On the outside, Kang Seulgi seemed like your typical nerdy engineering major. She always wore hoodies and sweatpants, had that nervous, awkward disposition at first meeting that masked her passion for her studies, and disappeared from the face of the earth over weekends, not to party but to bury herself in schoolwork and "recharge" after a "long week of social interaction".

This was the image she strived to project - dreamy, slightly aloof, and certainly not concerned with romance whatsoever. But in reality, she was keeping a big secret:

Kang Seulgi was Kang SeulGAY.

She was only out to her roommate and best friend Son Seungwan, since well, being out in Korea equated to literally everything - your family relationships, your social reputation, and your career opportunities - being found dead in a ditch. And to make matters worse, this wasn't the only thing she was hiding.

As if being a secret gay wasn't hard enough, being a raging, secret gay and famed fanfiction writer on Asianfanfics.com was much harder. Yes, yours truly was a hit with the shipping community on the site under the alias Sujebi, amassing thousands of upvotes and subscriptions for her fanfictions, which mostly revolved around the super popular girl duo Red Velvet.

Seulgi was convinced that Joy and Yeri, the two members, were actually in love but stuck in the famed "glass closet", since the hets dismissed their totally galpals! interactions as skin ship. Oh well, that just meant they could be as touchy as they wanted and not have anyone suspect anything, which gave Seulgi lots of content she could spin stories out of.

This meant that half the time Seulgi was "aimlessly scrolling on her phone", she was actually searching the #JoyRi hashtag on Instagram and Twitter, keeping her eyes peeled for interactions that would form the basis for her next big hit. "Recharging" after a "long week of social interaction" actually meant streaming comebacks, past comebacks, live stages, interviews - you name it - and churning out the one-shot of the week.

Seulgi made sure to keep her fangirling in check - she was an engineering major after all, so she made time to do well in her two separate ventures. It wasn't that hard for her, civil engineering and writing were the only two loves in her life anyway.

Although recently, she found herself yearning for that kind of love, the heart-fluttering romance she always wrote about but could never experience because of course, she wasn't out and no one she knew at university remotely showed signs of being gay. Or at least showing support. Then again it was a taboo topic, no one would openly talk about it if they didn't want to commit social suicide.

There was a glimmer of hope, though. Over the past two years of her AFF career, she'd become quite close with a fellow writer, under the alias Baechu. They had first met when Seulgi commented on one of her especially touching JoyRi fics, and afterwards bonded over their food related usernames and undying love for Red Velvet. They became each other's soundboards for ideas, editing rough drafts and providing feedback before each release. They'd been Featured multiple times and were regarded as literary legends in the JoyRi fandom.

Other than that, all Seulgi knew about her was that she was her age, also majorly in the closet, and also attending Seoul National University. Seulgi had never met the girl in person but she kind of felt feelings for her, which she knew was silly for that exact reason.

But no one, other than Seungwan, understood and related to her so well even over text on a screen. Nevertheless, without explicitly saying the reason, both had decided they weren't socially ready for a relationship and should not disclose further information about each other, lest they get distracted from their studies and try to figure out exactly who each other is within the large campus.

And so, Seulgi was content with their daily messages, something to smile at when checking her phone during class. Seungwan told her that they should just reveal themselves already, so she could finally quit moping about not getting cuffed, but Seulgi always replied that she wasn't ready. Seungwan understood but was a bit exasperated anyhow, only hoping that her friend would find her happiness someday.

Today was the start of fall semester and Seulgi's junior year. Fittingly, she'd posted a fluffy back-to-school AU last night, which Baechu had said was super cute. She woke up to 200 new story subscriptions and 150 upvotes. All this, and the fact that she and Seungwan would have every single class together and be co-project managers of the school's Eco Concrete project, was more than enough to put her in a great mood.

"Seulgi-ya, you ready?" Seungwan chirped, emerging from the restroom looking chic in a black crop top and leather skirt. She groaned upon seeing Seulgi smiling dopily at her phone, still in her teddy bear print pajamas. "Hurry! I wanna be early for the first day. And you better wear something actually cute, sportswear is an old look on you now."

"It's called athleisure," Seulgi pouted, but Seungwan did have a point, she did need to start having a more fashionable look. In the end she settled for a loose, slightly cropped white collared shirt with a crop top underneath and…black biker shorts.

"That's…alternative, but what the heck, it looks good on you!" Seungwan nodded in approval. "And I see you, I see you - have you been working abs over the summer?"

"Yeah, finally got those 11-lines." Seulgi grinned proudly.

The two friends updated each other on their summers during the 15-minute walk to class, discussing their internships, workout and skincare routines, and vacations. Of course, Seulgi's second occupation was brought up.

"How are your fanfics? And Baechu?" Seungwan asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Both are fine," Seulgi replied nonchalantly. "And no, Baechu and I are not meeting in person. Yet."

"Ah, that's good," Seungwan replied, deciding to drop the topic after sensing the other's slight discomfort. "Anyway