Limbs tangled with each other, arms pinned at the side of her head, Tzuyu found herself stuck underneath Momo and Sana clawing at each other. If Tzuyu was being grateful, she’d say she’s always been thankful that Momo and Sana had adopted her into their bizarre and peculiar friendship, but most of the time, when both of them had lost their minds, Tzuyu would wonder if she did something wrong in her life that the universe is punishing her.

It started with a paper ball thrown at her head that Tzuyu would whip her head fast, glaring at the direction. She saw Momo typing furiously at her laptop, and then next to her, Sana writing in her handout serenely. She ignores it and went back to reading. Seconds later it happened again, so she turned and saw the same view. Not wanting to have a third time she said, “Sana-unnie, don’t test me.”

Sana looked at her confused, “Test you?”

Well, Sana has always been a good actress. So Tzuyu picked up the small paper ball and threw it in Sana’s face to demonstrate.

Sana scrunched her face and rolled her eyes, “That’s very mature.” She stuck her tongue out and then shook her head. “But I’m two chapters away from sleeping so I’ll just let this one go.”

Tzuyu narrows her eyes at her, but Sana was quick to go back to her reading. She breathes through her nose then went back to her material as well. Just like last time, it didn’t take about 5 seconds before Sana whines and said, “Momo?!”

“What?! Hngh! You made me lose my train of thoughts!”

“Stop with the freaking paper balls! Are we in kindergarten?!”

“I’m minding my own business!”

--and the screaming match begins. At the peak of caffeine and sugar -- a week before Momo’s thesis presentation, Sana and Tzuyu’s final exams, a practical for Jeongyeon, it’s past 2am and they’re at the edge of their patience.

Tzuyu sighs and pinches her nose bridge. Whose idea was it to study together in the living room? Right, Sana. Sana was so insistent they bond together even if it’s studying separately, as long as they’re in the proximity of each other. Yes, Sana is that clingy. Tzuyu is convinced Sana will have separation anxiety if she’s not with either of them within 4 hours excluding her dream. (But if you ask Sana, she will neither confirm or deny that Momo and Tzuyu had guest starred in her dreams, once or twice, no big deal.)

“Studying together is effective for us.” Sana says as she makes herself comfortable, arranging her things on the living room, settling on the floor, near the table, her back against the foot of the couch. The amount of times Sana had stayed in 43B, she should pay at least a portion to their rent.

“Absolutely not.” Tzuyu was quick to say, ready to get all cooped up in her room. She blinks her eyes fast, then stares intently at Sana. When Sana still looks like there’s a light bulb above her head, Tzuyu adds, “How do you expect us to study when Jeongyeon-unnie is cooking something good in the open kitchen, you and Momo-unnie would eventually annoy each other, and I—“

“Would sleep early and say you’d study in the morning instead but not really?”

Tzuyu shuts , then frowns. “…yes.”

Sana giggles and says, “It’ll be fine! As long as we do it together, we’ll be fine!”

But Momo is not sold, Momo is already rooted in her side of the couch with her laptop, “‘Fine’ is not my goal, ‘fine’ is not how I’ll pass my Thesis—“

“Momo this is unlike you. We can do this!”

Jeongyeon once said measuring Tzuyu’s patience bar correlates to her body height. It takes so long to fill it up with emotions – no matter how mixed, and for Tzuyu to crack. So when asked ‘Who has the best temper?’, the answer is definitely the youngest.

Nanan accidentally chews on her charging cord? Tzuyu scolds her gently and buys another cord and a chew toy for Nanan. Sana and Momo’s voices would boom at 2am due to laughing or squealing to whatever they’re doing when Sana’s sleeping over and Tzuyu has an 8am class? Tzuyu buys noise cancellation airpods. Jeongyeon uses her account and posts funny pictures of her or an absurd status? Tzuyu would just laugh it off.

But it’s a totally different conversation when there’s lack of sleep and time involved. Everyone would remember how Tzuyu can pick Momo and Sana with both arms like their cats.

So when she gets hit by a pillow straight at the head, her highlighters and pen knocked out of the table, she would only close her eyes and clicks her tongue. The apartment got silent after the pillow lands a small thud on the floor, coincidentally an ambulance siren was heard crossing the street. When the sound fades, Tzuyu opened her eyes, breathing slowly, gritting her teeth. Knowing Momo’s favorite choice of weapon is the offending object, Tzuyu’s eyes find hers. Momo gulped and then quickly pointed to the person to her right, “She—she started it.”Oh how Momo stuttered.

Seeing red in Tzuyu’s eyes screaming murder, Sana mirrored Momo and said, “She started the paper balls.”

“I did not! I don’t even have a paper!”

“If it’s not me, not Tzuyu, it’s you! Facts only.”

Her head is buzzing, and there’s the incoming headache due to the lack of sleep and information overload so she stretched her neck that made a bit of cracking sound, and then started standing up, heading towards the duo. She’s not gonna beat them up, she’s absolutely dead set on locking herself on her room and resume studying after a beat of sleep when the two are sleeping soundly.

But Momo could swear her life had flashed before her eyes and nudged Sana with her elbow harshly. Forgetting their previous argument, telepathically Momo and Sana agreed the best way to settle this(and stay alive for their finals the next day) is to team up and gang up on Tzuyu.

Minutes of wrestling, clawing at each other, loud squealing and screams of “avoid my face” and there Tzuyu is, lying on the floor, with both Sana and Momo looking smug and breathing heavily on top of her. She knows she could easily flip them and give the two a piece of their mind, but she’s honestly tired and just so done with them, she’d rather give them false sense of victory. Sana and Momo both gave each other a high-five and a fist bump to the air. Their moment was interrupted by another paper ball hit to both of their heads. They turn to the direction and gasped seeing Jeongyeon taking a video of them.

“I love how it only took this piece of paper to cause this chaos.”

…

“Jeongyeon, you bi—”

“Midnight snack? Last one at the table wash the—“

And dash they go.

MOMO: come over.

SANA: pass

SANA: my brain is a mushed potato, I just want to go home and sleep ‘till the grades are up.

MOMO: Code Blue

SANA: ?????

SANA: We have so many codes I forgot what Code Blue is.

SANA: Is that the one where…

SANA: you finally hit your head and realized you SHOULD break up w ur bf?!?!?

MOMO: Code Blue is when you drop anything you’re doing to meet me wherever I am, no questions asked!!!

SANA: …

“So?”

“I know you’re mad, but I need you to reign it in, and remember that you love me more than you hate him.”

“…okay?” Sana threads slowly then gasps, her eyes widening comically, “Oh my gosh… Are you pregnant?!”

Sana jumps on her spot, hugs Momo and then stops herself, “Wait, I’m having mixed emotions for this. Give me a sec to process this.”

Momo groans and smacks Sana.

“Ouch! You’re becoming more violent as time goes by. Is that good for the baby?”

“I’m meeting Heechul’s friends for the first time and I need to make an impression.”

A beat.

Sana continues to stare at Momo, unmoving, confusion taking over. Maybe Momo’s brain is more mushed than Sana’s.

Noticing Sana’s lack of words, Momo prods, “It’s nothing much, the two of us will have dinner and then we’ll meet them for a drink. So… I should consider that. Nothing fancy just in case it’s a chill hangout, like I don’t want to overdress, but like, he’s been taking—“

“And I’m losing sleep for this because..?”

Momo drops her dress and turns around abruptly, “You’re my person, Sana. Can you get over it already? Tzuyu is doing better than you.”

And Sana would only scoff, crossing her arms. Tzuyu? The girl who helped Sana find dirt on Heechul over the weekends? The girl who finally snapped and decided to join the dark force? For all Sana knows, the said girl woke up and decided she’s done deluding herself and brought out her horns and played with Sana the whole weekend finding dirt on Heechul. Sana did not question it, because after 3 therapy sessions with Tzuyu, she knows the girl will not open up to her. And it’s fine. That dynamic she has with Jeongyeon. Tzuyu doesn’t ask about her problems, she doesn’t ask about hers, and that’s how they work. Sometimes Tzuyu would even ride with her shenanigans, Sana thinks it’s a win for her.

“I have bags under my eyes. The last thing I want to do is—“

“Do you not love me more than you hate him?”

“I love you and it’s why I’m telling you to—“

“You won’t understand! You won’t understand because you’re not even trying!” Momo snaps, not in the mood to deal with Sana’s stubborness. She would ask Tzuyu, like she had always done, but she thinks this out of her league so she has no choice but to cut through Sana’s thick skull. (If Momo thinks about it, she almost traumatized the girl when she gave her a , so Momo promised to give Tzuyu a break.)

“I won’t ask for anything else. Be a , be rude, fine. But just for now,” she takes a step near Sana, reaching for her hands, “help me make a good impression to his friends so they won’t be mean to me… so they won’t make fun of me the way you are to him.”

Bullseye.

Because Sana is the self-proclaimed captain of Momo Hype Squad and she’s not gonna let anyone (may it be Momo, actually, especially Momo) ruin the said girl’s self-esteem. No room for self-pity and doubt, Sana would slay Momo’s demons with her.

Sana closed her lips on a thin line, thinking it over. No, she’s not gonna be stubborn. No, she’s not gonna tell Momo what she and Tzuyu had been up to. No, she’s not gonna ignore Momo’s cry of help. Not when Momo had used a reverse card on her like this. No, she’s not gonna tell Momo the reason she hates Heechul is because she thinks Momo is suddenly asking validation from him.

Momo countered, and this one was critical and very effective.

So Sana meets Momo halfway, furrows her eyebrows and says lowly, “I will throw hands if anyone makes fun of you.”

With three-fourth’s of them past through finals, a much needed get together was in place at their usual favorite hideout. As thanksgiving gift for Sana, Momo decided Heechul shouldn’t join movie nights and make it a girls night instead – or just like how it was supposed to be.

Only when she opens the door expecting Sana, Jihyo comes in.

“Hi! Tzuyu texted me and told me she’s not here yet but she told me you’d let me in.”

A blindsided attack, Momo had never seen coming.

Jihyo is all smiley and bubbly, with her blonde hair and bright eyes… Momo loathes every inch of it. She grips the door handle as she continues to stare at Jihyo, clenching her jaw, thinking of what to say.

It was supposed to be awkward: with her leaving Jihyo out the door, and just Momo staring.

But just like their first encounter (and only encounter), Jihyo doesn’t let it. She tiptoes on her spot, bursting with energy as she tries to be friendly and indifferent. And just like before, Momo wasn’t having any of it.

Momo wanted to tell her she’s not welcome because movie night is for friends and they’re not friends yet… But she doesn’t want them to turn the table and for them to say, “well we didn’t like your boyfriend and girlfriend but there they were at movie nights.” So she reigns it in.

A battle of will, if anyone would dare label it.

And deciding factor comes, although unbeknowst to both of them at the time.

Someone’s phone rang.

They size each other up, expressions unchanging.

Third ring comes, and Momo realized it’s not hers.

Jihyo holds her finger up, struggles to put the paper bag with one hand and fetches her phone. Then her face breaks through to another smile as she says, “Yes, 43B, I got here safely.”

Momo grits her teeth, unconscously shifting her weight on her foot, something unknown knocking her off her feet, losing her balance.

Jihyo glances to her briefly and continues, “It’s the right one, your roommate is here.” She chuckles and says, “Okay, take your time. I’ll wait here. Right. I’ll see you in a bit. Be safe.” Then she taps her phone, ending the call. She doesn’t lose the smile as she puts her phone back to her pocket, repositioning her paper bag to hold it with both hands.

“That’s Tzuyu. She’s worried I got lost,” said Jihyo, far too warmly in Momo’s opinion.

Momo nods tightly, “I figured.”

A beat.

This round, the winner is decided.

Picking a movie has always been a long-winding road, almost like a daily scene at senate, with everyone pitching in their pick.

Tzuyu, actually not surprisingly, considering her constant desire for books and knowledge, liked documentaries. Rich with information about the past, so much of which she had missed, or about the present, wh