(Sooyoung POV)

The end of the semester was approaching much faster than Sooyoung would like and she had absolutely no time for the nonsense that seemed to be populating her life. Somehow, getting Seungwan and Joohyun together had only led to a fresh new wave of problems, when she’d been expecting the event to finally close that chapter of her vicarious love life. Now, after having had to calm down both Joohyun and Seungwan from their first argument, like some kind of couples’ therapist, and being exposed to far too much for her own taste – though thankfully never actually walking in on anything -, she was hoping to finally be able to settle down and focus on her studies for once.

But first, she needed coffee. And none of that vending machine garbage either; real coffee, made by a human being out of ingredients that she could see and identify. If only because a trip to the overpriced campus coffee shop would break up her routine of late, splitting all her time between her dorm room and the library while she struggled to catch up in time for finals.

She put on a nice summer dress, taking full advantage of any pretext to dress up, and went on her leisurely way to the coffee shop. She walked slowly, happy to feel the warmth of the sun on her skin and let her problems float away for a few hours.

The shop was almost within sight, the jingle of its doorbell rising above the din of activity from the central quad, when she turned the final corner and was nearly knocked off her feet by a rushing student.

All the zen-like peace she’d mustered up evaporated in a blink and she was fully prepared to chew out the reckless individual, until they locked eyes and she immediately recognized him.

It was the hot guy from her Friday classes. Good thing she’d decided to wear that nice dress, she thought absently as she tried to push back the nervous energy that suddenly flooded her limbs. It was completely unwarranted, really. She doubted he even recognized her.

The guy, who was somehow even cuter up close, stumbled backwards a few steps, as if trying to put a respectful distance between them after his shameful display, and vigorously apologised. He made it through three variations on “I’m so sorry” before his eyes rose to hers again and he abruptly paused.

“Oh, hey, I know you,” he exclaimed with surprise. Sooyoung’s eyebrows rose as her heart excitedly picked up its pace, but she said nothing. “I-I mean, I think we shared a class last semester.”

She decided to keep up her façade of indifference a little longer, humming as if trying to place him while he provided further elaboration.

“Uh, Friday? Friday morning? I was at the front and you were a little more towards the back, you might not have seen me,” he finally conceded, his smile faltering.

He even knew where she’d been sitting! Was this actually happening? She bit down a giddy smile as she tried to answer nonchalantly. “Oh, right, I think I remember you,” she gave in at last, rewarded at once by a dazzling grin.

“I was actually- I mean, at the time, I… Wait, am I holding you up?” he suddenly cut himself off, looking around worriedly. “Are your friends waiting or, uh, boyfriend?”

The way he hung on the last syllable, stretching it out almost hopefully, made something inside Sooyoung flip right out of place as she struggled to keep her calm exterior.

“Oh, I was actually early, so I can spare a few minutes,” she retorted casually, letting the ambiguity linger a little longer. She liked the way the guy followed her every word. “And it’s just my friends. No boyfriend,” she added, tucking her hair behind her ear.

His face lit up, then his eyebrows knitted thoughtfully. “Girlfriend?”

It wasn’t a question she’d expected. It was disarming, in a nice way. She allowed herself to smile a little wider as she replied, “No girlfriend either.”

“Yeah, same,” he commented, nodding for a bit longer than necessary.  “No girlfriend. Or boyfriend, I guess.” He laughed a little self-consciously.

Sooyoung liked him. He was awkward, but not in an off-putting way; just enough to make him approachable despite his effortless good looks. It made her feel like she could be a little bolder. So, before the silence between them could stretch for too long, she took the initiative.

“So, do you have a name? Because right now you’re just ‘guy from my Friday morning class who doesn’t look where he’s going’, and that’s way too long to keep track of.” She tilted her head with a small smirk, pleased at the way her remark flustered him for a moment.

“Right. Sorry about that. It’s just, you know, finals and-“ He trailed off, noticing her amusement, and scratched his head sheepishly. “Uh, Sungjae. That’s my name.”

“Nice to meet you, Sungjae. I’m Sooyoung.”

She reached out her hand, which he shook with a shy smile. “That’s a nice name. And, uh, much shorter than ‘girl from my Friday morning class who doesn’t have a boyfriend’,” he added bravely, which didn’t fail to fluster Sooyoung in return.

They gazed at each other for a moment longer, hands still gripped together, until another passing student brushed by Sooyoung’s shoulder, jostling her, and Sungjae instinctively pulled her closer. Then they both slowly moved apart, the silence between them charged in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

“So I guess you have to go meet your friend,” Sungjae finally commented, almost startling her. Right, she’d said that. She really wished she hadn’t. “And after that? I mean, for dinner,” he added awkwardly.

She tapped her chin thoughtfully, like she wouldn’t have immediately blown off whatever plans she’d had in favour of dinner with the hot guy from her Friday class. “I’m not sure yet, I’m a busy woman,” she said instead of the immediate “yes” that hung on the tip of her tongue. “Tell you what, why don’t I give you my number and you can call me later; work out our schedules.”

Sungjae’s eyes widened and he immediately rifled through his pockets, finding his phone after a few attempts and quickly handing it over. Sooyoung accepted it graciously and added her number, pausing at the contact name.

After only a moment’s hesitation, she typed something in and handed over the device. Sungjae looked at what she’d written and grinned. “Joy,” he read aloud. She liked the way the single syllable sounded in his voice. “It suits you.”

Finally the Universe had gotten something right, she considered as she made her goodbyes and headed off to get her overpriced coffee. Finally karma had woken up and realized how much she deserved something good in her life.

Finally, she was going to get a damn date.

(…)

(Seungwan POV)

“This one’s from when I went hiking last month.”

Joohyun hummed in appreciation, leaning forward slightly to better take in the sight. Seungwan smiled, endeared at her rapt attention but unable to share it when she’d already seen all the photos Seulgi was happily showing.

“And you really took it with your phone? It looks so high-quality.”

Seulgi chuckled at Joohyun’s comment, clearly pleased. “Some phone cameras actually let you mess with a lot of the options, you know, shutter speed and stuff.” She paused to check whether Joohyun was following her, which she seemed to be, then carried on into an excited description of available peripherals and workarounds for night photography.

Despite her effort to pay attention, Seungwan quickly tuned out the conversation, eyes sweeping the room for another source of entertainment almost reflexively. The only other thing in Joohyun’s living room, of course, was the pair of girls sitting at a corner of the sofa, discussing something in low voices.

Seungwan weighed her options, then dropped a hand on Joohyun’s shoulder to let her know she’d be joining the other two on the sofa. She was waved off without protest, the photography discussion picking back up in a second.

“- and then add the eggplant emoji,” she heard Yerim whisper to Sooyoung as she approached.

“That is terrible advice, how do you even have a girl- oh, hey, Seungwan,” Sooyoung abruptly cut herself off, dropping her phone to lie face down on the sofa, still firmly in her grip. “What’s up?”

Seungwan pretended not to notice Sooyoung’s startled reaction or the way Yerim rolled her eyes at her awkward question. “Oh, nothing much, just thought I’d join the cool side of the living room.”

“Don’t let Joohyun hear you saying that,” Sooyoung replied airily, fooling nobody. She was much better at lying when it was for somebody else’s sake, clearly.

Yerim snorted, her own phone covering her face and already taking up most of her attention, but she froze as soon as Sooyoung’s phone chimed, eyes dropping to it nearly as quickly as its owner’s. Both pairs of eyes returned to Seungwan a moment later, as the girls seemed to remember her presence, and Sooyoung nonchalantly pulled her phone closer to her side without looking at it.

“Are you going to check that?” Seungwan eventually asked. Sooyoung shrugged.

“It’s probably nothing.”

To her credit, Yerim showed no signs of amusement at the comment and only nodded solemnly in support.

“Nothing,” Seungwan repeated. Both girls hummed in agreement. “And the, uh, eggplant emoji?”

Sooyoung threw Yerim an accusing look that had Seungwan biting back an amused smile, before appearing to make a decision and slumping slightly in the sofa. Seungwan took her cue to sit down by their side. “First of all, no eggplant emoji. Yerim is just an idiot.”

“Takes one to know one,” the accused muttered, just low enough not to interrupt.

“Second of all, there… might be a boy. Maybe,” Sooyoung added warningly at the sight of Seungwan’s excited smile. “We’ve been texting.”

“They had dinner,” Yerim cut in, ducking away before Sooyoung’s arm had even begun to move towards her, so that what was intended as a shove ended up as more of a brush of hand on arm. She turned to face her attacker with self-righteous stubbornness. “What? You did!”

Sooyoung’s mouth opened as if to argue the point, then her eyes fixed on a point behind Seungwan and she quickly rethought it. “Not a word to Joohyun,” she commanded instead, attention shifting to Seungwan herself.

“I’ll… do my best?” Seungwan offered uncertainly, just before a hand came to rest on her head, fingers combing through her hair, and then Joohyun herself settled herself on her lap. Sooyoung dropped the subject at once, throwing one final, vaguely menacing glance at Seungwan before picking up her phone.

“What do you think of me trying out photography?” Seungwan hummed at Joohyun’s question, glad she wouldn’t be probing into what the three of them had been discussing. “It seems like fun and Seulgi said she’d help me.”

“That sounds great!” She tilted her head around, searching for Seulgi, who was approaching the sofa with a bag of chips.

“And you don’t mind me stealing your best friend?”

She chuckled, hands tightening on Joohyun’s sides. “I think I’ll live.” Joohyun’s hands rose to cover her own as their owner leaned back, resting more comfortably against Seungwan.

“Has anyone ever told you two you’re gross?” Yerim asked lightly, eyes never leaving her phone screen. Seulgi masked her laughter by stuffing more chips in , but Joohyun only smiled at the question.

“Mostly just you.”

Yerim sighed theatrically. “I miss the good old days, back when Seungwan was all awkward and stuttering and you two actually kept some distance between each other.”

Rather than defend herself, Seungwan accepted the accusation placidly and pulled Joohyun closer, rewarded by Yerim’s resulting grimace.

“That’s right,” Joohyun commented in a voice bubbling with laughter. “You were always so nervous at first. Stumbling over your words and- and you would always scratch the back of your head when you got embarrassed!” Seungwan flushed at the sudden observation, fighting back the urge to do just that.

“Oh, are we doing some reminiscing?” Sooyoung cut in with excitement, nearly clapping her hands together.

“Let’s not,” Seungwan attempted hopelessly.

“Let’s yes!” Of course Yerim would feed this, the little devil. Not that it mattered, since Joohyun’s mind already seemed to be made up on the topic.

“Remember the first time we talked?” she asked, as if on cue. Seungwan groaned, attempting to hide her face behind Joohyun’s back. “I was waiting for my parents and you kept throwing me these strange glances, then you asked me to cat-sit for you.” She paused to let out a chuckle and possibly allow the audience to bask in Seungwan’s mortification. “You looked so nervous, and then I got nervous for you and forgot to tell you I was afraid of cats.”

Joohyun’s confession was almost contrite, and the way her fingers danced on the back of Seungwan’s hands was quite effective in drawing her out of her embarrassment, despite the amusement the little story elicited in the other three.

“The first time we met, I thought you were lame and not good enough for Joohyun,” Yerim commented next, like they were doing some sort of train of first impressions.

Before Seungwan could voice her indignation, Sooyoung was right on her heels. “I thought you were a pushover and just terrible at talking to pretty girls. Myself included,” she added with a flip of her hair.

“Hey!” Seungwan finally managed to cut in, her exclamation only drawing another bout of laughter. Joohyun’s profile looked so pretty when she laughed, she thought absently. It was hard to stay upset at just about anything when she had Joohyun on her lap.

“What? I wasn’t wrong, was I?” Sooyoung smirked at the way Seungwan attempted a few comebacks and eventually fell silent, having no choice but to accept what wasn’t an entirely wrong observation.

“I was.” The room fell silent at Yerim’s comment, despite the casual tone with which it was uttered. The shock on Sooyoung’s face was mostly to friend, but Seungwan couldn’t deny that deep inside, there was still a part of herself that was surprised by the remark.

“What?” Yerim questioned, appearing unbothered. “You obviously make each other happy, I can admit that.”

A chorus of “aww”s erupted from all present, led by Sooyoung, who took the opportunity to reach over and pinch Yerim’s cheeks despite the younger girl’s protests. Seungwan joined in cheerfully, pretending that the words didn’t reach right into her heart and flood her with warmth and relief.

Here she was surrounded by all the people she loved the most in this world. People who loved her in return. Every single one of them. Even Yerim, so prickly and defensive. Even her.

Here she was, surrounded by her friends. Happy, confident, with nothing to hide. Suddenly, the reminiscing didn’t feel quite so painful. Suddenly, she looked back on the past year of her life and saw so many good moments, so many things to remember and celebrate. Who cared about a little embarrassment, when she had so much to be grateful for, when she was just so lucky?

“Seulgi,” Sooyoung called out firmly, interrupting Seungwan’s train of thought just in time to keep her from getting teary-eyed. “Your turn. First impression of our Wannie.”

“Oh, am I doing it too? Okay, uh…” Seungwan craned her neck to look in her best friend’s direction, now more curious than fearful. “Well, I thought Seungwan was really nice. And she deserved to smile more.”

Everyone cooed at Seulgi’s sweet response, but Seungwan cut through the atmosphere with a sceptical snort. “Please. That is a lie that you made up to look cute and we both know it.”

Seulgi faced the full force of Seungwan’s disbelief for only a few moments before folding. “Okay, fine. But that was definitely my second impression!”

“And the first?” Seungwan pressed on, urged by the excited faces of the two girls by her side. She could feel the vibrations of her girlfriend’s low laughter against her chest as Joohyun seemed endlessly amused by the light bickering between friends.

“That… you were my only hope of passing calculus.”

Joohyun’s laughter grew into a fit of cackling, either at the words themselves or at the sheepish reluctance with which Seulgi admitted it. Seungwan joined her, followed by the two youngest and even Seulgi herself.

Conversation picked back up, which Seungwan carefully steered away from both first impressions and past embarrassments. Soon enough, Seulgi had joined Yerim and Sooyoung in some ridiculous debate to find the absolute worst part of math classes, and Joohyun sat by Seungwan’s side on the opposite end of the sofa.

“Seungwan?” she asked in a low voice, halfway through Yerim’s emphatic assertion that formal proofs should be classified as a form of torture. “What about you? What was your first impression of me?”

“Me? Oh, I don’t know. That you must think I was a weirdo, I guess.” She laughed as Joohyun knocked against her shoulder.

“That’s not an impression of me!” she pointed out in a weak attempt at indignation. “That’s… an impression of yourself, channelled through me.”

“Yes, I’m very self-involved,” Seungwan commented with a shrug, then finally relented under Joohyun’s pleading gaze. “Fine, fine. I thought… I thought you were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.”

“Shallow,” Joohyun criticized, but her words were betrayed by the pleased smile that filled her face. “Anything else?”

“Nope, my brain was too dazzled by your beauty to notice anything else,” Seungwan carried on with amusement. Joohyun’s brow furrowed in childish displeasure and Seungwan wanted nothing more than to drop a kiss on her forehead and smooth those creases.

“And now?” Joohyun insisted, as obstinate as ever. “Still too dazzled?” She forgot her petulant act for a moment, just long enough to smirk at Seungwan and snicker at her flustered reaction.

“Now I think…” She paused, tried to gather her thoughts as she threaded her fingers through Joohyun’s. “That when I first met you, and I thought you were the most beautiful person…” Another pause, this time to let doubt build in Joohyun’s eyes as her girlfriend probably wondered whether she was just working up to another punchline.

But not this time. This time, she had something important to say, something she hoped Joohyun knew. “I had no idea how right I was.”

She squeezed Joohyun’s hand in hers, smiled shyly at her girlfriend and watched as her eyes grew soft, as she leaned forward like she’d forgotten they weren’t alone, before catching herself and pulling back sheepishly.

“Cheesy,” Joohyun muttered, slapping her arm lightly.

“For you? Always,” Seungwan replied grandly, fully expecting another slap. Instead, Joohyun studied her with suddenly serious eyes.

“Always?” Her voice was low, nearly a whisper, and it was raw with feeling. With hope.

It felt like the past year had rushed past Seungwan. Like only a second had elapsed since that first awkward meeting. And it should scare her, to have life flash by so quickly. It should terrify her, to have fallen so deeply, so quickly, so irrecoverably. But it was Joohyun that sat in front of her, it was Joohyun who held her heart. Out of fear and worry, out of the insecurity that she carried like a second skin, she had found hope, and she had found confidence, and she had found trust.

She had found Joohyun. Everything else, she could deal with as it came.

“As long as you’ll have me.”

Joohyun’s eyes were bright. Seungwan wondered if the small moment, the simple exchange of words, felt as momentous to her as it did to herself. Joohyun’s voice was steady as she replied, with no hint of hesitation.

“Always.”

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A/N: We are finally here, at the very end! Back when I started posting this, a full 10 months ago, I could never imagine how popular it would become, how much attention and interaction it would get both here and on twitter. It's been a little harder to respond to everyone lately, but I still read and appreciate everyone's reactions and I am so thankful to all of you for following along, supporting my story and sharing it with others. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you, and I guess that’s all, folks!