Jeongyeon.

Jeongyeon snapped around to her so fast it made her neck ache, and Nayeon’s sly grin froze, while Jihyo’s cereal spoon once again froze halfway on it’s way to , the youngest’s mouth comically open.

“We’re not dating.” Jeongyeon hissed.

“You kissed me.” Sana shrugged.

“That doesn’t mean we’re dating!” Jeongyeon insisted, ears burning. She was well aware that Jihyo and Nayeon were still staring bewilderedly at them.

“Look,” Sana looked at Jeongyeon with an impatient expression, “we made out and you cuddled me to sleep, and now we’re having breakfast together. If you plan on this being a regular thing, then we’re dating.”

“I’m-” Jeongyeon tried to figure out exactly how to react to this. Kissing Sana was one thing. Making out was amazing and cuddling was okay too (fine, more than okay). But dating her?

“I’m not kissing you again until you agree to date me.” Sana shrugged and opened her yoghurt casually.

Jeongyeon stared. Was this actually happening? “... Fine.”

“Good.” Sana said airily, then grinned widely and stole a peck to Jeongyeon’s lips before the older girl could react. Then turned to Nayeon and Jihyo. “Hi, I’m Sana. The girlfriend.”

 

There was one half of Jeongyeon that noticed how Jihyo and Nayeon started questioning Sana on whether they had heard right - that it had been Jeongyeon who had made the first move. The same part noticed Sana’s snigger. She apparently hadn’t really believed it either. But there was another part that noticed something entirely different. The part that noticed how Sana’s hand found hers under the table and laced their fingers together. And it was this part that made it almost okay to have Nayeon and Jihyo relentlessly teasing her for the rest of that morning.

 

Maybe living with a pink peppy cheerleader wasn’t the worst thing after all.