Seungwan calls her up one day, and tells her that she has figured out the best plan ever. She tells Joohyun to make sure her dorm door is unlocked because she’s a couple seconds away and that she brought breakfast. Her voice is crackly over the phone, and it’s still thick with sleep. But the sun shines through the call, and even if she doesn’t want to wake up, Seungwan’s voice energises her. 

Joohyun never locks her door - a surprising fact considering her timidness. But she never does, seeing as Seungwan comes over every five minutes, and locking it would be redundant because it’ll mean that she’d have to unlock the door way too often than she would like. And the fine arts dormitory is pleasant, she thinks, everyone staying there being like family.

She simply turns over in bed, curled up under the covers, and waits for Seungwan’s noisy entrance. 

And noisy it is. Her door slams open, startling Joohyun even though she’s been expecting it.

“, sorry unnie!” Seungwan looks sheepish, her face crumpled into an apologetic smile. And the thumping of Joohyun’s heart changes tracks, from startled to something else that she doesn’t want to admit, yet.

“I brought breakfast!” Seungwan says, holding a bag up. “It’s the university’s sandwich, and I told the auntie to take it easy on the lettuce.” 

Seungwan settles at the small makeshift dining table, and watches her wash up. It feels domestic, and Joohyun likes the way Seungwan props her head up on the table, hands squishing her cheeks. 

“So...” Seungwan drawls. “My brilliant plan.” She looks at Joohyun so expectantly. Excited and eyes twinkly.

“Your brilliant plan,” Joohyun repeats. She stares down at her sandwich, heart warming at how Seungwan cares - there’s a significant drop in the gross lettuce that always takes over the sandwich.

“You know how Sooyoung and Yerim are dating?”

She hums in acknowledgment. 

“And Sooyoung’s been popping into Yerim’s streams lately.” The way Seungwan looks at her, sandwich forgotten, the glint in her eyes. She knows that whatever Seungwan is planning is about to destroy her. (But she’s destroyed Joohyun the moment she opened her cute mouth and clumsily stepped into her life.) 

And Joohyun wants to delay the inevitable a little. 

“What is that, again?” There’s an ache taking root, the wisps of pain swirling from between her brows down to her heart.

Seungwan laughs. “Streaming! Yerim streams her games - she’s explained before, grandma.” Teasing and light. “And she has self-composed songs up on YouTube as well, you’ve heard them. They’re good.”

“They are,” she says, voice laced with affection. They’re amazing, Yerim’s songs, full of effort and care and talent. “And your brilliant plan is to start streaming too?”

“No, not at all,” she replies. “My brilliant plan is to start dating you.” 

Dating you. 

She chokes on her bite of sandwich - at the way Seungwan proposes the notion of dating so casually, at the way her heart flutters at the thought. At the way her mind leaps into the most absurd conclusion, that Seungwan wants to date her. 

“W-what?” she splutters, after she’s managed to dislodge the clump of bread in . 

Seungwan presses a glass of water in her hands, which she gulps down. “Like fake-dating style.” 

“Oh.” She takes another sip of her water. “Fake-date you.”

“It’ll all be fake, of course,” Seungwan emphasises. “And it’ll help me increase my view count!” 

It’s nearly the end of the year. And with all the rumble of finals and packing, Joohyun almost forgets that Seungwan is a Youtuber as well. (That, somehow, she’s managed to befriend a whole group of Youtubers.) 

“It’ll be fantastic”, Seungwan says, “we’re already going to move in together, and Sooyoung’s been saying how her view count has jumped expa-exponentially since she started dating Yerim.” 

And all she can focus on is the cute little slip up, as Seungwan bounces around the words. Seungwan is extra pretty today, she thinks, with her messy bun and hoodie. 

Seungwan looks at her, eyes wide and puppy-like, b with excitement. And even with the beginnings of a shattered heart, Joohyun still can’t say no. 

“Sure, I guess.” She agrees without thinking, because it’s Seungwan, her best friend. (And also crush that she doesn’t want to ever confess to because that’ll jeopardise their friendship and she doesn’t want that.) 

Seungwan tackles her into a hug, warm and snug and she always smells so good and soft. “Thank you thank you thank you! We’re basically almost dating anyway, and it’s not like we like each other romantically. You won’t regret this.” 

She wants to tell her that she’s already regretting everything, especially with the way something stirs in her chest, fluttering fluttering. But all she does is brush Seungwan off, and says, “Well, if you want to make this believable, we’d better come up with a timeline.” 

“Unnie, you’re a genius!” Seungwan’s expressions are big, full. Her eyebrows stretch up, hiding behind her bangs, and drops open. She plants a kiss on Joohyun’s cheek, and jumps into action, pulling out paper and pens and writing out the months. 

At the end of it all, Joohyun’s cheek burns with the mark of Seungwan’s lips, and her chest hurts at the sight of Seungwan’s handwriting on paper. 

Autumn: Break-up :)

Seungwan has fallen asleep on her bed, snoozing away - as if this whole plan wouldn’t utterly destroy Joohyun and everything that she is. 

Taking her time, she packs more clothes into boxes, before sliding into the bed, snuggling under the sheets and lets herself be pulled into Seungwan’s arms. It’s warm. Always warm. Her favourite place. The bed is small; a single, but they don’t need too much space anyway. 

She remembers Seungwan’s words. “Let’s not tell the others that it’s fake. It’s gotta be believable!” 

Joohyun wonders if the others will be able to see through the facade, and wonders if it is selfish to want to live a lie that she herself has created. 

———

Okay so this is short. And bad. Sorry! I’ve lost the ability to write :/ like it’s not even a joke. I really have no idea how to write anymore and it’s kilLING me