The longest sigh slipped past Sana’s lips as soon as she opened the door. Saying that today had been tiring was an understatement. She had woken up at an ungodly hour that morning, she had barely had five minutes to eat at noon and all that she could think of was the nice warm bath she was going to take before getting into bed. The thought of sleeping on freshly washed sheets brought a smile to her face.  

She dragged her feet to their shared bedroom and was greeted by the sight of Mina lying on her stomach on the bed, her blue penguin plushie under her chin and between her arms while playing some game on her Nintendo Switch. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“I’m back!” She said in her usual cheerful voice. The quiet ‘hi’ she got as a response from the other girl made her chuckle. “I’m going to take a bath before the others come back.” She announced, and Mina just hummed, completely focused on the game she was currently playing.

Sana made her way to the bathroom after gathering her clothes, locking the door behind her. The water, not too hot, started filling the bathtub while she got undressed. As soon as she got inside, she started relaxing. She could feel the tension and tiredness being slowly released from every part of her body, from head to toe. As their new comeback was nearing, she had had to go back to work as soon as she had gotten back from her vacation so as to prepare for it. This time off they’d had had been a well-needed —and well-deserved— rest from an exhausting year. She loved her work but having to do so much and for so long non-stop had been draining both physically and mentally.

The water turning cold told her it was time to get out. She dried and brushed her hair before getting dressed in a pair of shorts and a simple t-shirt and walked back to the bedroom. She found Mina in the exact same position she’d left her, the only difference being her brows slightly closer than before. Sana pondered what to do, even though she was tired, she wasn’t feeling sleepy. She looked at the screen on her phone and saw that it was too late to call her mom. She quietly groaned and was about to lay down on her bed when another idea popped on her mind. She smirked and walked towards Mina’s bed, the younger girl seemingly not noticing Sana approaching her since she was engrossed in her game. The older Japanese took advantage of it and that she was facing away from her to jump on her back, earning a mildly loud yelp from her bandmate.

“Minari!” She hugged the girl as best as she could giving their position, pressing herself on her back.

Mina on her part just smiled, already used at the girl’s random outbursts of affection. She kept focused on her game, a small laugh escaping her whenever Sana started peppering kisses on the back of her head.

“How was your day?” Sana asked, putting a strand of hair behind Mina’s ear so it wouldn’t come in front of her eyes.

“Tiring.” Mina grunted something at the screen and pressed some buttons repeteadly. “And yours?” She asked back once she relaxed again.

“Tiring as well. I’m exhausted. That bath did wonders, tho.” Sana kissed Mina’s cheek when the younger girl didn’t say anything, satisfied when Mina smiled.

“Do you want to play?” Mina asked when the older girl moved to rest her chin on her shoulder. Sana eyed the girl below her, amused at the expression of concentration she had on her face. From the moment Momo and her had met her back in their trainee days, she had found the girl adorable with her moles and gummy smile, and she had practically squealed when she had discovered that, beneath all the shyness and awkwardness and apparently cold façade, the girl was a very affectionate person and never complained about Sana hugging her or kissing her.

“Sana?” Mina’s voice brought her back from her thoughts and she shook her head as she hugged her tighter. “Are you comfortable?” Mina chuckled and shivered when Sana laughed right next to her ear.

“Yes, you’re an amazing pillow.” Sana giggled and Mina couldn’t help smiling at the older girl.

They fell silent after that, Mina still focused on her game and Sana watching the screen, trying to understand what was going on. From what she could see, Mina was controlling whatever that being was supposed to be –an elf, maybe, there’s always an elf in these games– and she was currently trying to defeat some other beings that looked like giant dogs.

“Are you going to kill them?” Sana muttered and Mina was confused for a moment.

“What?”

“The big dogs, are you going to kill them?” Mina could imagine the pout on Sana’s face just from hearing her voice.

“I have to.”

“No one has to kill dogs.”

“They’re not real, Sana.” Mina tried to reason, poking her tongue out when the fight on the game got a bit more difficult.

“But they’re dogs!” Sana whined and Mina quickly took a glance at her side, finding caramel colored eyes looking back at her and briefly getting lost in them.

“But if I don’t kill them, they’ll kill me.” She muttered, averting her eyes shyly after realizing she had been staring.

“I think they already did.” Sana beamed at her.

“What?” Mina asked confused again, and Sana nodded towards the screen, where Mina’s character laid down on the ground, dead. “Oh, no.” Mina groaned and let the console fall on the bed and burrowed her head on the plushie.

“Look at the bright side, you didn’t kill the dogs!” Sana gave her another one of her cut-your-breath hugs and, as usual, Mina smiled. She never had thought about it, about how there was always a smile on her face whenever Sana hugged her or anything really, she had just assumed it was the effect Sana had on people, like the sun washing over your skin, automatically making you feel better, happier.

“If that makes you happy…” Mina mumbled, peeking one eye out to look at the other girl, her gummy smile growing bigger upon seeing Sana nodding at her with a bright smile on her face.

“It does!” Sana moved a bit down Mina’s back, so she could rest her head on the nape of her bandmate’s neck and closed her eyes, a feeling of contentment firmly settled on her body. Mina didn’t mind it and she just enjoyed the moment for a minute before grabbing once again the console to keep playing, changing her mission to one in which she didn’t have to kill beings that looked like big dogs.

Half an hour later, the bedroom door opened again and Jihyo entered the room, leaving her bag on her bed.

“Why is Sana sleeping on your back?” Her fellow member asked quizzically.

“Eh?” Mina hadn’t realized Sana had fallen asleep on top of her, but now she was very aware of the soft puffs of air on her neck. “Ah, she was watching me play and must’ve fallen asleep.”

“Do you want me to move her over to her bed?” Jihyo asked as she grabbed her pajamas and her toiletry bag.

“No, don’t worry.” Mina smiled reassuringly and Jihyo nodded before leaving the bedroom.

Mina sighed and turned off the console, putting it on her bedside table.

“What now?” She murmured and, as carefully as she was able, turned around without waking Sana up. She moved the older girl a bit so she was lying by her side and not on top of her, Sana quickly adjusting by throwing an arm on her stomach. With her feet, she dragged a blanket up and put it on top of them as best as she could before wrapping her arms around the older girl.

“Goodnight, Sana-chan.” She whispered and left a soft kiss on Sana’s hair before closing her eyes and letting the sleepiness take her.