When Sana was in high school, her world was confined to the people she knew at school. It was only a narrow slice of the much bigger world, but Sana wasn't aware of that. To her seventeen year old self, high school felt like everything. The friends she hung out with, the reputation she had among her peers, it was honestly the most important thing in the world to Sana back then.

It's only when Sana steps out into the real world for the first time, as she stands alone--completely by herself--at her college orientation's social mixer event, that Sana realizes the world is truly big.

Sana takes a sip of her drink and leans against the wall. She spent 3 years of her high school life looking down on people who didn't fit into her crowd of popular kids. The nerds, the geeks, the theater kids, they were all beneath her in high school (especially the theater kids). But without any friends by her side at this unfamiliar college, Sana is now the one who doesn't fit in. She thinks this must be karma.

After ten minutes of looking around the room for a familiar or friendly face that she can strike up a conversation with, Sana feels like too much of an outsider here. She gives up and decides to leave. But apparently a swift exit is too much to ask for and Sana bumps into someone on her way out, her drink splashing down her arm in the process.

"Whoops, sorry," a very gentle voice says.

Sana doesn't bother to look up. "It's fine."

"...Sana?"

Sana looks up this time, surprised that there's someone here who knows her. She finds herself looking into a vaguely familiar, mole-spattered face. The girl's name escapes Sana for a moment as her mind gets caught between memories. Sana knows this person from high school, recalls working on a project with this girl before, a science project that resulted in a C+ much to Sana's delight and much to this girl's dismay. The girl in front of Sana was quite pretentious in the past, quite arrogant and stand-offish, and that project was the last time they ever spoke. Sana was a carefree cheerleader back then while this girl was an overly serious nerd... and then the name finally clicks into place.

"M-mina?" Sana responds hesitantly. She stares back at Mina in surprise even though Mina flashes her an easy grin, as though they're old friends instead of almost strangers.

"Hey, I didn't realize you were going to college here," Mina says. "Small world, huh?"

And Sana truly feels the meaning in Mina's words. Because out of all of the big name schools that the brilliant Myoui Mina was aiming for, it turns out family circumstances led her to come to this middle-tier college that none of Mina's other friends are attending. And Sana, who was originally planning to go to the escalator college* with her friends, ended up passing the entrance exams here and decided to challenge herself for once even though none of her friends were attending this college either.

[*Note: Escalator school systems include high school and college and don't require entrance exams, so it's easier to get into college if you stay within your escalator school system]

It's a conversation that lasts all of ten minutes, a short chat that has more pleasantries than meaningful conversation and includes Mina pouring Sana a fresh drink to make up for the one she spilled down Sana's arm. But it's a nice enough chat compared to the silence that Sana's endured most of the evening. And it comes with an unexpected twist:

"So... I know this is kind of sudden," Mina says as they're about to part ways, "but was I planning to sign up for a random dorm mate since none of my friends ended up going here. Any chance you wanna be roommates with me this year? Maybe go in on an off-campus apartment together...?"

It's an unexpected proposition for sure, but it's not altogether unwelcomed. Sana thinks about how she was also planning to take a random dorm mate, more due to lack of options than anything else. Given Mina and Sana's circumstances and the fact they don't know anyone else going to this college, becoming roommates makes sense. But really, how much does Sana know about Mina? What sets Mina apart from any other stranger aside from a smattering of distant high school memories that, if accurate, actually make Sana think she DOESN'T want to be Mina's roommate?

But something seems different now that they're not confined to high school walls, now that they're out in the world and they have no cliques standing around them and influencing their actions. Instead of the spiteful gossip and closed minded opinions whispering in Sana's ear, somehow all she can hear in her head is Mina's shy and lovely laugh, and she thinks being Mina's roommate couldn't possibly be that bad. Or maybe that was just the alcohol doing the thinking.

Whatever the reason, Sana finds herself nodding with a smile. "Sure, why the hell not?" Sana agrees, not realizing her entire world was about to change. One day Sana would look back on this moment and consider it fate that she and Mina ran into each other out of the blue and decided to become roommates. For now though, Sana simply thinks that it's a small world after all.

Sana moves into their tiny two bedroom apartment on a day where Mina's not around. The bigger pieces of furniture like her bed and dresser have already been delivered by the moving company, so today Sana is just carrying in a few small bags on her own.

To say that Sana is excited about the move is an understatement. It's the first time Sana has lived apart from her parents and the prospect of all this freedom is THRILLING. She still has some concerns and doubts about moving in with Mina, but not even that can dampen her spirits on moving day. Wielding her new set of keys, Sana unlocks the door and cheerfully says "tadaima" (I'm home) to no one.

Mina isn't due to arrive until tomorrow afternoon. This leaves Sana with the choice of bedrooms and deciding between whether she should greedily take the bigger master bedroom or if she should play nice and give it to Mina. Sure enough, she finds that the movers have left her mattress and bed frame crammed alongside Mina's in their tiny living room. Part of her was hoping that the movers would've made the decision by throwing her furniture into one of the two bedrooms, but no such luck.

Still mulling over the choice, Sana decides to at least put her bags down and heads to the empty kitchen to unload her arms. It's there that Sana finds a blue piece of stationary on the counter covered in neat, loopy script. It sits under a small piece of dark chocolate trying to act as a paper weight. The first thing that makes Sana smile is the "okaeri" that starts Mina's note, the "welcome home" to complement Sana's earlier "tadaima". The second thing that makes Sana smile is the note very pointedly telling Sana to take the bigger bedroom as Mina expects to spend a lot of time in the school's science lab and therefore won't have time to enjoy the bigger room anyway.

Sana thinks it's uncharacteristically kind of Mina--not that she knew Mina's personality very well to begin with. It makes her question again all the things she thinks she knows about Mina from high school. Sana can vaguely remember a very pretentious Mina with overlong bangs that covered her eyes as she clung onto her equally nerdy boyfriend's arm. Girl genius, overachiever, stuck up to the extreme. But oddly enough, none of her vague memories of Mina seem to align with any of the recent interactions she's had with the girl since their whirlwind roommate plans were hatched two weeks ago...

Sana continues to read Mina's note and finds the third and final thing that makes her smile: there's a doodle of a happy penguin at the bottom of the note with a speech bubble that says, "thanks for saving me from the hell of living with a random stranger!"

It's a feeling that Sana is intimately familiar with. Grinning widely, she drags her bags to the bigger bedroom and unpacks until she finds a box of her favorite sweets. Sana takes out a pen and scribbles a note on the back of Mina's.

"Okaeri! Thanks for saving me too, roomie!" She adds a smiley face at the bottom and then leaves a piece of her favorite mint chocolate on top of the note for Mina.

They aren't friends in the slightest. They're barely even roommates at this point, but Sana finds herself looking forward to getting to know Mina a little better.

They aren't a perfect match as roommates. Mina is quiet while Sana is loud. Mina keeps her belongings neat while Sana... Sana at least makes sure Mina doesn't trip over her things. They don't even have similar hobbies, but that's OK. They still manage to carve out conversations in the spaces where their interests do overlap, and the friendship only seems to grow from there.

Music is one place where they seem to speak the same language. Sana may not understand Mina's obsession with video games and Mina has no idea why Sana's scent addiction has her sniffing everything in sight, but they at least understand that Twice music is awesome and the choreography is addictive. It's more or less how they really break the ice as roommates.

It's late on a Thursday night and Sana feels utterly restless after a long day of classes. Mina's stuck in the lab extra late tonight and Sana has the urge to just be loud. She takes advantage of Mina's absence by cranking up the music on her phone in the living room. She's in the middle of dancing along to Twice's "Knock Knock" to work out her stress, the music flowing through the apartment and pounding through her veins, when she turns around to find Mina staring at her. The younger girl has clearly just entered the apartment, her arms still loaded with her bag and a stack of books, and Sana feels extremely shy to be caught dancing to a k-pop song. She's on the verge of apologizing for making such a racket in their shared living space when Mina suddenly drops everything she's holding and jumps into the "Knock Knock" choreography without missing a beat.

It's such a rush for Sana to witness Mina hitting every cutesy move with utmost precision. Prissy model student Myoui Mina bothered to memorize k-pop dance routines. Sana's sure her jaw drops far enough that it hits the floor in surprise. But then Mina smirks at her, silently asking Sana if she's just gonna stare or if she's gonna dance, so Sana snaps back into the choreography with her own smirk, as though she's not gonna be shown up by Mina or anyone else when it comes to Twice.

"I can't believe you know all their choreography," Mina laughs incredulously four Twice songs later when they're both out of breath and they've both proven that they're die-hard Twice fans.

Sana returns the breathless laugh. "Right back at you! I didn't know you could dance like that! You're totally not the stick in the mud I thought you were."

Oops. Sana winces as she accidentally lets her incorrect impression of Mina from their high school days slip out, and rather rudely at that.

"I'm so sorry!! I didn't mean tha--"

Mina laughs heartily at the comment, surprising Sana further still with her bubbly laughter. "It's OK, Sana. I honestly don't mind. If it makes you feel any better, it was only recently that I realized you aren't an airhead like I thought you were."

The comment catches Sana off guard and it stings just a touch, but Sana knows she deserves it. They both smile wryly but sincerely at each other, completely exhausted and mutually agreeing to fully let go of their high school impressions of each other. From then on, these mini Twice dance parties become a regular thing for them, a roommate activity that Sana finds herself genuinely looking forward to doing with Mina.

It's amazing how a little more time spent together makes a world of difference in their relationship as roommates and friends. Mina's late night lab class disappears after the first half of the semester and they fall into the habit of eating dinner together whenever they're both home at the same time, which is often these days. Sana finds Mina to be a little guarded with revealing personal details about herself at first, which in turn makes it a little hard for Sana to open her heart up to Mina. It also doesn't help that Mina's rather intense as a person. There's something about Mina's focused gaze and naturally quiet persona that makes her feel intimidating.

But Sana slowly learns that behind Mina's seemingly icy exterior is a shy person who adores dogs, loves Legos, and is obsessed with first person shooters. Mina's also infinitely kind and full of consideration, something Sana never would've guessed prior to them becoming roommates.

Sana first discovers the depth of Mina's warmth on a particularly bad night where Sana somehow managed to forget to turn in a homework assignment in one class, flunked a quiz in another, and made a fool of herself while answering a lecture question earlier in the day. She's visibly upset when Mina returns to the apartment later that evening, and Mina is quick to come over and ask Sana what's wrong.

"It's nothing," Sana lies, her thoughts still clouded and fixated on the mistakes she's been making all day. It's hard for Sana to let go of her self-doubts when the mistakes pile up, but she doesn't want to burden Mina with her negative attitude. So she smiles and pretends everything is OK before excusing herself for a long bath.

"Let's order something delicious for dinner when you're done," Mina suggests kindly, and Sana manages a real smile this time knowing that Mina is trying to cheer her up. "Just enjoy your bath, OK?" The older girl nods and heads to the bathroom.

It's no secret that Sana loves baths. A long, hot soak in the tub can work wonders on her mood, so she settles in for an hour-long bath that has her feeling mostly better when she's done. But it turns out that there are things in life much more capable at cheering Sana up than a good bath, things like finding that your roommate has ordered three of your absolute favorite entrees from three different restaurants and is carefully plating up dinner for you when you get out of said bath.

"Dinner is served, ojou-sama," Mina jokingly announces with a flourish of her hand once Sana enters the kitchen.

Sana stares back at Mina, a little more than surprised by the gesture. Normally they each just order their own meal and eat together. They've never really surprise-ordered for each other before, and never as extravagantly as this. "I thought you were going to wait until I was done to order? You didn't have to do this for me--and you don't even LIKE malatang!" Sana exclaims, noticing exactly what Mina's ordered for them for dinner.

"But you do," Mina says simply with a smile.

The gesture is heart-warming. It's touching and kind and a million other happy emotions that make Sana instantly forget her bad day. She and Mina don't really do hugs--not yet, anyway--but she can't help but cross the room and throw her arms around Mina's neck in a grateful hug. "Thank you. You're the sweetest person ever for ordering all of my favorite foods like this," Sana says sincerely. She reaches for her phone and opens the app they use to pay each other back when they share orders at the same takeout place. "What do I owe you?"

"Nothing," Mina replies easily. "You looked like you needed to be cheered up tonight and I just wanted to make you smile."

"But--" Sana begins. She feels bad having Mina go to the trouble of paying for her when they're both college students who definitely aren't made out of money.

"But nothing. Let me take care of you for once."

Mina's words, along with her soft smile, send a happy shiver down Sana's spine. They aren't huggers, but Mina wraps her arms around Sana's shoulders anyway, adding another layer of warmth on top of the feelings already welling up deep in Sana's chest. It's this precise moment that allows Sana to see exactly how kind Mina really is. She burrows into Mina's warm hug for a few moments longer, feeling very comforted and safe.

From then on it becomes effortless for Sana to open her heart up to Mina, just as easy and effortless as it is for Sana to start to fall in love with her.

It's the little things Mina does that creep up on Sana's heart slowly. It's the attentiveness, the consideration, the outright chivalry in Mina's actions. Just the other night, when they went on a late night snack run together, Sana tripped and nearly fell over in the darkness on their way back from the corner convenience store. Mina immediately took the bag that Sana was holding and then intertwined her free hand into Sana's, leading the older girl along gently until they reached their apartment without another mishap. Sana had blushed something fierce the whole way back, her hand safely encompassed by Mina's, not yet realizing that there was another emotion fueling her feverish blush than merely being embarrassed at having tripped.

Sana also occasionally finds herself coming home to surprise gifts from her roommate lately. It's never anything too extravagant--a scented candle or a bottle of her favorite shampoo in a new fragrance--but it surprises her that Mina always remembers and buys any items Sana ever mentions in passing.

"I just wanted to see you smile," Mina says whenever she hands Sana a present, perhaps not realizing the subtle effect that each gift was having on Sana's ever-growing heart. And Sana, not to be outdone by Mina's kindness, also goes out of her way to buy little presents that Mina would like. It becomes a gift battle of sorts and Sana enjoys the fight immensely. She doesn't really know what it means, but it just makes her heart swell in an odd but really good way whenever Mina's eyes crinkle with delight and her face lights up with a beautiful, gummy smile.

It's not until almost the end of their first semester as roommates that Sana finally figures it out. Sana's been studying really hard these days and stays up late in the living room to prepare for next week's finals. She's accidentally fallen asleep on the sofa a few times during these grueling study sessions, each time waking up under a warm blanket that could only have been draped over her by Mina. But then one night, unexpectedly, Sana wakes up on the sofa with her head resting on something warm and soft. It takes Sana a few moments to realize where she is--that her cheek is literally resting on Mina's bare thigh and that Mina is her hair gently. Sana almost has a heart attack then and there from how high her heart rate suddenly skyrockets.

"W-what's going on?" Sana asks, lifting her head quickly from the warm lap pillow beneath her cheek. She goes from groggy to fully alert in the span of three seconds.

Mina, on the other hand, is calm and collected when she looks up from her book. "Nothing," Mina replies casually, as though having Sana sleeping on her lap was an everyday occurrence. "You just looked so peaceful that I didn't wanna wake you."

She coaxes Sana to lie back down on her lap for a few moments longer and resumes Sana's hair. But Sana can't relax. Her cheeks feel hot. Her palms are sweaty. Her heart is fluttering--wait, fluttering?

Sana pauses.

And then the realization comes crashing down on her.

"Sana? Are you OK?" Mina asks gently.

Sana swallows and tries to keep her voice steady even though her heart is anything but. "Y-yeah," Sana says. "I'm OK."

But she isn't OK. Not really. Sana has a big fat crush on her roommate and she knows that she's in trouble.

Sana finds it impossible to think about anything else but her inappropriate crush on her likely straight roommate now that her brain has realized what that swooping feeling in her stomach is every time Mina walks into the room. It's distracting because Sana second guesses every one of her own actions and thoughts now, like whether or not it's OK to hold Mina's hand like they usually do when they go shopping, or whether she's staring at Mina too much lately when the younger girl isn't looking.

Sana acknowledges that Mina is SMOKING hot. This was true long before Sana developed this goddamn crush, back when Mina was just her roommate and they barely knew a thing about each other except for the