Yena hasn’t seen Yuri around at all. Sure, it’s been two days, and sure, the chances of her running into Yuri on the streets were slim, but hey. It’s not like she’s been looking anyways. Right? Right.

But maybe she does look around a little more than usual, trying to find a glimpse of the small girl at school.

Finally, she spots the girl coming out of her classroom at the end of the day. Yena, again, is rooted in place, not sure how to call out or say something. So, instead, she just follows the girl, mustering up some strength to talk to her.

Instead, she watches as Yuri walks outside and to the back of the school, falling backwards as the same three girls from the other day appear out of nowhere and shove her to the ground.

It’s the same as before. Except this time, Yena only allows herself a split second before racing over as they begin kicking Yuri to the ground, throwing herself into the pile.

“Hey!” She screams, effectively stopping their assault for a few seconds.

“What do you think you’re doing, huh? Leave her alone!” She seethes, glaring at the girls.

“Hah? Jo Yuri actually has someone willing to stand up for her? That’s a new one,” one girl laughs.

“It is,” another girl says before throwing a punch at Yena’s stomach.

All the girls throw a few more kicks and punches before deciding to leave, but not before one last comment:

“Huh, how much are you paying this girl to try and protect you like that? No one would ever do it willingly, I’m sure.”

They laugh and walk away, leaving the two behind.

Pain is shooting through Yuri’s body, but she forces herself up and towards Yena who’s groaning on the ground in front of her.

“Yena,” Yuri starts but doesn’t know how to continue.

“Ah, you do know my name,” Yena mumbles as she uses her arms to push herself up.

“Ouch.”

Yena was glad there only seemed to be some minor bruises. There didn’t seem to be anything too bad; she guesses they got tired quickly.

Yena frowns as she turns toward the younger girl and her concerned expression.

She’s clearly in more pain than me, but she’s looking at me like that.

Yena notes Yuri’s trembling arms as she struggles to hold up her body. The wounds from before were aggravated from the assault just now, making Yuri feel even weaker. Of course, it didn’t help that she hadn’t really eaten anything or gotten much sleep the past two days.

“Hey,” Yena starts out softly with her eyebrows curved up after seeing Yuri’s eyes begin to water.

“I’m sorry; this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have-,” Yuri starts as she drops her head down in shame.

Yena interrupts.

“Yeah, no. Nuh uh. If anyone should be apologizing it’s those girls. No, not even--those animals, really. Geez, no social etiquette at all,” Yena says with a slight chuckle before shakily getting up.

She was okay, really, just a little bruising. But she knew it was going to take some convincing for Yuri to let her carry her again.

“If you really want to make it up to me, climb on my back,” She says as she kneels down and gestures for her to get on.

Yuri is about to protest, Yena knows, so she turns her head and shoots her a look.

You better get over here right now. Right now.

So Yuri complies.

This time, although she doesn’t really register it, she snuggles her head into Yena’s neck, falling asleep as they made their way towards Yena’s house. Again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuri seems to have lost some of her edge, Yena thinks. Plus, she seems more willing to accept whatever Yena throws at her.

In this case, it’s another movie.

Yuri is wearing Yena’s blue sweatshirt and black sweatpants, and Yena thought it was the absolute cutest thing in the world.

As they watch the movie, Yena is absolutely sure now that Yuri has lowered her walls a little because the girl groans in distress and audibly reacts to the movie. Yena feels like she’s getting to know her a bit more, just by being next to her.

At one point, Yena accidentally hits her head on the headboard while moving around.

“Ow,” Yena grumbles as she settles back down.

Then, her heart stops.

Yuri giggled.

She just laughed.

Right in front of her salad.

It’s a short, cute little thing, but Yena swears it’s the most beautiful sound she’s ever heard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No! It was stupid! You’re just saying that because you thought she was really pretty,” Yuri argues.

“You’re stupid! Although, she was really pretty, not gonna lie. That’s irrelevant!” Yena retorts.

Yena thinks she’s in crazy land. One second she’s carrying this stranger on her back, then she’s feeding her, then she’s getting beat up for her, and then, a mere two and a half days later, she’s laughing and playing with that same stranger, except now that stranger was Jo Yuri, her friend, the cutest person ever to exist--

“You’re stupid.”

--Yena believes it from the bottom of her heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From there, it was magical.

Yena swore to be Yuri’s protector, guarding her from all evils of the world.

(Although, Yuri would reply snarkily, saying how that wasn’t possible because Yena was an evil loaf)

Those three girls decided to leave Yuri alone; lucky for them, Yena thinks, because with the rest of her gang she knows they could beat those three girls into the ground.

They had grown closer over the past few weeks, but Yuri was still closed off about some things, like her family. She never let Yena know where she lived either.

Yena thought that maybe the girl came from a really rich family and didn’t like to talk about it, but she knew that was just wishful thinking. She knew something was wrong.

Still, she didn’t press.

What worried Yena, however, was how much she was beginning to like Yuri. How much she thought about her, how much she liked spending time with her, how much she smiled around her--

Scary.

Yena didn’t give it too much thought.

Yuri came over often and sometimes stayed over. Yena liked it whenever she was here.

Like now: currently, Yuri was nestled in between Yena’s legs reading a book as she leaned her head on the older girl’s chest. Yena was playing video games.

Yuri didn’t have an explanation for it either. It was weird to think how soft she had gotten, how open she had gotten, around Yena. It didn’t take long either. It was just so hard not to. Did she think she deserved it? No. But she found it impossible to stay away from the girl.

And, God, she was so, so comfortable right now.

Yeah, she still worked her off trying to get the funds to keep the loan sharks happy.

Yeah, she missed her family.

Yeah, she still cried to herself.

But, honestly, she was happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What in God’s name are you doing?” Yuri deadpans, looking straight at Yena struggling in the kitchen.

“Cooking pancakes, duh,” Yena huffs as she turns towards Yuri with flour all over her.

Yuri looks at her for another second before laughing, walking closer to Yena as she pouted in indignation.

“Stop laughing!” Yena whines as Yuri steps right in front of her.

Yuri continues to laugh as she brushes flour off of Yena’s face.

“Sorry, sorry, I was just really amazed by how professional you looked here with your soon-to-be 5-star pancakes.”

Pouting intensifies.

“I’ll cook the pancakes and you can make coffee?” Yuri says with an eyebrow raised.

“... Yeah, okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, no, Yuri ended up having to make the coffee too.

But, anyways, Yena did clean up her mess properly, so that’s a start.

She glanced over at Yuri who was humming while making pancakes, dressed in Yena’s black shorts and yellow shirt with a duck on the left side of her chest. The shirt was pretty big on Yuri, Pretty much covering the shorts she was wearing.

Cute.

I could get used to this.

Without thinking, she walks up behind Yuri and wraps her arms around her, burrowing her face into Yuri’s neck.

Yuri’s eyes widen.

“What are you doing?” She says as she blushes heavily, speaking with a slight stutter.

“Nothin’, continue,” Yena mumbles into Yuri’s neck, not letting go.

Yuri sighs but smiles gently, finishing up the pancakes with Yena latched onto her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuri really did feel like she was on top of the world these days, to some extent, at least. She can’t remember the last time she had smiled this much or laughed with as much joy. Truthfully, she couldn’t really recall smiling or laughing at all over the past two years. Yuri was happy.

But of course the universe was as cruel as ever, as her world was shatters as an arm crashed into the lockers next to her head, pinning her between said person and the lockers.

Said person being Yena.

A very angry Yena.

Yuri looked on in shock, looking up at Yena’s biting glare.

“Yena?” She hesitated.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you wh-,”

“DON’T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!” She screamed, slamming her fist against the locker, making Yuri flinch away and duck her head.

Yena took a deep breath and pulled her arm away from beside Yuri’s head, grabbing her wrist instead and pulling her towards the back of the school.

Yuri followed wordlessly.