----- Mid-December -----

Irene is lying in bed, curled underneath her blanket when she feels something poke her back. She tries to ignore it, but the feeling persists. She groans out in annoyance before pulling the covers down up to the bridge of her nose and she shifts her eyes to the side.

Jennie stands with her wand in her hand, "It's time to get up, Rene."

"I don't want to," Irene whines before emersing herself in darkness again. She hears Jennie sigh and eventually leave the room, presumably to go eat breakfast.

She knows that she should probably go eat as well, but if she does, she'll have to go see her. It's what she finds herself dreading every morning now. She saw that stupid line and now she doesn't know how to feel or how to function around her when it's just the two of them.

She shouldn't be struggling though. She signed up for this with boundaries in place, with set in stone feelings about the other girl. Feelings that shouldn't go any farther than necessary. Whatever she's feeling now, she's sure they'll go away soon. She tells herself that as long as she continues to act normal with Wendy and spend more time with her, she'll eventually remember why she didn't like the girl in the first place.

Or maybe, with Winter break coming up, the time they will spend apart will do the trick. It is that hope that has been getting her out of bed every morning.

Just gotta last for a few more weeks and I'll never have to deal with that transfer and whatever I'm feeling about her ever again. 

She lets out one final deep breath before sitting up and stretching her arms in the air. She gets ready and looks at herself in the mirror as she tightens her tie.

Show time.

-----

Typically, Wendy would greet Irene every morning with a peck on the cheek and then they'd eat breakfast together. But to her surprise, Wendy was nowhere to be seen, not that Irene was looking for her. It's just that she's already grown used to their mini routine so it threw her off when the soft warmth on her cheek never came.

She should feel relieved, right?

She looked around for Joy and Jennie, but it looked like they had already finished so it seemed that she'd be spending her morning alone.

In the past she'd never have to eat alone because if her friends weren't around, someone would always take their shot and talk to her. But now less people have been doing so because she now has a 'girlfriend.' The plan was truly taking an effect. Isn't that a good thing?

A part of her misses the never-ending attention, but at the same time, she doesn't mind having time to herself too. As long as she knows that she's still the center of attention despite the lack of in-person interaction, she's quite happy. 

As she started picking at the scrambled eggs on her plate, she felt a presence at her side.

"This seat taken?"

Before Irene has the chance to answer, the person had already sat down next to her. A bit too closely in fact, so she scoots to the side a bit before looking at the person. 

"Aw come on, I'm sure Wendy won't mind us sitting together," Suho says as he tries to sit closer.

Irene scoffs to herself before gently placing her fork down. She faces Suho and puts on a believable, yet very fake smile. She speaks as polite as possible, "Wendy may not, but I definitely do."

Suho smirks deviously as if he heard exactly what he wanted, "Oh, 'Wendy may not,' huh? Guess she's not as serious about you as I would be."

Crap. He twisted my words.

"You're wrong. Wendy's very serious about me and our relationship."

"Really? How serious exactly?" Suho challenges.

I've got to think of something fast. What's an indicator that a relationship is getting serious? Think!

"It's because she's packing!" Irene says in a rush. "We're...We're meeting each other's parents during Winter break."

That seemed to have made Suho shut his mouth. For a second, Irene was even surprised at her own words too. However, she quickly realized that it wasn't like she actually had to meet Wendy's parents anyways (although the thought of doing so made her shiver). She just had to say it to make it seem like her and Wendy were going strong.

"Please tell me you're joking-"

"She's not," Irene turns at the familiar, yet strangely comforting voice that had cut Suho off and sees Wendy now standing behind them.

"Good morning, baby," the newly arrived Ravenclaw says, leaning down to kiss Irene on the forehead for a change before forcing herself to sit in-between Suho and her girlfriend. "Sorry for running a bit late."

Irene holds in her laugh as she watches Suho get uncomfortably shoved to the side. Then, she feels Wendy intertwine their hands with ease and place it on top of the table for everyone to see. Afterwards, Wendy turns to look at Suho, "But yeah, I'm meeting her family for Christmas and she's meeting mine for New Year's actually. You got any plans for break?"

Suho just stands up from his seat in response, grumbling words as he walks away.

Once the boy was out of earshot, Irene speaks up, "Good job for picking up on that. He was questioning us and I had to make him think that our relationship was really solid. Can you imagine if I actually had to meet your parents? As if," Irene laughs a bit awkwardly.

After taking another bite of her eggs, she realized how unusually quiet Wendy was, "What? Is there something in my teeth?"

"No... but-uh," Wendy rubs the back of her neck, "What if... What if I actually want you to meet my parents?"

"W-what?!" Irene nearly chokes.

"I'm sorry to spring this on you, it's just I kind of told them I was dating someone because I wanted them to stop bugging me about relationships. But it looks like it backfired because now they've been begging for me to let them meet my quote 'special person,'-their words not mine-and their nagging has been nonstop. If it makes it any better, you wouldn't have to give a good impression either since our deal will be ending after break, so there's no real pressure. But, you don't have to, of course."

She should say no. That was the obvious answer. There's no way she'd really go meet Wendy's family, right? Their 'relationship' was just for school and not anything outside of that. So, her answer should be no.

Say no. Say. No. Say no!

Yet, she finds herself not saying that very word outloud. Why? Oh, she knows why and she hates herself for it.

"On one condition, if I have to meet yours, you have to meet mine. That's only fair," Irene blurts out and just as the words left , she wanted to slap herself. How had she let those words escape?!

She sees Wendy visibly gulp at the requirement, but then soon composes herself, "Deal."

-----

"You're meeting her parents?!" Joy exclaims while Jennie's jaw drops at the reveal.

Irene was lying face down on her bed ashamed of herself. All she had to do was say one word. Two letters. But no, she says a compromise instead. 

"I'm an idiot aren't I?" Irene whines.

"Just don't overthink it, Rene," Jennie tries, she heads over to Irene's bed and pats her on the back. "I was a nervous wreck when I had to meet Jisoo's family, but it actually wasn't that bad. Honestly, Wendy should be the nervous one considering that you've never brought anyone home to meet your parents except for us."

This does bring her some comfort knowing that the Ravenclaw must be having a hard time with this too. She guesses she'll just have to wait and see what will happen. Hopefully, something will happen that will make her feelings about Wendy clear. And hopefully, in the way she wants it to.

So much for spending time apart during break. 

----- At the Bae Residence: Night of Dec. 21 -----

In terms of the order on who will meet who first, they ended up going with Wendy's initial suggestion of the Bae's for Christmas and then the Son's for New Year's. Hence the reason why the couple were currently standing outside the entrance of Irene's house with their suitcases in hand and the sun setting.

Now, the trip to her house was quite the journey to say the least because the two had bickered like an old married couple.

First, it was which compartment would they sit in? Irene preferred the front while Wendy preferred the back (with Irene eventually winning). Then, Wendy slightly shorter height by putting Irene's suitcase at a higher shelf and then not helping to bring it back down for a couple minutes. Next, Irene refused to link arms with Wendy despite the numerous warnings that she was going to fall on the slippery ice... which she did. And Wendy wouldn't stop laughing at her. That only irritated her more so when Wendy offered her hand to help her up, she tugged on it to cause the Ravenclaw to wind up on the ground as well.

Which leads them to where they are now, in front of the Bae residence, refusing to glance at each other in annoyance. Before Irene presses the doorbell, she puts on a fake smile but talks through gritted teeth, "Smile, Wendy."

The other girl gives her a smirk and rings the doorbell.

"My baby is home! Sweetie, our daughter is here!" Irene's mom yells before pulling Irene into a bone-crushing hug.

"Hi, mom!" Irene says just as excitedly.

Once apart, the older woman glances to the side and is taken back a bit at the realization of Wendy's presence, but then soon smiles, "And she's not alone!"

Wendy does a polite bow with a shy, "Hello ma'am," and Irene's mom only chuckles. 

"There's no need to do that, dear," the woman says with a soft smile. "Let's get you two inside. Your dad was just finishing up cooking dinner so you came just in time!"

She ushers the pair in the house and they drop their suitcases at the entrance, take off their snowy shoes and head into the living room. Irene leads the other girl to one of the nearby couches and they sit next to each other awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. Thankfully, her mom fills in the silence.

"Honey, come in here! Irene has someone that she needs to introduce to us," her mom says enthusiastically. It was as if she was ready to jump out of her seat.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," a deeper voice calls out from the kitchen before appearing in front of the three of them.

Suddenly, she feels Wendy stiffen beside her before standing straight up from the couch, giving another bow and greeting. Irene snickered at the girl's action and to her surprise, so did her dad.

"Ooo, I like this one," he laughs as he sits next to his wife on another couch.

Once Wendy sits back down as well, Irene speaks up, "So-um, this is Wendy. She just transferred to Hogwarts this year and is a 7th year like me."

She takes a brief pause as she prepares for what will happen next once she adds one more crucial detail. She grabs Wendy's hand and intertwines it with hers to the surprise of the other girl, "And she's my girlfriend."

The living room was silent for a couple seconds and she unconsciously squeezes Wendy's hand in nervousness as she sees her parents share a glance. Then, she watches in anticipation as her dad makes his way to stand in front of Wendy, prompting said girl to stand as well. Her dad and her 'girlfriend' have a short stare down, his face blank. Irene prepares herself for the worst as she's unsure of how her dad or her mom will react considering they'd never gone through such a scenario in the past due to her pickiness.

But then her dad breaks into a smile and holds his hand out, "It's a pleasure to have you here, Wendy! I'm happy to know someone's taking care of my girl at school."

Huh.

She sees Wendy visibly relax before shaking the man's hand and return his smile with a new found sense of confidence, "Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet the people who raised such an amazing girl, Mr. Bae." 

"Trying to flatter the old man, huh? She's even got a firm handshake," he chuckles before looking at his daughter. He sends Irene a wink then addresses them all, "Now that we've all met, if you girls don't mind setting the table, I'll go get the food!"

Irene becomes dumbfounded, now looking at her mom to see what she thinks and the woman just gives her an approving smile before heading to the dining room.

--

Irene and Wendy were on one side of the table with her parents on the other. Irene's speechless as she watches how effortless Wendy and her parents get along during dinner. It's as if Wendy was never nervous to meet her family. Instead, she cracked jokes and completely charmed her parents.

"You're a Ravenclaw? So am I!" Irene's mom exclaims happily. "You know, Irene's dad is a Slytherin too. That means the score is finally even. Those two and their Slytherin pride... they never let me hear the end of it. When they say Slytherin's are supposed to be the prideful ones, they're not wrong."

"I can attest to that, Mrs. Bae! Irene always talks about how great her and her Slytherins were when they beat us for the first match," Wendy looks to her with a grin which Irene quickly annoying. "But then she barely talked to me for days when we won our rematch, isn't that right babe?"

Irene stays silent, but her mom bursts into laughter.

"Her dad was the same exact way back in the day!" the older woman smiles fondly at the memories, then looks to her family. "Aw, look at my babies, I think we made them upset," she says, yet she's holding back laughter.

The two Slytherins were donning scowls at the teasing.

"See? Having another Ravenclaw around makes it more fun for me now," her mother says with glee. Then, she covers  away from her husband and daughter so only Wendy could see and seems to whisper to her before nodding at each other.

Irene furrows her brows at the sight, but then she sees her mom turn towards her dad and kiss him on the cheek. His scowl now disappearing after the affection. She turns to look at Wendy to try and ask what her mom had said when suddenly she felt a pair of lips on hers. Each of them pull away in an instant realizing what had just happened. Based on Wendy's surprise as well, she figures that the other girl was supposed to kiss her cheek just like what her mom did with her dad instead of on the lips.

Within seconds, her cheeks turn red at the accidental kiss and avoids eye contact with her parents and Wendy, "I'm getting a bit tired. I'm going to head to bed."

--

Irene lies in bed, questioning her existence when she hears her door open. She looks to see who the intruder is and is surprised to see Wendy standing there in her pajamas awkwardly, as if waiting for permission to come in.

"What are you doing here?" Irene whispers.

"Your mom told me that I'll be sleeping in your room. Believe me, I would've rather have slept anywhere else."

Irene couldn't believe it. Aren't parents supposed to be against their child and their girl/boyfriend staying in the same room? She groans knowing that she'll have no choice but to let Wendy in. Her parents would be mad if she forced the taller girl to sleep on the couch.

"Fine. But you're sleeping on the floor," she says as she gets up to grab a spare blanket to spread out on the floor. Then, she hands Wendy a pillow before plopping back on her bed. She hears Wendy put her suitcase down before moving to lie down on the floor and all the while the two don't say anything else to each other. There was still tension between them because of what had happened on their way here as well as their accidental kiss not too long ago.

As a few more minutes of silence pass, Irene tries to fall asleep but then she hears an irritating noise.

"Irene," the other girl whispers.

Ignore her.

"Irene... Irene... Bae... Irrreeeennnee...Baby-"

"What!?!" Irene finally responds in annoyance.

"I'm cold."

"And I care because?"

"The bed will be warmer."

Irene scoffs once she realizes what the girl was implying, "In your dreams."

"Can't have dreams if I can't sleep," Wendy says and Irene can already imagine the cocky smile on the Ravenclaw's face. "If you were down here you'd understand. So can I?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?... Irene?... Irene?... Oh my god, did you die? Are you alive?!"

"Get on the bed and stop talking!"

She hears a small "Yay," and feels her bed dip which prompts her to scoot towards one end of the bed. 

"Just stay on your side," Irene says blankly before turning to her side to face away from the girl.

"Irene."

"What now?" she huffs out.

"Why did you tell your parents that I'm your girlfriend? Clearly you didn't tell them that I was coming so you easily could've said that I was a friend."

Now that she thinks about it, she didn't have to. So, why did she? Maybe she was hoping that her parents would disapprove. Not because Wendy was a girl, they already knew of Irene's uality and were completely supportive of her. But she wanted, no, she needed another reason to distance herself from Wendy.

She doesn't say that to her though of course, instead she says, "You're not the only one with nagging parents, okay?"

Then, the room goes silent for the second time.

"Okay, but one last thing, I promise."

"Wendy, I swear-"

"People says it's never good to go to bed angry," Wendy cuts her off, "and you haven't apologized yet-"

That makes Irene turn in bed to face her, "Excuse me?!"

The Ravenclaw turns to look at her as well, "You pulled me down onto the ice!"

"Because you deserved it for the suitcase teasing and you laughed at me when I fell! So you should be the one to say sorry first."

"Just apologize quick so we can go to bed in peace. We don't want the rest of this trip to be awkward, don't we?"

They look at each other silently, waiting to see what the other will do. She isn't sure just how long it's been, but the longer she looks into Wendy's eyes, the more she knows that she should pull away or else something that shouldn't happen will happen. 

So with a heavy sigh, she grumbles a "Sorry," under her breath and in an instant, Wendy sends her an eye-crinkling smile. At the sight, Irene groans and faces the other way yet again. 

"I'm sorry too," she hears Wendy whisper behind her. "Good night."

And with that, the two remain quiet and start to fall asleep.

----- Dec. 22 -----

Warm.

That's how Irene feels when she starts to wake up. If she could, she'd stay like this forever with how comfortable she is. She keeps her eyes shut as she remains in the same position when suddenly she feels her source of warmth move.

Move?

Her eyes open groggily and looks down just to see her blanket still over her body. She assumes that Wendy must have moved to cause the blanket to shift.

Ugh, stupid Wendy.

She lets out an annoyed huff but continues to lie on her side, closing her eyes again in hopes to get a couple more minutes in before having to officially start her day. She nearly falls asleep again when her warmth moves again. But it wasn't like a blanket shifting, it was more like a squeeze. Irene's eyes shoot open and hesitantly lifts the blanket. She nearly jumped out of bed at what she saw underneath. 

Wendy's arm was wrapped around her waist.

Before she could even do anything about it, her breath hitches as she suddenly feels Wendy pull her in closer and suddenly feels her back against Wendy's front with warm breath now hitting the back of her neck. At that point, Irene didn't know what to do. Should she wait for Wendy to wake up or slip out of her grasp? If she's being honest, a part of her just wants to go back to sleep, telling herself that she simply liked the warmth and not because it was Wendy who was the one providing it.

Eventually, she gets her thoughts straight and decides to go with her brain to get out of bed. She moves as slow as possible as she lifts Wendy's arms and slides off the mattress. When she looks at Wendy's sleeping form one last time before heading out the door, her heart rate picks up and her stomach starts to feel funny. She's never felt like this before. 

With this realization, Irene forces her eyes to look away and closes the door quietly as she leaves.

She's going to be the death of me.

--

Surprisingly, the rest of the day felt fairly normal for her considering that all she had to do was put on a brave face and act just like she would at school whenever she was with Wendy. Thankfully, they had tuned their number of interactions down a bit too given that they were in front of her parents after all. They would only share a few pecks on the cheek, hold hands or cuddle on the couch together. 

It also helped knowing that she was home since she was always happy when she got to spend time with her family considering that she'd only see them for a couple of months a year. So, Irene was able to distract herself with something else despite the new presence that had caused her mental state to be complete mush. 

As night time fell around, however, the suppression of her fighting thoughts didn't last long as something had still managed to irk her brain, reminding her of the mess she's placed herself in. 

When Wendy had come downstairs that morning, Wendy had asked her parents if they could turn the heat up during the night time because she 'and Irene' were cold the previous night. So now, Wendy was sleeping on the floor while Irene was lying on her bed. And despite the raised temperature and the blanket over her body, she found herself missing a certain warmth that neither of the things mentioned could provide.

So to her dismay, it took her a bit longer than normal to fall asleep that night.

A/N: In reference to the chapter title, if you're wondering where the mess is... it's in Irene's mind.

Oh, to be in denial(?)... hehe.

Per usual, I'd love to hear what you guys thought of the chapter on here or on twitter!

Stream Wendy's album Like Water! What was your fav song on the album? Mine is When This Rain Stops :)

- S

@rv_twice5 on twitter