Jennie was still in my bed when my dad and BoA got home later that night. She was fast asleep, but I was alert enough to hear their voices going upstairs.

“I’ll go check on Lisa really quick,” I heard Dad say, and my eyes immediately widened.

“,” I curse, realizing there was no way I’d be able to wake Jennie and hide her fast enough. I could already hear his footsteps on the stairs.

“Oppa, she’s probably asleep. Check on her tomorrow?” came BoA’s voice.

There was a pause in Dad’s footsteps.

BoA spoke again. “She’ll be fine. She’s not a child anymore.”

The footsteps resumed, but I realized with relief that they were heading back downstairs. We’ll be safe if Jennie could go back home, early morning.

She managed it, but only after being unable to find her shoes and then sneaking out barefoot through the back door early in the morning, which was further from my dad’s room than the front. I saw her off and then went back to sleep.

The second time I woke up, it was to a knock on my door. I rubbed at my eyes and sat up, groggily calling out, “Come in!”

To my surprise, it was BoA, not my dad, who cracked open the door and peered in at me.

“Oh. Hi,” I said. My eyes widened when she stuck an arm through the door and saw what she held: Jennie’s shoes.

“Your dad went into the kitchen for a minute when we first got home last night,” she explained, very clearly amused. “I wasn’t sure he’d recognize these expensive shoes, but I’ve seen Jennie wearing them, so I took the time to hide them before he saw them. I’m sorry she couldn’t find them.”

She tossed the shoes into my room, I stared at her hard for a moment, before simply declaring, “Truce.”

She laughed and moved to shut the door. “Okay, Lisa.”

---

The weather didn’t change over the course of the next few weeks. Jennie and I spent most of our time outside together, either by the cliff and the water or at the park or even just walking the streets of our neighborhood with Kuma. I didn’t want to stay away from her. I couldn’t. And luckily, my dad accepted that I was growing up and that avoiding discussions about certain difficult topics didn’t stop me from growing up, and that Jennie’s parents were letting me spend the night at their house.

One night, after we’d finally untangled ourselves from each other and agreed to try and go to sleep, Jennie gently traced letters into my back with her finger while I, half-asleep, guessed what she was trying to spell out.

“U... end word. R... end word. P...R...E...T...” I spelled out, before laughing quietly and saying, “Aw, thank you. You’re pretty, too.”

“You’re too good at this. I was going to say, ‘you’re pretty annoying’, by the way, but you didn’t let me finish.”

“Oh, I thought you were going for ‘you’re pretty but not as pretty as me’. I gave you too much credit.”

She chuckled against my shoulder as she leaned in to kiss it. “Okay. Pay attention for this one.”

“I will,” I yawned out, and focused on the light touches against my back.

“I... end word. L...O...” I paused, and then rolled over to face her. She offered me a gentle smile.

“Me too,” I told her.

She arched an eyebrow, her demeanor changing instantly. “You love chocolate?”

“That wasn’t what you were going to spell out,” I said.

“No,” she agreed, leaning in to kiss me. “It wasn’t.”

---

“Maybe this is a weird call to be making,” said Hoony over the phone just a few days later. Confused, I held the phone to my ear with one hand as Jennie painted the nails of my other. I was sitting in my bedroom on the edge of my bed, and Jennie sat on her knees in front of me.

He continued, “I, uh... guess maybe I’m being contradictory here, but I know we haven’t seen each other much in the past couple of weeks, and so I just wanted you to know that I get why, and that I don’t mind. So just know that it’s okay and I get why you’re spending all of your time with Jennie.”

I laughed lightly. “This is totally a weird call for you to be making. But that’s okay. I think it’s sweet.”

Jennie arched an eyebrow at me, and I mouthed, “Seunghoon.” She nodded her understanding and went back to painting my nails.

Hoony sighed on the other end. “Yeah, I . Okay. Just let me know if you need anything. If anything, uh... happens.”

“I will. Seriously, thank you.”

“No problem.”

I hung up the phone to a questioning look from Jennie as she requested, “Can I ask you something?”

“What’s up?” I offered her my other hand as she finished up with the thumbnail of my first.

“You and oppa are really close. I like him, but I guess I don’t really see what you guys have in common.”

“We’re both very cynical” I offered evasively.

“You both lost someone important to you, I know. I just never thought that was enough to bring two people together like that. Especially since you’re so different. Do you guys have some, like, secret dark hobby you share that you’re too embarrassed to tell me about?”

“Yes,” I told her, and she laughed.

“Seriously, though.”

“Seriously,” I confirmed. “I’ll never tell you.”

“I can’t tell if you’re messing with me or not right now, but if you’re being serious, you’ll have to tell me eventually,” she pointed out.

“I couldn’t. You wouldn’t believe me if I did.” I resolved to change the subject as soon as the words were out of my mouth. It ached to talk about this.

“Now I know you’re messing with me,” Jennie confirmed with a shake of your head.

“Alright, lesson learned. I accept your strange, seemingly random friendship. I’m just gonna assume he got you into Dungeons and Dragons or something and you’re too embarrassed to tell me. It’s okay; I wouldn’t judge.”

“And you shouldn’t. You mocked our comic books, but I saw a manhwa in your wardrobe the other day.”

“I was thirteen and it was lesbian-themed,” she shot back. “Doesn’t count. And it’s not the same thing, anyway.”

“I bet you still go back and read it.”

“Do not.”

“Also, I was only reading Bat woman. She’s a lesbian.”

She looked up sharply. “Wait, really? That’s a thing?”

“Yeah. There was this whole controversy where she couldn’t get married and everything.”

“So even Batwoman falls victim to homophobia? That’s depressing; I don’t wanna read that.”

“Anyway, Hoony’s cool and he gave me Batwoman to read for the lesbian content. That should show you what kind of guy he is.”

“Does he read mahwa?” she asked me, and I burst into laughter.

“You have zero room to judge now!”

“Shut up. Give me your foot; I’m giving you yellow toenails, too.”

I grinned down at her as she grabbed my foot and went to work. We sat in comfortable silence for a moment, and I shifted slightly on my bed and let out a soft sigh.

“So how do you feel about a laser tag rematch?” she proposed without warning.

I laughed, surprised. “Really?”

“What, don’t think I can beat you? We can do it just the two of us. One on one.”

“Uh huh. I would crush you.”

“We’ll see.” She winked at me. “We’ll go tomorrow.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah. I liked it. The whole place. I might go back there for my birthday in three weeks, too. You think they let people make reservations? Eh, I’ll ask Oppa next time I see him. He probably knows.”

“You’re having a party?” I forced myself to ask. “Do you know anyone else around here?”

She glared at me as though she was offended, but I could tell she didn’t mean it. “Well, I know your family and mine and I know Hoony. It can be small. Plus, can’t you totally see my dad getting into laser tag? He has a blast.”

“It could be fun,” I relented, mostly so she would change the subject again. “So maybe tomorrow you could come over after laser tag and stay the night. Dad mentioned leaving tomorrow to go somewhere with his girlfriend for the weekend.”

“Oh? Where?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.  “Well, whatever. I wasn’t paying attention when he mentioned it. It was while we were talking yesterday about your shopping trip with your mom.”

“Ha! That’s awkward. He didn’t see the bikini pics I sent, did he?”

“If he had, you would not be in here right now.”

“Maybe. He’s been letting you off the leash lately. I think my parents have been a good influence on him,” she teased. “He doesn’t look horrified when he sees us heading upstairs together anymore, at least.” She says

Jennie moved to sit next to me and carefully took my hand into hers, admiring my nails as she intertwined our fingers. Before she’d done my nails, she’d painted her own a deep pink color. “They’re cute.”

“Well, they are.”

---

Jennie went into the smoky maze before I did, laser gun in her hand and lights flashing from her vest.

“You have twenty minutes, your time b