A/N:If you've forgotten parts of this story and needed to freshen up your memory, I'm with you. I did the same thing. Anyway, after eight months, here we go. Enjoy!

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The chemistry laboratory, Taeyeon recently realized, was actually a pretty amazing place once she started spending more than five minutes in it. Who knew she’d learn so much from just one classroom? Or rather from one person, a younger student whose IQ was probably twenty times higher than hers and Yuri’s combined.

That was the level of prodigy Seo Juhyun was.

And Taeyeon was starting to find out that there was much more than meets the eye when it came to this young engineer. The cop just never knew what to expect whenever she entered the laboratory. One day Juhyun was doing normal chemistry experiments, other times she’d catch the younger girl laying out hundreds of dominos along the floor to the tables, chairs and even the cabinets— It’s a physics thing, unnie.

Today wasn’t different from the other times Taeyeon decided to pay her favorite mad scientist dongsaeng a visit.

“Hey, Juhyun?” Taeyeon called out. Juhyun just hummed in response, not even looking away from her task. “What did you say your major was again?”

“Chemical engineering, unnie,” the junior said as she pulled out another tool Taeyeon didn’t recognize from a case on the aluminum table they were currently perched at for the past half hour.

“Right, that’s what I thought.” Taeyeon was quietly observing the way Juhyun was tweaking with a bunch of two-way radios. A couple of phones were also on the table, opened like they were up for an electrical surgery. “So you’re not in robotics or electrical engineering, right?”

“Oh.” Juhyun finally paused her work and met Taeyeon’s eyes. “Are you referring to this?”

Taeyeon nodded before curiously peering over the ongoing electrical debauchery once more. She may not know much about Juhyun’s major but she was pretty sure chemical engineering students didn’t deal with stuff like… this— or physics experiments, not even biological warfare study, but you get the point.

“It’s just a hobby of mine, unnie,” Juhyun explained with a light laugh afterwards at Taeyeon’s astonished expression. “So if you need anything jailbreaked, a Netflix account without paying, just ask me.” She shrugged like it wasn’t that much of a difficult task.

Taeyeon had the strongest urge to clap her hands together so that was exactly what she did. How could she not when she had the pleasure to meet the smartest kid of the generation? And who knew what else Juhyun had up her sleeve? The possibilities were endless and Taeyeon was simply amazed by the younger girl sitting in front of her.

“Oh . You’re really cool,” Taeyeon praised.

“I know,” Juhyun shrugged coolly.

“And very humble too, I see.”

Juhyun chuckled, Taeyeon laughing along with her. Right at that moment, an idea hit Taeyeon so suddenly that her face visibly lit up at the thought.

“What is it,” Juhyun easily picked up on Taeyeon’s excitement. “I know that face, it’s the one you make when you think that you just came up with the most revolutionary discovery ever— but no, unnie. We are not going to attempt another mentos and cola rocket jet experiment.”

Taeyeon was rendered speechless, opened and closed like a fish. Okay, so maybe her ideas weren’t all that… well-thought about. She flashbacked to the explosion of carbonated liquid that wasn’t as pleasant when they had to clean up the whole mess that was once the chemistry laboratory afterwards.

“Okay, first of all. That was not what I was going to pitch to you,” Taeyeon emphasized. “Second of all, I swear that one day, I will create the perfect mentos-cola rocket jetpack ever. Chicken Little is never wrong, okay?”

“Sure, unnie,” Juhyun deadpanned. “But maybe you should just stick to being an officer of the law and leave the science thing to me.”

Taeyeon groaned. It was useless to keep denying her undercover identity when she was faced with a genius who could see through her act all too easily— Unnie, you literally knocked the laboratory door, which was a sliding door by the way, down like you were in a drug raid when we first met.

But Taeyeon didn’t mind. She’d come to trust Juhyun a lot already that she was pretty sure her secret identity was in good hands.

“Speaking of the law, that was what I was going to talk to you about,” Taeyeon redirected them back.

“Oh, why didn’t you just say so?”

Taeyeon had an urge to groan but held it back and focused on her brilliant plan.

“Do you maybe know how to tap phones?” Taeyeon fidgeted under Juhyun’s glare. “Or a… I don’t know, a whole sorority house maybe?”

Juhyun just continued to give her a look without saying anything. Her eyebrow still cocked.

“Right, I shouldn’t have asked. I—“

“Can I?” Juhyun cut her off, her tone laced with disbelief. “Thinking I can’t is an insult to my vast variety of skills, unnie.”

Taeyeon let out a mix of a scoff and a laugh. She shook her head. This girl was truly something else.

“Okay, okay. My bad.” She chuckled at Juhyun’s satisfied nod. “But you should really work harder on being humble, Juhyun-ah.”

Juhyun grimaced but indignantly agreed anyway. Taeyeon laughed even more before patting the younger girl’s head gently, making Juhyun smile bashfully.

“Come on,” Juhyun abruptly stood up. “Let’s go to the convenience store.”

“Wha-“ Taeyeon didn’t get to finish her sentence and gets dragged up as Juhyun loops their arms together. “What are we gonna do there?”

“To buy a pack of mentos and cola of course,” Juhyun grinned brightly at her.

Taeyeon instantly felt an energy boost at the implication of Juhyun’s words.

“Yes! To the convenience store!” It was Taeyeon who dragged the younger girl out of the lab this time.

--

Kim Taeyeon has faced almost everything her whole life now. Disappointed family members who didn’t approve of her decisions? Check. Demeaning police academy professors who didn’t believe Taeyeon could make it in the field? Done— and proven wrong by the way. A science genius who argued against her mentos and cola theory? Okay maybe she was still working on that one.

But back to her point, Taeyeon’s even gone through a major drug overdose and still lived through it (even the consequences). So of course she thought nothing else could ever shake her up anymore.

That is, until Jessica Jung happened.

“Oh for god’s sake Taeyeon,” Yuri called out from where she sat on the bed reading a familiar looking book but Taeyeon couldn’t focus much on it just yet. “Calm down and take a damn seat.”

Taeyeon scoffed. “Like you’re one to talk, Yuri-ah.”

“Shut up,” Yuri whined and pouted cutely— well as cute as one could be when they were a Kwon Yuri.

Suddenly feeling exhausted from all the worrying and anxiety, Taeyeon’s body slumped down next to her partner, her back against the wall. Yuri chuckled before pulling Taeyeon to lean on her shoulder and gently patted her head. Her best friend truly knew how to calm her down the best.

“I don’t even know why I’m so nervous about this. It’s far from my first date and yet... here I am.”

“I think I know why,” Yuri tentatively said, Taeyeon humming for her to continue. “I think this is the first date that actually matters to you.”

“Huh…” The statement somehow made all the cogs in Taeyeon’s brain start working again. “I never thought of it that way. I actually think you’re right.”

Yuri chuckled at the contemplative look on Taeyeon. “Of course I’m right. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to Penal Codes, but I’m a major in the Behavioral Science of Kim Taeyeon.”

Taeyeon whistled in awe. “Wow, that was probably the smartest thing I’ve ever heard from you. Consider me very impressed.”

The younger girl shoved Taeyeon’s shoulder. “Ha-Ha. You’re still not funny, Taeyeon.”

She wouldn’t admit it just yet but Taeyeon already felt better. Yuri’s attempt at improving her mood definitely worked and she was silently grateful. But one look at Yuri and she knew there was no need for any verbal expression.

“Thanks,” she still said anyway.

The pleasantly surprised look from Yuri didn’t go unnoticed.

“Anytime, Taeng.”

The blonde adjusted her position, leaning more comfortably on Yuri's shoulder. Her best friend chuckled at the puppy-like action.

"Comfortable, are we?"

Taeyeon almost purred in satisfaction. "Definitely. Go ahead and continue what you were reading. Don't mind me."

"Alright," Yuri conceded and opened the book to the page where she left off.

Taeyeon couldn't help but crack an eye open to take a peek at the book's title. It was rare enough to find Yuri actually reading anything other than a comic book. To Taeyeon's surprise, it wasn't exactly a book— it was actually a manual on football.

The other girl felt Taeyeon's curious gaze and answered her silent question even before Taeyeon could ask. "Sooyoung appointed me as the interim team captain this week. Apparently, the girl was going to be busy with a project."

"Oh," Taeyeon tried to find the right words despite the qualm she felt stirring inside. "That's actually really great, Yul! If there was anyone else I could trust to lead our team, it would definitely be you."

The praise made Yuri duck her head with a bashful smile. "Thanks, Tae. I really, really don't want to screw this up."

It made Taeyeon wonder if Yuri was only talking about football. She forcefully squashed down her growing doubts. Yuri needed her supportive best friend, and Taeyeon was going to be exactly that.

"You won't, Yuri-ah. You're so much more than what you give yourself credit for."

"I think you're right," Yuri wrapped her arm around Taeyeon's shoulders. "And I'm definitely going to do my ing best."

Taeyeon chuckled and leaned on the other girl once more.

"That's my Yuri."

--

For the first time in Taeyeon’s dating life, she actually planned a date with complete passion and sincerity. Working out every single detail down to a T.

The date was so important to her that she even asked for help from the one person at campus who annoyed her the most. But Taeyeon couldn’t exactly complain when Tiffany gave her all the important tips and points on one Jessica Jung. In return, Taeyeon finally allowed the loud girl to keep calling her with that ridiculous nickname. Not that Tiffany needed the permission to anyway, but she somehow understood it as an invitation to a budding friendship and was welcomed with a dazzling eye-smile or two.

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