Shuhua couldn’t find the will to leave Soojin’s side, nor did she want to, and this time the older woman didn’t question it, nor did she protest. 

It was a few hours in, since Soojin woke up, and she finally noticed the uncomfortable, but breathtaking dress that Shuhua still had on from the previous night. She remembered she still had the pair of hoodie and sweats she had borrowed from when Shuhua was sick, and suggested for Shuhua to use her shower and change into them to be more comfortable, since Soojin got the idea that Shuhua was going to be staying for a while. 

“So can I see the pictures?” Shuhua asks, throwing her body over Soojin’s legs to retrieve the camera that remained on Soojin’s night stand. 

Soojin lets her take the camera, silently watching as Shuhua places herself back into her position against the wall, crossing her legs under the blanket. 

“How do you work this thing?” Shuhua turns the camera in her hands, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. 

“I thought you snooped through it earlier.” Soojin pointed out, and Shuhua groaned, “yeah, but I was just pressing random buttons and I got lucky. I don’t remember which buttons I pressed.” 

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be playing with my camera. Knowing you, you’ll break it.” Soojin rolls her eyes, snatching her camera from Shuhua, which elicits a dragged and offended “hey” from the younger girl. “If I find that you deleted some of my pictures from your button pressing, I will murder you in your sleep.” 

“Good luck with that.” Shuhua snorts. 

Soojin smirks, “I don’t need luck. You make it easy because you’re the dummy who always forgets to lock her door.” 

“W-Well,” Shuhua pauses, trying hard to think of a clever retort. Soojin challenges her, raising her brows in anticipation, “w-well, I’ll start… remembering… to lock my doors…” Shuhua mumbles, depleting and sliding down the wall into a lying position, throwing the covers over her face in defeat. 

“Did you sleep at all last night?” Soojin asks, and Shuhua’s tired and raspy hum answers her question. “I was too worried about you to sleep,” Shuhua mumbles, “but I regret it because you’re being mean.” 

Soojin rolls her eyes and shakes her head. She pulls down the covers from Shuhua’s face, and the younger woman opens her eyes to glare up at her, a pout to her lips. 

“Meanie.” 

“Go home and sleep, stray girl.” 

“Why can’t I just stay here and sleep? We’re friends now, so that’s okay, right?” Shuhua turns onto her side, her forehead nuzzling into Soojin’s hip bone. “It’s normal. Friends have sleepovers all the time.” 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Soojin snorts to herself. 

“Why not?” 

“Because I have needs, and I can think of a hundred different things I want to do to you right now.” Soojin smirks, and she feels Shuhua stiffen like a log. 

Shuhua lifts her head up, mouth open, and eyes wide, “a-a h-hundred d-different… things?” 

Soojin leans in, eyes lowering to open lips, “dirty things.” 

Shuhua gasps, “Y-You—, I-I—, Uh..” 

When Soojin doesn’t stop inching closer towards her, Shuhua, in a rush, grabs the pillow that her head was resting on just a minute ago, and swings it across Soojin’s face. 

“Oh my—, I’m so—,” Shuhua’s eyes widened, suddenly realizing what she had done. She didn’t seem apologetic at all, stifling her giggles to herself instead. “You know what, I’m not sorry.” 

Soojin blows the disheveled hair out of her face, “you’re so dead.” 

“Control yourself, Soojin. You need to control yourself! Keep it in your pants!” Shuhua gives her a firm look, finger pointed at her. She adjusts her body onto her knees, getting ready to run if she deems necessary. 

“I think you’re getting a little too comfortable with this whole friends thing, stray girl. You’re starting to forget who you’re messing with.” Soojin glares, running her fingers through her hair, and pushing it back to fix it from its mess. 

Shuhua scoffs, “didn’t I already tell you? You don’t scare me, Seo Sooji—,” she cuts her sentence short when Soojin advances towards her, a high squeal coming from her now alert body, as she tries to jump off the bed before Soojin gets a hold of her. 

“Don’t taekwondo kick my !” Shuhua screams when Soojin catches her, a tight hold on her hoodie to pull her body back down onto the bed. 

“You’re dead, stray girl!” Soojin throws a leg over Shuhua’s body, ignoring the pain that came with it, and straddles her. 

“I can’t die! I haven’t even finished my wall painting yet! I want kids! I want—,” Shuhua's babbling and pleading for mercy turns into booming laughter and shrieks, as Soojin’s fingers tickle her sides, her legs pinning Shuhua down with no room for her to escape. 

“Okay! Okay!” Shuhua tries to pry Soojin’s hands off of her sides, but Soojin is freakishly strong, and uses one of her hands to pin both Shuhua’s hands above her head, the other still torturing Shuhua with tickles. 

“I think you owe me an apology, stray girl.” Soojin suppresses a smile, loving the way Shuhua’s laughter made her feel. 

“I’m sorry! I raise my white flag!” Shuhua says between fits of laughter, squirming and thrashing her body to find release from the tickling torture. 

Soojin chuckles, finally putting Shuhua out of her misery. The younger woman stops thrashing underneath her, heaving to regain her breath. 

Shuhua glares at Soojin, who remains straddling her hips, a playful and smug grin on her lips that she so badly wanted to swipe off her face. 

“I hate you.” Shuhua crinkles her nose. 

“I know.” 

Soojin reaches to move Shuhua’s hair from her face, pushing it back behind her ear. “Now you know never to cross me. I know your weakness.” 

“Who told you? Was it Yuqi? Jeno?” Shuhua clicks her tongue, planning a murder scene in her head. 

“You just seemed like the type to be ticklish.” Soojin’s eyebrows dance teasingly her way, and Shuhua scoffs. 

“Now you have to tell me your weakness. It’s only fair.” Shuhua nods her head, her hands unknowingly travel to grip Soojin’s thighs, thumbs soothing over the softness of her skin, just under the ends of Soojin’s shorts. Soojin doesn’t seem to notice either, only a familiar touch to the both of them. 

“I don’t have a weakness, stray girl.” Soojin says confidently. 

“That’s bull.” Shuhua rolls her eyes. 

“I don’t.” Soojin shrugs. 

Shuhua purses her lips in thought, “what are your fears? Phobias? You have to give me something to work with here. Tell me because friends tend to know these things about each other, not because I’m planning to probably use it against you as revenge.” She blinks up at Soojin innocently, an extra sweet smile on her lips. 

“I really don’t have one.” Soojin says, fingers playing with the strings of Shuhua’s hoodie, twirling it and trying to tie it around the button of Shuhua’s nose. 

“Fine, if you won’t tell me, I can get it out of Yoon. Or any one of your guardians.” Shuhua smiles in triumph, satisfied with her plan. 

“They know better than to betray me like that. I have the upper hand here.” Soojin confidently says, “just trust my words when I say, I am not scared of anything.” 

“No way. You like to act like you’re such a tough macho, when in reality, you’re probably one of those who cried during ‘Big Hero 6’ like a baby.” Shuhua giggles. 

Soojin hums, “don’t think I’ve seen it.” 

Shuhua exaggerates a shocked expression, “what? Jeno told me everyone has seen it and that I had to see it because it would be a disgrace to humanity if I didn’t.” 

“Well, did you cry?” Soojin raises a brow. 

Shuhua blinks, “...maybe..” 

Soojin snorts, “what a baby.” 

“Hey, it was sad! You didn’t see it, you have no right to say anything.” Shuhua’s lips jut into a pout, and Soojin chuckles, prompting to wrap the string of Shuhua’s hoodie around her pout instead. Shuhua’s eyes look down, crossing to look at what Soojin was doing. 

“Are you scared of clowns?” 

“That’s the stupidest fear ever.” Soojin deadpans. 

“Clowns can be scary.” Shuhua smacks her lips in irritation. 

“How about bugs? Spiders?” Shuhua lights up at Soojin’s look of disgust, “no, they’re more gross than they are scary.” 

“Snakes?” 

“When I was younger, I wanted a pet snake, but my mom was strongly against it. Got me a pet cat instead, but she ran away when I was seven.” Soojin chuckled at the memory. 

“Of course, you’re the type to like reptiles for pets.” Shuhua mutters under her breath. 

“Oh, look who’s back, Shuhua the critic.” Soojin flicks Shuhua’s forehead, and the younger woman whines as she rubs her forehead. 

Soojin chuckles, swatting Shuhua’s hand away from rubbing at her forehead, and soothes the spot with her own fingers instead. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Shuhua suddenly says, taking a hold of Soojin’s hand that was tending to her flicked forehead, holding it and resting it onto her chest.

“You’ve been asking me questions this whole time, stray girl. Why would I stop you now?” Maybe they haven’t noticed how unfriendly their position had been, or maybe they were just too comfortable to have moved. 

“Wendy s-said…u-um.. in the hospital… Wendy accidentally told me… that you were exclusive… to me…” Shuhua slowly says, fiddling with Soojin’s fingers in her hold, “w-why… why didn’t you tell me that?” 

“I’m gonna kill that grandma.” Soojin says between gritted teeth. 

Shuhua frowns, “hey...answer my question.” 

Soojin sighs and shrugs, “I don’t know? Is it important?” 

Shuhua scoffs, “when your family tells me it’s a big deal, then yes, I think it’s important.” She brings her body to sit up, hands sliding up from her thighs to encircle Soojin’s waist as they come face to face. 

Still, neither notice how their position goes against everything they had just talked about; every skin to skin contact seemingly done habitually. 

“People have been telling me about your character, how you sleep around, and have this ‘I don’t give a ’ attitude all the time. But… that’s not what I see...” Shuhua tilts her head at Soojin who just stares at her. 

Soojin hums, “well, that’s how I am… or was... I don’t know.. can we not talk about this?” she lowers her eyes to her fingers that starts to play with a part of the hood of Shuhua’s jacket that stays slightly hidden behind the younger woman’s hair. 

“Okay…” Shuhua trails, “can I ask about your father?” 

Soojin stiffens against her, eyes hardening and piercing into Shuhua’s brown orbs. “What about him?” 

“Why… Why are you letting him hurt you? I know you can