When Shuhua tells her best friend about the very extreme step in her own relationship, Jeno was leaping off the walls, and giving her a big round of applause like the supportive best friend that he was. 

“I couldn’t have been more proud.” Jeno blinks away his fake tears, hand to his chest, and the other on his hip. Shuhua watches from her spot on the couch, Karina next to her with a hand over to stop from bursting into a fit of giggles at how ridiculous Jeno was acting. 

Karina had already voiced out her opinions on Jeno’s over dramatic reaction, but the latter only proceeded to retort even more dramatically. “You don’t know! The frustration of how painfully slow I had to watch this relationship grow. Rina, this relationship is like my baby. I slaved and I slaved, making predictions and bets, and winning them all.” 

Shuhua scoffs, “you’ve done nothing.” 

Karina rolls her eyes, ignoring Jeno who was still cheering on the side. She turns to Shuhua with a kind smile, reaching for the younger woman’s hand to give it a tender squeeze. “I’m happy for you, beautiful.” 

Shuhua shyly smiles back. “Wow, I didn’t think something like this would receive such praise.” 

Jeno snorts, “well, when you’ve got no game, Shu, this is something to celebrate.” He finally settles back down onto the couch, squeezing Shuhua between him and Karina. 

“Hey!” Shuhua smacks his thigh in offense, “I’ve got game.” 

Karina chuckles, “don’t listen to him. He’s the only single one here. His words mean nothing.” 

“Please,” Jeno gives them a smug smile, “I choose to be single. I’m having fun doing what I do now.” He makes humping motions, which earn sounds of disapproval and disgust from the two women. 

“We are not your frat boy friends. We don’t tolerate those ugly jokes.” Shuhua tuts, shaking her head in disappointment. 

Jeno huffs, “sorry, I forgot where I was.” 

Shuhua only reaches over to ruffle his hair. 

“So this means like… you’re official right? Girlfriend and girlfriend?” Jeno’s eyebrows dance teasingly. When Shuhua’s eyes widened, only blinking instead of the reaction that Jeno was expecting, his mouth dropped in disbelief. 

“She didn’t ask you to be her girlfriend yet?” Jeno gasps scandalously, exchanging looks with Karina who seemed much more calm than he was. Obviously. 

“N-No?” Shuhua scratches her head. “Does that even matter now? She told me she loves me.” She shrugs, frowning at Jeno’s reaction. 

“Yes, it matters!” Jeno facepalms his face, shaking his head. “Especially when Soojin has quite the history of being a player.” Shuhua grimaces at the implication. It’s true, but calling Soojin a player didn’t seem fitting. 

“She’s not going to hurt me.” Shuhua doesn’t hesitate to say, if that’s what Jeno was trying to imply. 

“Of course, she’s not. I’ve never seen someone simp so hard.” Jeno snorts, “but it’s everyone else. If there’s no label, how are people going to know to back off?” 

Karina smacks Jeno on the shoulder, before giving Shuhua an encouraging smile. “Don’t listen to him, Shu. You don’t have to worry about everyone else. If whatever is going on with you and Soojin makes sense to the both of you, then that’s all that matters.” 

Jeno points to Karina as if she had said something right. “See, right there. She didn’t even know what to call your relationship. It’s gonna be so hard to explain to people. I mean… Do you even know what Soojin is to you?” 

Shuhua frowns, “she’s the woman that I love.” 

“But you can’t call her your girlfriend?” 

Her scowl deepens, and she brings her hands up to cover her face in frustration. “Jeno, you ! I hate when you start to make sense. It makes me think too damn hard!” 

Jeno slaps his hand against his chest in confidence. “Glad to have been acknowledged as someone who is always right.” 

“I didn’t say you’re always right.” Shuhua says, and in unison, Karina agrees, “she did not say that.” 

“There shouldn’t be anything stopping her or you from putting a label, Shu. You’ve said your ‘I love you’s’ and god, the PDA isn’t exactly subtle. People know you guys are a thing.” Jeno lists everything down to detail. 

“Plus you’ve met her family, and technically she’s already been friends with Yuqi even before you guys met.” Karina pipes up, and Jeno nods in agreement. 

“I think you should ask her.” Jeno grins. 

“What if she says no?” 

Jeno and Karina give her a look of disbelief. “Are you kidding?” 

“It can happen!” Shuhua argues. 

“Soojin told you that she loves you, Shuhua. I heard that’s not a common occurrence unless you’re her family.” Jeno says it like it was a rumor, but it was in fact true, Shuhua even knew that, but her mind wandered to the negative. 

“Come on, we can help you plan it!” 

Shuhua scoffs, “please, you just wanna take credit for this too.”

Jeno nods, “I better be the best man at the wedding.” 

_

“So, Winter,” Shuhua grins at the woman in front of her, who tapped the edge of the table shyly. It was a big difference to how Shuhua remembered her when she was drunk, “how did you and giraffe, here, meet?” 

Karina rolls her eyes when her girlfriend’s smile widens excitedly, “oh my gosh, I call her that too!” 

“Shut up, you’re just short.” Karina scowls. 

Winter giggles, resting a comforting hand on her girlfriend’s knee to ensure that they were just joking. “Well, I was moving into my dorm. I guess I overpacked because the first thing this one told me is that I brought a lot of stuff for a school year.” 

“It was hard to miss when your stuff was laid out on the floor, blocking my pathway.” Karina chuckles, and Shuhua’s eyes softened just watching the two. 

Winter rolls her eyes, “I didn’t see the stupid wall, okay?” 

“She’s very clumsy.” Karina whispers to Shuhua like it was a secret. 

“The kind, gentlewoman, that Karina is,” Winter snuggles into the taller woman, “she helped me move my stuff into my dorm. Then she gave me a tour of the campus, even though I already had one, but I wasn’t going to pass up that opportunity when my tour guide looked like this.” Winter raises her hand to squeeze Karina’s chin, forcing her lips to jut out into a pout. 

“I asked her out on a date the next day. Then another, then a few more.” Karina bumps the side of her head with Winter’s softly, “then she got drunk and asked me to be her girlfriend.” 

“To be fair, Karina asked me when I was sober the next morning. So, case and point, that’s the only one that counts.” Winter points out, which elicited a scoff from her girlfriend. 

Shuhua giggles, “well, I’m happy for the both of you.” 

Winter blushes, “I’m sorry if our first meeting wasn't exactly the most… well, normal.” She scratches her head sheepishly. 

“Are you kidding?” Shuhua laughs, “normal is boring. You certainly have a good first impression on me already.” 

“Likewise.” Winter grins. 

“Nerds.” Yuqi pushes Shuhua to the side, so she could slide into the booth. 

Shuhua looks up and sees Soojin sipping on a bottle of banana milk, before she slams another one in front of Karina. Surprised, she turns to the grin that Karina was now sporting, muttering a quick thanks as she happily sips onto her own banana milk. 

She was aware that Soojin was slowly warming up to Karina, but she didn’t know it had moved on this quickly. 

The next time she looked up at Soojin, she was already staring back at her. Obviously, the older woman disregards the curious look on her face, and only stares blankly. 

“Oh,” Karina catches Soojin and Yuqi’s attention, “this is Winter, by the way. My girlfriend.” 

Soojin just gives her a nod, and Yuqi beams as the younger woman, introducing herself with a hint of exaggeration on her achievements, and too many questions for Winter to catch up with. 

“Yuqi, let her breathe.” Shuhua clicks her tongue. 

“I’ve been to Boston for one of my photography classes. It’s great there.” Yuqi taps Winter on the hand, “yeah, especially in the fall.” 

Soojin squeezes Yuqi against Shuhua as she slides into the booth. She reaches around Yuqi’s body to softly ruffle the back of Shuhua’s head in silent greeting.

“Okay,” Yuqi doesn’t let anyone else talk, “I’m going to ask the question that everyone here is wondering… and by everyone, I mean Shuhua and I.” 

Shuhua patiently waits for it. 

“Since when were you two all… nice to each other?” She p