“yah.”

 

seungwan pays no heed to the disgruntled voice behind her. after all, with deadlines drawing close, the library tends to be filled with students and it’s not uncommon to have disputes over the limited studying space. 

 

“yah, i’m talking to you.”

 

seungwan pulls her gaze away from her papers only to lock eyes with her insufferable roommate. an uninvited guest, though seungwan doubts either of them wants to be in each other’s presence for any longer than necessary.

 

“what do you want?”

 

bae joohyun quirks a brow, “you took something of mine and you’re asking me what i want?”

 

now seungwan’s annoyed, “what the hell are you talking about?” she retorts.

 

“the jacket you’re wearing,” joohyun roughly jabs a finger to her shoulder, ensuring it pokes into the other’s flesh, “it’s mine.”

 

seungwan finally looks down and sees that this isn’t her blue jacket, in fact, it was far from it. a green varsity jacket that she’s grown to loathe rests comfortably against her skin and she understands why joohyun is upset.

 

.

 

“it’s not my fault that you leave your clothes all over the place,” she mutters as she begins to extricate herself from the jacket.

 

joohyun rolls her eyes and counters sharply, “why don’t you check before you go around stealing your roommate’s stuff?”

 

“stealing?” seungwan scoffs incredulously, “it was on my side of the room.”

 

“doesn’t mean it’s yours, it has my damn name on the back.” joohyun clicks her teeth sharply, “give it back, i have practice.”

 

maintaining eye contact with her roommate, a slight smirk appears on seungwan’s face. today, she would choose violence.

 

“i would if you had asked nicely, but the library is a little chilly today.” she shrugs, pulling the jacket closer around her.

 

“you’re such a ing brat!”

 

“screw you! as if you’re any less insufferable!”

 

someone clears their throat loudly and it breaks up the petty bickering between the roommates. the duo snaps their heads towards the source and quickly loses their fieriness. under the stern gaze of an aged librarian, they are nothing more than two disruptive students. 

 

“i’m afraid i am going to have to ask you to leave, you are being a nuisance to the other students..” the librarian hisses.

 

“heard that?” seungwan scoffs cockily, folding her arms across her chest, “she’s talking about you.”

 

“you too, take your fight elsewhere.”

 

seungwan drops her jaw, “but! she was the one disrupting me!”

 

“out.”

 

joohyun snorts loudly while she watches a disgruntled seungwan pack up her things. serves her right for being petty, guess both of their days are ruined now. following seungwan out of the library, the older girl has to jog to keep up with the rapidly increasing pace of her roommate.

 

with a firm clasp on her wrist, joohyun manages to stop seungwan from getting too far.

 

“yah! calm down!”

 

“you got me kicked out for the first time!”

 

sighing, joohyun holds back the urge to roll her eyes, “grow up, like that’s a big deal.”

 

“of course, you wouldn’t think so, you don’t care about anything at all!” seungwan retorts sharply as she breaks free of joohyun’s grasp, “ off.”

 

woah.

 

joohyun purses her lips at her roommate’s outburst and decides to drop the matter, she’ll get chided by her coach but that’s seemingly better than fighting her roommate. plus, seungwan has already generated plenty of buzz wearing the archery captain’s jacket for the majority of the day, what’s a couple more hours?

 

---

 

seungwan ignores joohyun when she returns to their shared dorm, and rightfully so. not that this behaviour is out of the norm for either of them. most of the time when they do speak to each other is when seungwan nags at her.

 

somehow, their altercation this afternoon has left a sour taste in joohyun’s mouth and has been on her mind for the entire day. on top of that, her teammates spotted seungwan with the ever-so-striking archery team jacket.

 

a fool could tell that the jacket belongs to joohyun considering her last name and team number are embroidered on the back. 

 

joohyun tried to explain the situation though it only seemed to come off as an excuse that the two were secretly dating — if only the others could see how seungwan practically treats her as if she doesn’t exist.

 

the gossip will die down even before seungwan brings it up. plopping down on her bed, something pokes against her back and joohyun pulls it out from under her.

 

her varsity jacket. dowsed in the familiar scent of seungwan’s laundry detergent. 

 

instead of allowing some snarky remark to leave her lips, joohyun clears loudly.

 

“what?”

 

“thanks for washing it.” joohyun would’ve sounded a lot more grateful if seungwan didn’t despise her entire existence, “and i thought you should know that a good number of people assumed that we’re dating.”

 

“what?” the increase in decibels accompanied by seungwan swiveling her chair around in shock allows a smirk to appear on joohyun’s face.

 

pushing herself up with her hands, joohyun lounges on her bed with the cockiest grin that seungwan has ever seen. god, how she’d do anything to wipe it off her face.

 

“what the hell are you talking about?”

 

“my teammates, your friends, basically every student on campus who recognizes that a green varsity jacket with ‘BAE’ embroidered on it belongs to me.” joohyun lowers her voice, “and everyone knows i don’t like to share.”

 

in hindsight, seungwan can understand why anyone would assume so — being petty has backfired horribly. still, the fault isn’t hers alone.

 

narrowing her eyes, seungwan mutters bitterly, “and you didn’t clarify?”

 

“their assumptions, not mine.” the older girl shrugs, “plus, you refused to return it.”

 

clicking her teeth, seungwan holds back the urge to throw one of her textbooks at her roommate. 

 

“so what do we do now?”

 

an instantaneous reply leaves joohyun’s lips, almost a little too naturally though.

 

“date?”

 

a crinkle appears in the space between her brows and seungwan mutters, “ off.”

 

---

 

turns out, rumours don’t die down easily when it’s tangled with the archery team, let alone the captain. 

 

seungwan always understood that her roommate has a significant standing in the school, though it’s taken her months to see the extent of it. 

 

joohyun’s prowess in archery single-handedly revived the archery club, and over the course of her study, the older girl brought fame to their school by bagging gold medal after gold medal.

 

on top of that, who could deny her beauty? some call her the reincarnation of artemis and others say god himself sculpted her features.

 

needless to say, bae joohyun has an undeniable presence and seungwan has made a terrible mistake. 

 

from classmates to acquaintances to people she has never even met before, seungwan feels as if she’s being interrogated by the entire campus.

 

the only reprieve she gets is during lunch when her friends chase away anyone who even tries to speak to her — they need to squeeze the details out of seungwan without any eavesdroppers.

 

“i think you’re lying.” yerim narrows her eyes, disbelieving of everything seungwan has tried to tell her.

 

seungwan exhales loudly, “for the last time, no, we are not dating.”

 

seulgi who has been content with watching the two argue, decides to chime in. “explain the jacket?”

 

“it was a mistake, i was running late and the room was dark, which by the way, i couldn’t turn the lights on since she hates waking up before her alarm. i grabbed her jacket thinking it was mine.”

 

a perfectly sound explanation though it would not satisfy the gossip mongers, otherwise better known as her friends.

 

yerim hums softly, her voice laced with skepticism, “that’s awfully convenient, didn’t you guys divide your room with tape?”

 

“wished it worked,” seungwan sighs, “she doesn’t obey rules and don’t be fooled by her looks, she’s a slob.”

 

with a mouthful of food, seulgi poses a question that changes everything. “if this is all true, then why is she telling everyone they should ask you if you two are dating?”

 

“she’s doing what now?”

 

“yeah i overheard her during practice.” seulgi shrugs, “she was like i don’t know, you should ask seungwan instead.”

 

balling her hands into a fist, seungwan understands why so many people have approached her today. 

 

“she’s doing it on purpose.”

 

a snort escapes yerim, “well, lucky you. the archery captain that everyone adores wants to date you.”

 

“she’s being spiteful.”

 

naturally, it is yerim who plants the idea in seungwan’s head.

 

“and who’s stopping you from doing the same?”

 

---

 

seungwan is a firm believer in doing unto others as you would have done unto yourself.

 

and joohyun has made her actions clear as day. 

 

but two can play this game — that’s what joohyun utters when she finds her jacket missing the next day.

 

“making the same mistake twice? seems a little careless for an upcoming doctor.” sarcasm oozes from every word as the archery captain slides into a chair in front of seungwan.

 

the younger girl looks up, a smug smile plastered across her cheeks while she makes a home in joohyun’s varsity jacket once again.

 

she folds her arms across her chest and quips, “and what about you? don’t you have better things to do other than going around insinuating that we’re dating?”

 

“nothing wrong with messing with people.” the archer shrugs and for a second, she swears she saw seungwan’s eye twitch in annoyance.

 

but her roommate exhales calmly, “glad we’re on the same page then.”

 

quirking a brow, a soft giggle escapes joohyun. she eyes her roommate with amusement as if they’re seeing each other in a new light. she’d always thought seungwan was too uptight, too serious and strict about everything. who would’ve guessed?

 

“alright, babe,” the archer smirks with a strong emphasis on the endearment, a mischievous glint in her eyes, “always knew you had a thing for me.”

 

the remark leaves a fury unlike any bubbling within seungwan’s chest but joohyun is already gone before she can even think of a comeback. 

 

if only seungwan knew the extent of joohyun’s spite, she would’ve let the rumours die down. 

 

---

 

seungwan’s little act of retaliation backfires instantly, though her pride wouldn’t allow her to admit it. she finds various ways to counter the archery captain’s antics but the older girl is a strong foe.

 

it begins with confirming the rumours, telling the popular ones that the two have been dating for quite some time now. naturally, word spreads fast and for the sake of the lie, joohyun finds herself sharing a lunch table with her roommate — something she would’ve never seen herself doing a mere month ago.

 

though her presence is duly noted with scathing hostility. seungwan eyes her up and down as if her very existence is a mistake. of all days, joohyun had to pick one where neither yerim or seulgi are with her.

 

in a hushed tone, the younger girl hisses sharply, “why are you here?” 

 

“to eat lunch with my girlfriend, duh.” joohyun replies nonchalantly, shovelling food into without a care in the world.

 

“i am not your girlfriend.”

 

the archer shoots her a mocking smile, “you’re wearing my jacket as we speak.”

 

“why are you doing this?”

 

“it started as a joke but you decided to start a war.” joohyun shrugs, eyes narrowing as she continues, “plus, i hate losing.”

 

seungwan purses her lips and contemplates ending this petty feud yet a voice at the back of her head is screaming at her to not back down. joohyun wanted to punish her for an honest mistake which is unfair in all ways and she refuses to be a pushover.

 

“you think i’m going to concede?”

 

“frankly, yeah. i’d give you a week at most.”

 

“we’ll see.” seungwan retorts, hesitating for a moment before the word leaves , “babe.”

 

a loud burst of laughter escapes joohyun and heads turn their way, the archer claps her hands in amusement and wipes a stray tear from her eye — that has to be the most awkward babe she’s ever heard in her life.

 

“you couldn’t be more convincing, son seungwan.”

 

---

 

the two enter a heated rivalry to see who could play the role of a doting girlfriend to perfection. if anyone knew of their circumstances, one would question if it’s truly in the spirit of competition.

 

although, her roommate does come with a plus one on some days. park sooyoung, a junior that joohyun is somehow surprisingly close with.

 

for the most part, she doesn’t bother seungwan like joohyun does. she joins them occasionally, filling her lunch break with the two bickering nonstop about a plethora of issues they have with each other. she swears joohyun is enjoying this but the older girl firmly insists it’s still solely due to spite and her competitiveness.

 

sooyoung finds the situation amusing, solely because someone would willingly place themselves in a position to compete against joohyun — even archers from other schools wouldn’t do that.

 

everyone seems afraid of offending the queen, or so sooyoung says, all except for seungwan.

 

joohyun sits by seungwan in the library on afternoons without practice, occasionally she studies but more often than not, she’s a nuisance to her roommate. she leaves doodles and scribbles on seungwan’s notes and the younger girl can’t erase the ink off of them even if she wants to.

 

on the other hand, seungwan begins showing up at archery practices. it’s not uncommon for students to hang out by the field, the bleachers happen to be a pleasant place to chat in the afternoons.

 

but seungwan despises the afternoon heat more than anything and to see her willingly spend three hours in sweltering heat is a shock to everyone, especially her friends.

 

alike the majority of students, her friends, though the ones who convinced her that she should play along with joohyun, have fallen prey to the lie that the two are a couple. at this point, how could she even begin to defend herself? she’s doing things that she normally wouldn’t do — namely, hanging out with her roommate.

 

though, most of it is by chance.

 

“what are you doing here?”

 

it’s been a really long day and seungwan is stepping out of the library after hours of cramming information into her brain. on top of the rain that seems to be steadily turning into a storm, joohyun is sitting on the steps to the library while staring into the distance.

 

jumping to her feet at the sound of seungwan’s voice, the archer shuffles her feet awkwardly, partially soaked from the drizzle that rapidly turned into a heavy shower. instead of the truth, a convenient lie slips from .

 

“i was waiting for you.”

 

“yeah, right.” seungwan scoffs, “i’m heading back.”

 

unlike her roommate, seungwan leaves the dorm prepared. pulling out an umbrella from her bag, she barely shoots joohyun another look as she starts heading in the direction of their dorm.

 

“you’re that heartless?” joohyun calls out, “gonna leave me stranded in the rain?”

 

seungwan bobs her head, “bye!”

 

naturally, joohyun isn’t going to allow seungwan to have her way that easily. the whole point of waiting outside the library was to avoid getting wet but joohyun has cast that plan aside for a more devious one. ensuring her bag is securely slung against her, the archer makes a dash towards seungwan, roughly crashing into her and causing the umbrella to fall out of her hands.

 

the younger girl stumbles forward but is swiftly caught by the wrist by joohyun. a smooth save, joohyun commends herself quielty as a lopsided smile appears on her cheeks. it lasts for a brief second until she chances a glimpse at seungwan.

 

darkened eyes and a tightened jaw, seungwan would do more than just yell at her if she could.

 

with the rain pouring down on the two, the younger girl doesn’t hesitate to unleash every unkind thought perched at the tip of her tongue for the past few days.

 

“what the hell do you want from me? honestly, tell me, joohyun! what have i done for you to want to make a fool of me constantly?”

 

“woah.” joohyun murmurs softly, the rain threatening to drown out her voice, “i thought we were having fun.”

 

“fun?” seungwan bristles, ‘how is any of this fun?”

 

stitching her brows in confusion, joohyun stares at her roommate dumbly, “then why would you play along?”

 

the audacity of joohyun to pretend as if she didn’t know why. seungwan seethes at the sight of her blissfully unaware roommate, anger rips from her being as she yells, “because you think i’m a pushover! you think you can just get away with messing with me!”

 

stunned into silence, joohyun purses her lips. the tension between them hangs heavy in the air and the archer shifts her weight from one leg to another in an attempt to ease it but it grows with every second joohyun doesn’t speak.

 

“you’re miserable and childish, joohyun.”

 

her words are laced with venom and seungwan has no qualms about it, especially when she’s drenched from head to toe thanks to her roommate.

 

it stings and joohyun draws a shaky breath to distract herself from the growing ache in her jaw, “i don’t think of you like that.”

 

“then why are you doing this?”

 

the archer raises her shoulders helplessly and their fight comes to a close. seungwan storms off without another word and joohyun casts her gaze towards the ground.

 

next to the umbrella that seungwan has left behind lies a thick stack of flashcards bound together by a single binder ring. joohyun crouches down and lifts the moist abomination, grimacing as she watches the rain ruin hours upon hours of seungwan’s hard work.

 

“!”

 

a curse tears from as the consequences of her poor decision-making begin to rear its ugly head. somehow, she has to make it up to seungwan or they would never speak again.

 

---

 

there is only one other place joohyun can go when she knows seungwan probably wants nothing to do with her at the moment.

 

“you look like an abandoned puppy.”

 

sooyoung rests against the doorway as she takes in joohyun’s disastrous appearance with a slight grimace. with arms folded across her chest, she’s hesitant to invite her senior into her dorm even though the older girl is clearly shivering.

 

“i need clothes and your desk,” joohyun demands as attempts to barge into sooyoung’s dorm, “and flashcards.”

 

the younger girl stops her with a single hand, “i’m not a bookstore, go back to your dorm.”

 

“i can’t. that’s why i’m here,” joohyun mutters, “now let me in, it’s cold.”

 

sooyoung isn’t as heartless as to turn her senior away, not if she wants to keep her spot on the archery team. without much of a choice, she allows joohyun entry into her room. 

 

the archer stays up through the night despite her fatigue, copying as much of seungwan’s notes as she can. the water has seeped into the paper, causing the ink to smudge, though joohyun thinks she should be grateful that seungwan has rather neat handwriting.

 

by the time seungwan wakes from her rage-filled sleep, a brand new stack of flashcards sits beside a lukewarm cup of coffee on her desk. with them, a yellow post-it note with an apology written in joohyun’s handwriting.

 

‘sorry, i just wanted us to be friends.’

 

she had been bubbling with anger when she realised that joohyun made her drop her notes the previous night, but flicking through the cards written by joohyun only proves that her roommate has indeed copied them word for word. granted, there are some mistakes but it’s nothing that seungwan can’t correct. 

 

snapping her head towards joohyun, her roommate is curled up in bed.

 

“you have ugly handwriting.”

 

a groan is heard and joohyun slowly blinks awake, “at least i tried to colour code them.” she murmurs hoarsely and it’s accompanied by a cough.

 

“are you sick?”

 

“i’ll be fine.”

 

“you don’t look fine.” seungwan frowns, noticing how much paler her roommate is. walking over towards her, she presses a hand on joohyun’s forehead and is surprised by how warm her skin is. “only you would push someone in the rain and proceed to fall sick.”

 

the archer giggles at the irony and exhales slowly, “whatever.”

 

“i’ll get you some food later.”

 

“can i get tteokbboki?”

 

“i’m not your servant.”

 

“but you are my girlfriend.” joohyun teases.

 

“shut up.”

 

---

 

just like that, things begin to shift between the roommates. though joohyun hates to admit it, falling ill actually helped seungwan to be less hostile towards her. seeing a different side of her roommate is nice, the younger girl takes good care of her by making sure she has ample to eat.

 

joohyun remarks that she’d make a great doctor one day but seungwan retorts that she’d rather be a surgeon instead.

 

the initial annoyance seungwan feels whenever joohyun appears wanes in the weeks that they spend together, to the extent that she begins anticipating joohyun’s presence. one would’ve expected that they would end up hating each other even more after their clash, but that’s not the case. while this is far from the intended outcome, seungwan supposes it’s not a bad thing to finally be on talking terms with her roommate.

 

joohyun strikes up a conversation one night, weeks after they begin their silly competition. lying on her bed, the archer interrupts seungwan’s focus with her musings.

 

“you know, i thought you hated me.”

 

by now, the younger girl is accustomed to her roommate’s interruptions — tuning out joohyun is a skill she continues to hone every day.

 

“yah, son seungwan.”

 

sighing, seungwan spins around on her chair, knowing fully well that her roommate would never stop until she gets a response.

 

“i never hated you.” seungwan responds defensively, cringing as she listens to her own words — you could almost feel the lie bleeding from each syllable and joohyun snorting did not help.

 

“just a little bit.” she adds with a raise of her shoulders to mitigate the awkwardness, “when you leave your stuff lying around.”

 

springing up from bed, joohyun frowns at the accusation, “when do i do that?”

 

“really?” seungwan points to some leftover takeout boxes on the older girl’s desk.

 

with the evidence staring back at her, joohyun has no choice but to concede with a huff. “i was saving it for supper.”

 

“no, you’re not.” seungwan deadpans.

 

“fine, i’m not.” the archer sighs with a small smile, “kinda explains why you never wanted to talk to me.”

 

quirking a brow, seungwan feels offended. “i can count the number of times you’ve said hi to me.”

 

“at least you can count,” joohyun grumbles, “you don’t even say hi, you just demand things.”

 

“demand things? when have i ever done that?”

 

“splitting our room? going as far as to literally draw a line with tape? demanding i come back before midnight like i’m cinderella?” seungwan grows quiet while joohyun continues, “i could go on honestly.”

 

“no, i get it. we just weren’t on the same page.”

 

joohyun scoffs lightly, an absence of sarcasm noted in her voice, “and we are now?”

 

the younger girl whistles, “slow down, we’re not friends yet.”

 

“who would’ve thought i’d have trouble making friends?”

 

seungwan laughs, a genuine one — something that’s become a little more common since her petty feud with joohyun started. “come on, it’s not like you want to be friends with someone like me.”

 

“someone like you?” joohyun arches a brow, “what do you mean?”

 

“i mean… why would you befriend a nerd? or your demanding roommate?”

 

“must i have a reason to befriend anyone i meet? you think i’m friends with sooyoung by choice?”

 

“i’m sure she held you at gunpoint and demanded to be friends.”

 

“exactly.” joohyun giggles, “and you’ve done the same by holding my jacket hostage.”

 

seungwan groans loudly, “it was an honest mistake.”

 

“mhmm,” the older girl smiles, “if it wasn’t for that, i would’ve never gotten to know you. i still hope we can be friends someday.”

 

“we’ll see.”

 

---

 

joohyun still finds herself eating lunch with seungwan though it’s not by choice but rather by habit. their pointless competition has faded from existence and what stands in its place is the shaky foundation of what seems like a newfound friendship.

 

perhaps seungwan fails to notice it but joohyun attributes the calm she feels around the younger girl to it. or perhaps it’s because seungwan has no regard for her accomplishments when it comes to archery, it’s ironic to say but it might be the only time her mind is allowed to think of anything outside of the sport.

 

unknowingly, joohyun would seek solace in seungwan before her competitions, even if it’s for a couple of minutes. though, she would usually get seungwan snacks or boba just to make it seem less obvious. heck, she even memorised seungwan’s elaborate and overly sweet boba order.

 

all that effort for a brief moment with her.

 

---

 

joohyun:

i need your help

 

seungwan:

who is this?

 

joohyun:

seriously?

 

seungwan:

yes, who is this?

 

joohyun:

your roommate

joohyun, in case you've forgotten

 

seungwan:

oh.

how could i forget the biggest pain in my ?

you just harassed me an hour ago, what do you want?

 

joohyun:

i need a favour.

i left my hand guard in the dorm.

 

seungwan:

come back and get it?

 

joohyun:

i can’t leave, coach won’t let me.

i have an important match soon, can you bring it to me?

 

seungwan:

you can’t play without it?

 

joohyun:

not if i want to win. i’ll do anything.

 

seungwan:

desperation’s not a good look on you.

 

joohyun:

come on! i will do your laundry for a week.

 

seungwan:

you don’t even do your laundry that often.

 

joohyun:

but you can’t deny my clothes smell great.

can't think of any other reason why you like my jacket so much.

 

seungwan:

you might be the only person that brags about the way their clothes smell...

i’m just glad your jacket doesn’t reek of sweat.

 

joohyun:

okay! whatever! lunch on me for a month.

 

seungwan:

hm…

 

joohyun:

bubble tea for as long as we’re roommates. please?

 

seungwan:

send me your location.

and where the hell did you put it?

 

---

 

joohyun is anxiously pacing the halls of her competition venue when seungwan finally appears. the younger girl is too relaxed about everything and seeing how relieved joohyun seems, seungwan didn’t think any snark would help.

 

“you actually came.” an unconscious smile makes its way onto her face and her voice is tinted with relief.

 

“you wouldn’t text me unless it was life or death.” seungwan shrugs, “though it’s nice to know you’d count on me in a situation like this.”

 

before joohyun has any time to reply, her name is called by the speakers.

 

“oh .” joohyun curses as she strips her jacket away and tosses it to seungwan, “hold this.”

 

the archer rushes onto the field and seungwan follows closely behind. she desperately tries to put on her arm guard but her hands are trembling too much. there is a ringing in her ears and joohyun rapidly feels her mind going blank.

 

sensing her distress, seungwan grabs her hand firmly, forcing the older girl to calm herself. she has never seen joohyun in such a state of panic before, she’s always calm and collected, ready to take on the world. taking the guard out of her hands, seungwan works her way around the straps and buckles like a trained professional. the tender action stuns joohyun enough for her to ground herself.

 

“i didn’t come all the way to watch you lose.” seungwan says as she tightens the last of joohyun’s straps, locking eyes with her, “you’ll win this, just like every other match.”

 

the archer scoffs and silently thanks seungwan for her encouragement, “i won’t let you down.”

 

an aura of confidence returns to joohyun and they exchange a brief smile before she jogs to her position. lifting her bow, bae joohyun is poised for battle and seungwan can’t help her heart from swelling up with pride. 

 

though she could’ve left, seungwan stays for the entirety of the match, watching joohyun fire arrow after arrow with deadly precision while cheering for her. in fact, her cheers are so loud that joohyun avoids any eye contact due to the embarrassment.  

 

when it’s all over, joohyun leaps towards seungwan with a bright smile and a tight embrace.

 

the older girl whispers, “thank you.”

 

“what for?”

 

“being here.” joohyun murmurs as she buries her face in the crook of seungwan’s neck, “i was terrified.”

 

the younger girl merely scoffs and a snarky remark slips, “of what? not hitting your bullseyes?”

 

the archer swallows and mumbles softly, “failing.”

 

“oh.” seungwan purses her lips, the air grows thick as she tries to find the right words, “you don’t have to be afraid if you know you’re the best at what you do. it shouldn’t change regardless of the outcome, i know it won’t for me. you’re the best archer i know.”

 

to think they had such a rocky start — joohyun smiles at how far they’ve come. from bickering roommates to her being comforted by seungwan right before what might be the most important moment of her life.

 

joohyun pulls away as she finally hears a microphone come to life and seungwan keeps her close by locking their arms. she’s nervous but it’s lessened with seungwan by her side.    

 

“i’m happy to announce two new additions to the national women’s archery team.” 

 

seungwan snaps her head towards the archer, her face plastered with shock and her jaw drops, “i thought you said it was a match, not qualifiers for the national team.”

 

“i did say it was important.” joohyun raises her shoulders.

 

“yeah but not national-level important.” seungwan hisses, “you could’ve just told me straight up.”

 

“i was trying to not think about the national part of it all.”

 

“is that how you forgot your handguard too?”

 

“i was cleaning it!”

 

“that’s shocking, i didn’t know you cleaned anything.”

 

“i thought we were over this!”

 

amidst their bickering, they neglect to pay attention to the words of the announcer who had just announced the names of the two new additions. it takes the eyes of dozens for them to break out of their world.

 

“it’s your fault that they’re staring at us.” seungwan whispers with a nudge, “i think you won.”

 

growing conscious of the stares they’re receiving, joohyun shoots a sneaky glance at her coach who is signalling for her to go up on stage — oh, she’ll definitely get reprimanded for this later.

 

bowing her head in apology, the archer makes her way up the stage to receive her well-deserved medal. seungwan claps and cheers once again, uncaring of what others think, after all, she’s roommates with the best archer in the world.

 

---

 

“for someone who caused me to get lectured for ten minutes, you sure are smug.” joohyun mutters bitterly after receiving an earful from her coach. she approaches seungwan who is calmly resting against a wall nearby.

 

seungwan asks with a cocky grin, “what did he say?”

 

“that i shouldn’t bring my girlfriend to important matches because you are distracting as hell,” joohyun sighs, “not to mention extremely loud and embarrassing.”

 

retorting easily, seungwan folds her arms across her chest, “well, he better get used to it. i think i’ll be watching more often.”

 

“oh?” the older girl arches a brow, biting her lips to hide a hopeful grin, “so you only want to be my girlfriend after i make it into the national team?”

 

wanting to keep things light in the event that she’s misread the situation, seungwan shrugs, “or you could just tell me to off too.”

 

jooyhun shakes her head as her lips begin to lift into a beaming smile, “don’t think i’ll do that, i’d rather do this instead.”

 

the archer leans in and leaves a soft peck on seungwan’s cheek, causing her to turn a bright red. shaking her head, joohyun can’t help but laugh at her reaction.

 

“told you i’d win.” the older girl winks, “now come on.”

 

grabbing her by the wrist, joohyun begins leading her out.

 

“w-where are we going?”

 

“on our first real date, duh.”

 

---

end notes!

a hee hee. giggle. happy wenrene day!
can't believe this spiralled out of control all because i thought wendy didn't look like someone who owns varsity jackets. and it only felt right to finish this because of all the LUP5 wenrene content.

hope this was a fun lil read, thanks for reading!