A/N: Suggestive themes ahead, but nothing too explicit. (Also, there's YuYeon if you squint.)

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Shuhua knows that she should be studying for her quiz tomorrow.

But when a distraction comes in the form of Seo Soojin, lying across the brown leather couch with the softest sighs on the very edge of her lips, she thinks that maybe it can wait until later.

“Shu…”

Slender fingers, dainty and elegant with their painted long nails, curl into her hair before tugging gently as Soojin tilts her head back for a deeper angle. Another sweet sigh escapes her, light and weightless as stardust, and Shuhua greedily drinks it up in an open-mouthed kiss. The subtle taste of sweetened coffee still lingers on her tongue; their mugs sitting forgotten and cold on the round oakwood table next to them.

It takes all of Shuhua’s willpower to keep herself in control. To hold herself back from going beyond the point of no return and right into a completely different but sought-after territory, which they’ve steadily grown familiar with through similar… “engagements” in the past.

Because, let’s face it – the couch isn’t the most ideal place to do such deeds (or whatever this is quickly turning into). But compared to hiding behind a dusty bookshelf in the Religion section, they at least have more privacy within the closed walls of the Librarians’ lounge. Even if the slightly worn cushions do smell like old parchment and dried tea.

(It’s certainly better than being stared at by the Twelve Apostles on the latest cover issue of Didache, that’s for sure.)

How did they end up in this position? Shuhua doesn’t really know. And frankly, she doesn’t care either. Not when Soojin has her legs hooked around her hips, guiding Shuhua down on top of her by the fingers still stubbornly entangled in her mussed hair, as she brushes her ridiculously soft lips along the underside of Shuhua’s jaw. Trailing a few kisses on every inch of skin she can access while her girlfriend shudders, the action of which causes Soojin to smile. Pleased to know that only she could elicit such a reaction from the younger girl with just the right touch in the right places.

When Shuhua does finally pull back from her, flushed and audibly breathless, Soojin looks… well, sweet and inviting, and beautiful as ever from where she’s laid sprawled over the couch. Perhaps even sweeter and more exquisite with her flushed cheeks, as well as the smudge of lipstick on the corner of Soojin’s parted mouth.

.

Shuhua gulps at the smoldering look in those stunning fox-like eyes staring up at her with all the love and adoration rooted deep in Soojin’s heart. It gives the Taiwanese all sorts of ideas that have her head swimming, so she peels away from them before they can draw her back in. Her gaze diverts instead to the gorgeously long lashes, which flutter with every blink. Casting shadows across the older girl’s cheeks as they accentuate her feminine appeal.

Soojin then smiles at her. Warm and playful. “I think we’ve gotten a little carried away there.”

“Yeah? Well, it was your idea to take a break first, you know.” Shuhua grins, diving back in for one more chaste kiss before sitting up again. “Not that I was opposed to it.”

Soojin, on the other hand, makes no move to do the same. She remains splayed across the sunken cushions without a hint of her usual shyness. Even with Shuhua still poised very suggestively between her legs and her chiffon blouse hiked up to expose a sliver of taut skin over a flat stomach.

Shuhua forces herself to look elsewhere as heat rises up to the tips of her ears. Her jeans feel uncomfortably tight – and hot. Lord knows what would’ve happened if they went any further.

“The, uh, coffee’s gone cold now…” She tells her when nothing else comes to mind, and Soojin follows her line of sight to the abandoned mugs on the table.

“Oh. I’ll just make you a new one, then.” Soojin is about to get up, but Shuhua halts her with a hand on her knee.

“It’s fine, unnie. I’ll take care of it.”

She gives her a little squeeze before reluctantly disentangling herself from her girlfriend to bring their empty mugs over to the kitchen area tucked into the corner.

Shuhua has spent more time inside the Librarians’ lounge than in the actual library. It provides more solitude and encourages productive silence for her to do university work instead of having to deal with the hordes of students hogging all the tables just to play on their phones or boot up League on their laptops.

As she navigates her way around the kitchenette, clean and organized as always thanks to Soojin, Shuhua finds the tray where they keep their instant coffee. There’s also a huge jar of creamer, some sugar packets, plus a box of Minnie’s English Breakfast tea on the side. Unlike the rest of them, the Thai girl doesn’t drink coffee.

“You guys are almost out of coffee again.” Shuhua notes after filling their mugs for another batch and giving the electric kettle that small nudge it needs in order to work properly. “The short unnie isn’t gonna kill me, is she?”

Soojin laughs; gentle and soft as starlight. “You mean, Soyeon? I hardly doubt it. She’s very fond of you, actually.”

That is true. Soyeon, for all her seriousness and how intimidating she can be at times, doesn’t have a problem with Shuhua hanging out in the lounge room reserved only for the library employees. She would even spoil their maknae by buying her favorite snacks whenever Shuhua drops by to review or work on a paper for some of her classes. This unfortunately led to both Miyeon and Minnie complaining about not getting the same treatment to a very exasperated yet equally unbothered Jeon Soyeon.

(“You two get paid, Shuhua doesn’t. Go buy your own food.” Soyeon often told them, but she would ultimately cave in every once in a while if it meant shutting them up for the rest of the day. It’s hard to say no to the Puppy Sisters, after all.)

She looks like someone who’d probably murder me without blinking.” Shuhua jokes while waiting for the water to boil.

“Please. Even if she did hate your guts, it’s not like she can complain about you being here. After all, I’m not the only one who sneaks her girlfriend into the lounge sometimes.”

Shuhua an eyebrow. “Really? But Soyeon-unnie doesn’t seem like the type.”

“To have a girl kiss her from where she’s been pressed against the counter? Yeah, I thought so too.” Soojin’s smile is deceptively innocent. “Soyeon’s made-out with Yuqi plenty of times here already—though, I wouldn’t wanna imagine what else they might’ve done together when no one else is around. And honestly, I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

“Ah… So, that’s why she gets all happy whenever Yuqi comes by to visit.”

“Mhm, and they’re not the most inconspicuous about it either.”

Shuhua scratches her head. Thanks to Soojin, her hair is most likely a tangled mess in a few places. There’s not much she can do to properly fix it without a mirror and the customized brush Soojin had gifted her as a birthday gift last year (come to think of it, Shuhua must have left it somewhere on the floor of her dorm unit again), so she has to live with it for a while. A glaring evidence of what they’ve been up to for the past twenty minutes or so.

Eh. No big deal, she can worry about it later.

When the kettle goes off at last, it’s too loud and shrill for her ears. But Shuhua ignores it in favor of watching her girlfriend on the couch. Soojin pulls one of Shuhua’s philosophy textbooks onto her lap and flips through it, scanning the highlighted pages that are marked with lavender sticky notes.

Soojin must have sensed her staring, because she glances up for a brief moment to give the younger girl a sugar-sweet smile before going back to read the lesson module Shuhua had been reviewing earlier.

There’s something warm and fuzzy settling in the cavity of Shuhua’s chest, and she places a hand over it as if to calm her racing heart. A part of her wants to say them – all of those cheesy, embarrassing thoughts she’s been harboring for months since their first meeting; thoughts that she has carefully nurtured the more they spent time getting closer together, developing into something more sincere and heavy with the kind of sentiment unique to their special bond; the words she’s been longing to confess ever since she started dating the foxy librarian.

Shuhua can say it now, beneath the cover of the noisy kettle. But something tells her that Soojin already knows without her having to express them out loud. The older girl reads her like an open book, anyway.

Steam pours out from the kettle’s spout, a sign that the water has come to a boil, and it shuts off with a faint click.

“I think we’ve got enough study material to do a mock test. It can help you for your quiz tomorrow.” Soojin speaks up when Shuhua returns with their mugs. She sets them down on the table while making sure to avoid her scattered notes. If the coffee spills over them, she would probably – no, she will – cry.

“Are we back to studying again?” Shuhua asks once she takes her rightful spot beside Soojin on the couch.

“Isn’t that what you came here for?” Her girlfriend teases, eyes trained on the pages of Shuhua’s textbook with a smile gracing her lips.

The Taiwanese runs a hand slowly along the length of Soojin’s thigh. A silent invitation, or a hopeful request? “Well… I do have other plans in mind.”

Soojin’s smile grows wider. “I’m flattered, Shu,” She gingerly plucks Shuhua’s wandering hand off her leg, slides the textbook underneath it, and places it palm down on the marked page. “But I don’t want you failing your test.”

“Would it help if I say that you’re a good reason for me to fail?”

Shuhua puts on the most charming smile she can muster, except this is Seo Soojin she’s dealing with here. Being steadfast is one of her key qualities as a person.

“Flattered, really.”

Soojin pecks her on the lips but withdraws all-too-suddenly before Shuhua can even reciprocate.

“You’re a fast learner. We can continue those… activities, once you’re finished.” She taps a finger on the open page in front of them. “Consider it as a reward for a job well done.”

Oh, she likes the sound of that.

There’s the slightest hint of color dusting Soojin’s marshmallow cheeks, and Shuhua feels the desperate urge to kiss them. But instead, she holds herself back. She’ll have the opportunity to do that later.

“Alright, unnie.” Shuhua brings the textbook over to her lap, eager to get this done and over with if it meant hearing Soojin call out her name once more. “Tell me where to start.”