Work Text:
Yoohyeon sighs, staring down into her cup of coffee. If only she’d actually bothered to check the weather yesterday. Maybe she’d have saved herself some disappointment. Glancing again at her phone and its forecast of heavy rain pretty much all day, she turns it off and instead looks out the window. She watches glumly as the light drizzle outside starts to pick up and turn into a decent rain shower.
Another sigh. It’s not that she has anything against rain. The pitter-patter of it hitting the window and the roof is soothing, and curled up with a blanket and coffee in her apartment - it’s pretty to watch.
Really it’s just that she’d hoped to get out and do something with Bora and Yubin today. It’s not very often lately that all three of them have a full day off together, and Yoohyeon had hoped to take advantage of that. Even if it was just something like hanging out at the park down the street for a while.
(Days at the park with her girls are some of Yoohyeon’s favorite. She loves petting all the dogs, especially Cherry, an adorable little pup always accompanied by Minji and her bright smile. Getting to wingwoman for the dog owner by watching Cherry while Minji goes to flirt with the Chinese woman who brings her cat to the park sometimes is an added bonus. She and Bora have taken bets on how long before they’re official, so each day that both the pet owners show up is like getting to watch a real life drama right from their park bench.
She also loves the chance it gives her and Yubin to tease Bora whenever the older woman gets frightened by the dogs. Yubin obviously does too, since she never passes up the opportunity to poke fun. They both know that despite her whining, Bora loves it too, if nothing else because it gives her an excuse to demand comfort cuddles from Yubin. And while Yubin likes to deny it, they all know she enjoys complying with those demands.
The warm, fuzzy feeling Yoohyeon gets in her chest when she looks up from a cute dog and sees them nestled together on their bench like that is something she’ll never get tired of.)
Despite herself, Yoohyeon smiles. Regardless of how she feels about the weather, it’s hard for her not to smile when thinking about her two favorite women. She thinks of how they looked when she got up this morning, faces soft and relaxed, hair a little ruffled from bed head. Both tucked in, looking small and cute contrasted against the large king size bed they’re still sleeping on just a wall away.
Well, at least she hopes they’re still sleeping. Luckily she hadn’t been center last night, but even on the side of the bed Yoohyeon often has trouble sneaking out without waking at least one of them.
They really do need the rest. They’ve both been working so hard lately, fighting to stay afloat in a sea of approaching deadlines at their respective jobs. Today really is the first time in a while that they both can relax for a moment.
Yoohyeon sighs again. That’s why she wanted to take them to the park. Sure, they can have a day in with each other, maybe watch a drama together or something. But she knows that if they’re home they’ll eventually drift back to work. Bora’s always got ideas for her choreographies running through her head, and the moment she checks her work email she’s often gone - coordinating lesson plans, performance groups, competitions, anything and everything going on down at her studio. And Yubin’s the same way with her composing and producing; there’s always more to come up with, things to tweak and improve, and more requests from artists to field.
Don’t get her wrong, their work ethics and passion for their crafts are a couple of the things Yoohyeon adores about her partners. It just means she knows she needs to get them out of the apartment if she wants to ensure they actually take the day off (and to guarantee she keeps their undivided attention for a while, that too).
The sound of the rain picking up into a full-fledged downpour draws her attention back to it. Yoohyeon briefly marvels at just how hard it’s coming down, the gentle white noise of the rain hitting the building escalating into a dull roar.
Speaking of Yubin and Bora… now this brings her back.
Yoohyeon hasn’t been out in many rainstorms like this one, but there’s one that she’ll always remember. Because it’s the one where she met Yubin, and reunited with Bora.
---- 4 years ago ----
Yoohyeon kicks a can as she walks down the empty sidewalk, trying to let out some of her frustration any way she can. It helps a little, briefly, the loud sound satisfying as her boot connects with the aluminum. But she only makes it a few more steps. She pauses, looks back at the can… and picks it up to drop in the next recycling bin she passes.
She's not mad anymore. She wasn't even really mad in the first place, at least not at her roommate. Siyeon's great, and her girlfriend is a sweet cutie even if she can be a bit of a menace sometimes. Now that Yoohyeon has walked for a while, gotten some space, she knows why she got so emotional at their apartment earlier.
She's lonely.
It's only been a year or so since she got back from studying in Europe, and she's already lost touch with a lot of the friends she made there. And despite the full year to do so, she hasn't really reconnected with many of her friends back here from before she left.
Yoohyeon plops down on a bench, dropping the can in a bin next to it with a sigh. She should probably go back and apologize; it wasn’t Siyeon or Gahyeon’s fault she stormed out so suddenly. But now that she’s out, the embarrassment is hitting her, and she doesn’t want to. She could use the time outside to think anyways.
Unfortunately for Yoohyeon, once she decides that… that’s when it starts to rain. It comes out of nowhere, and picks up fast. It’s not long before she’s drenched.
Just her luck. Now it’s also her pride keeping her away from her place - the last thing she wants is to also be shivering and wet when she stumbles in to make her apology. And she doesn’t really have anywhere else to go either, at least not close by. So she just stays on the bench, head in her hands.
Eventually though, wanting more time to think or not, she really does need to get out of the rain. Maybe if she walks for a bit she could find a bus stop or a coffee shop where she could at least have a roof over her head.
Not really paying attention to her surroundings, she doesn’t notice the car coming up behind her until it sprays her legs going through a puddle and she looks up in shock. Already drenched, Yoohyeon can’t really bring herself to care. She just ducks her head under her hood again and keeps walking.
But she’s startled again by a voice calling out ahead of her.
“Kim Yoohyeon!”
She freezes and looks up, eyes wide, only to see the same car that had just splashed her, now pulled over a little ways in front of her. The same voice lets out a curse, and the passenger door opens, an umbrella and a woman coming out of the car.
Surprise takes over anything else Yoohyeon had been feeling. “Bora? ”
Her old college roommate from her undergrad years runs up to her.
“I knew it was you! What the hell are you doing out here? You’re soaked!” Bora immediately berates her and starts leading Yoohyeon to the car.
Unable to fully process what’s happening yet, Yoohyeon just follows along. She hasn’t seen Bora since she left for Europe to get her master’s and work abroad. They tried to keep in touch but eventually contact just… faded as they both got busier with their respective responsibilities. Seeing her again now, and acting as if it were only yesterday that they were roommates… it’s almost surreal.
Yoohyeon watches, now holding Bora’s umbrella at her insistence, as she opens the back door and yells for the driver to open the trunk. She grabs a towel and a blanket, laying the towel down and setting the blanket next to it before beckoning Yoohyeon to get in.
With the taller woman still in a bit of a daze, Bora basically manhandles Yoohyeon into the car, peeling off her sweatshirt and covering her with the blanket before sitting down next to her. She can hear the older woman still muttering angrily about how dumb Yoohyeon is for being out in this weather, and her touch is slightly rough as she aggressively rubs Yoohyeon’s arms with the blanket, trying to warm her up.
But rough is just part of who Bora is. To Yoohyeon, she just feels how much Bora still cares for her to be doing this, and to be so angry about her doing something stupid. So loving, so tough and soft at the same time… so Bora . The taller woman can’t help the grin that forms on her face.
That gets her another scolding (“Yah! Why are you smiling about this? Are you going into shock, you dumb puppy?” ) but it rolls right off of her. Insults and fights were just as integral to their friendship as anything else back in college, and it feels nice. Familiar.
“I’m just happy to see you again, Bora.”
Bora rolls her eyes at that and looks away, but Yoohyeon knows it got her. The shorter woman’s touches soften to a gentle grip. The berating stops. And a small smile lifts the corner of Bora’s lips.
Mentally returning to the real world from her memory, Yoohyeon can feel that same big grin on her face right now. It might have been a stupid move, getting caught in that rainstorm, but she’ll forever be grateful for everything that came of that day.
Bora took Yoohyeon back to her apartment that night, the two friends immediately falling back into old patterns of familiarity ("Kim Yoohyeon, do you know how many times I’ve already seen you naked, taking care of your drunk ass? Just get in the bathtub already! ”), and it was like the three years of little to no contact never happened.
But unfortunately, everything picking up where it left off like that meant that the baggage came with it too. If Yoohyeon thought she had gotten over her former roommate while off in Europe… that one night was all it took to prove her wrong.
Yoohyeon can still vividly remember the just how painfully her heart clenched when Bora had finally introduced the driver of the car as Yubin, her girlfriend of almost a year at the time. It had taken everything she had to not show that hurt in the moment.
(She later learned from Yubin that she hadn’t succeeded. But that’s another mistake she’s okay with now, since it had tipped off the younger woman to her feelings, and encouraged the couple’s pursuit of her. Apparently Bora had been nursing a crush during their college years as well, but only at the end of it, not long before Yoohyeon left. Yubin, knowing about this college pining, only got excited when she saw that it was still reciprocated that night.
Yubin just didn’t expect to also fall for the taller woman as she tried to set the two of them up.)
It had been awkward at first. Yoohyeon wasn’t sure how to feel about the flirty vibe she still got from Bora, further reawakening all of those feelings she hid from back in college. She definitely wasn’t sure how to feel about Yubin giving her the same signals, nor the feelings starting to form from that.
A few months into their strange rekindled (and new, for Yubin) friendship was when it all started to make sense.
Bora invited both of them over for a very casual dinner, and Yoohyeon could tell that the couple was doing everything they could to make it a welcoming atmosphere. Then they had explained.
That night Yoohyeon learned that Yubin was poly, and that Bora was too, having figured it out once dating Yubin and being introduced to the concept through her. Apparently Yubin had already had a girlfriend when she and Bora had started dating, and both had dated a bit here and there since officially becoming a couple.
But with Yoohyeon, something new was happening - they both were interested in the same person.
It was an understatement to say that Yoohyeon was overwhelmed.
But not in a bad way, necessarily. She remembers being grateful for how upfront the couple was with her, how adamant that they didn’t want to pressure her into something she didn’t want, or make her feel like she needed to force herself to fall for both of them if she was only into one of them.
She remembers feeling like everything finally made sense. The dynamics between the three of them had confused her since that night in the rain, making her feel like she was always reading things wrong. Finally things seemed to fall into place.
So Yoohyeon had been hesitant at first, at the new situation, but she couldn’t deny the crush for her old roommate that still lingered… and the new one starting to develop on said roommate’s girlfriend. And that she wanted to give them all a chance much more than she wanted to let her apprehension and nervousness scare her away.
And more than anything else, she remembers feeling excited for the possibilities, even if they were scary at first.
How does one navigate falling in love with two people already in love with each other?
With time, she learned the answer to her question - patience, trust, and a lot of communication.
Not that it all fell into place immediately. They had their rough patches, as any other relationship might. But Yoohyeon wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. The three of them just… fit together. In a way Yoohyeon wouldn’t have guessed beforehand.
She remembers being surprised when she got to know Yubin at first, since she just… was not at all someone Yoohyeon had pictured ending up with Bora. Opposites in so many ways, it didn’t make sense to her. But that was the beauty of it. They complimented each other well, balancing each other out in ways Yoohyeon wouldn’t have thought to look for. And somehow that was true for her too, once she was added in and their triad began.
Gosh, just thinking about all of it makes her stomach flutter, even now. Over three years now with these women. How did she get so lucky?
“Whatcha smiling about over there, babe?”
Yoohyeon’s dopey grin finally falls as she yelps, nearly spilling her coffee at the loud sound of Bora’s voice. She looks up to see her girlfriends standing over her, both already dressed and with their morning coffee and tea in hand.
Yubin looks offended, holding a hand over her ear. “Really? This early in the morning and you’re already this loud?”
Bora just scoffs in response. “You’d think you’d be used to it by now.” She pulls the younger woman into her arms, attempting to snuggle up to her, only for Yubin to push her away with a huff.
The smile she’s fighting to keep down is obvious though, and seeing it makes Yoohyeon’s return as well.
To change the subject, Yubin focuses on that. “Really though, what has you that smiley, Yooh? You just sat there with the biggest grin this whole time we’ve been up.” The switch gets Bora’s attention too, and they both look at her expectantly.
The sudden shift from playful to genuinely curious gets Yoohyeon a little shy. “Ah, nothing, just…” Yoohyeon gestures out the window, “look how hard it’s raining out. It reminds me of that night you two took me in.” Yoohyeon pauses, warily eyeing the soft looks the other two girls are giving her.
Sure enough, it’s Bora that validates her wariness, diving right in with a cuddle attack similar to the one she just inflicted on Yubin. “Aww, our Yoohyeonie getting all sentimental this morning. We love you too!”
Yoohyeon feels her ears get hot as she fights her off.
“Oh, stop. I wanted to go to the park with you two today, but…” Yoohyeon shrugs. “Then I saw this. Remembering that night made me think of the past few years in general, and I dunno, I got caught up in it. Thinking about how happy and lucky I am.”
Her girlfriends look at her warmly, and Yoohyeon feels the blush spread across her face. They know how much they mean to each other, but she still can’t help getting just a little bit shy when saying it so directly like this.
She fans herself, trying to cool down a bit. As she looks back out the window, she’s struck with an idea.
“You know what, we should go!”
“What?”
Yoohyeon jumps up, grabbing their arms and pulling them towards the door. “Outside, let’s go. C’mon!”
“Wait! We can’t just-” Bora cuts herself off as Yoohyeon turns around. “No. Don’t you dare use that look on me already Miss Kim.”
Yoohyeon ignores her, breaking out her best puppy dog eyes. “Please? Down to the park? Just for a little bit, I promise.”
Bora starts out looking determined, but after only a few moments of staring down Yoohyeon’s pout her expression fades into something more like helplessness. She looks to Yubin for assistance.
“I-...” but she too, falters as soon as Yoohyeon turns her pleading look on her. The youngest does manage to recover a bit though. “Yooh… it’s pretty bad out, and probably cold…”
The taller woman doesn’t miss a beat. She darts into the bedroom, returning with hoodies for everyone that she passes out before slipping one on herself.
“Alright, we’re set. Let’s go!”
She drags both of them out the door, both now resigned to humoring the tall woman.
Yoohyeon notices that Yubin manages to grab an umbrella on the way out, but that’s okay. She’ll deal with that when they get there.
“Yoohyeon, at least stay under the umbrella with us. You’re gonna get sick.” Yubin tries again to convince her, but Yoohyeon, again, ignores her and forges on ahead. It’s not a cold rain, so Yoohyeon doesn’t feel uncomfortable as the water pours over her. But more than anything, she just enjoys the way it enhances her memory, really bringing her back to that night when this all started for them.
That alone is enough to keep her energy up as she walks along, spinning around and just enjoying the moment. She can tell she’s already getting to Bora, because despite staying under the umbrella, arms linked with Yubin’s, the older woman is grinning at Yoohyeon’s antics. She might be outwardly agreeing with Yubin’s reasoning, but she’s definitely coming around.
When they reach the park, Yoohyeon is already pretty drenched. But her excitement only grows. Now just to get the others.
Yubin speaks up first with a hint of exasperation. “Alright, we’re here. Now what?”
Grinning, Yoohyeon turns around towards them. “It’s just like that night! Don’t you feel it now?” Receiving nothing but silence and a quirked eyebrow as a response, Yoohyeon rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Now, we hang out and have fun!” She beckons them to come out and join her, but neither budge.
“Come on, we’re here. Let’s go! You’re not gonna have any fun hiding under that umbrella!”
Bora eyes her skeptically. “I don’t know, I don’t remember being soaked that night.”
Yoohyeon smiles mischievously. “I guess you’re right. But not everything needs to be perfectly the same.”
Lunging forward, she grabs at Bora and yanks her out into the rain.
“Hey-!”
Yoohyeon doesn’t give her a chance to finish her protest, leaning down to connect their lips. Bora, being Bora, melts into it immediately. Yoohyeon can’t resist smiling into the kiss a bit. The older woman might act tough, but both of her girlfriends know exactly how weak she is for them.
Gently, Yoohyeon brings her hands up to Bora’s face. Cupping her cheek with one and using the other to push her hood down, she lets the rain engulf them both as she deepens the kiss.
She pulls away, glancing between her girlfriends. She knows she’s succeeded in winning them over when she sees the slight daze Bora has yet to recover from, and the fond smile resting on Yubin’s face. Her heart feeling light, she giggles and runs off into the park.
Glancing back, Yoohyeon sees Bora smile and look over at Yubin with an expression she’s all too familiar with. The one that says, “well… what can we do with her?” and is often paired with a fond little shrug. (Yoohyeon is proud of how good she is at earning this look, from both her partners.) Yubin sighs, but doesn’t fight the return smile.
Feeling triumphant, Yoohyeon slows down, closing her eyes and throwing her arms out; she just lets herself enjoy all the feelings running through her. What she’s not expecting is to suddenly feel strong arms around her. She squeals when Bora picks her up and spins her around, playfully scolding her with a “yah, Kim Yoohyeon!”
She doesn’t hesitate, counterattacking immediately when she’s set down. Yoohyeon leaps at Bora and they both go down, rolling and yelling as they do. It’s wet, it’s muddy, but Yoohyeon can’t bring herself to care about that. Not when she’s too caught up in the moment, enjoying how free she feels. Not when she has to focus on keeping her grip so that for once she can manage to pin Bora and take the lead for the next kiss-
Hands grip her shoulders tightly as Bora pins them to the ground, quickly straddling Yoohyeon’s hips to keep her there.The taller woman lets out a little whine at the loss. (Not that she ever really minds, but Yubin and Bora don’t need to know that part).
Bora leans in to capture Yoohyeon’s lips, ending the whine by replacing it with a content hum.
When they separate, Yoohyeon grins seeing Yubin standing over them, finally having ditched the umbrella. Bora only has enough time to realize what Yoohyeon’s looking at before the youngest pounces, squishing Bora down in between the two younger women.
(Yubin tells her later that night that she hadn’t planned on joining them in the rain, she swears. But watching them play together, she couldn’t help it. She’d put the umbrella on their bench, let the water run down her face… and decided that maybe sometimes a little cold was worth it to spend moments like these with her girls.)
Both of them on the bottom let out screams at the sudden addition of weight, but Yubin just laughs as she settles on top and leans in for her own turn to kiss Yoohyeon, who certainly isn’t complaining anymore. Bora, however, fills their ears with loud protests as Yubin keeps her pinned and makes out with Yoohyeon over her shoulder.
When she finally breaks away for air, Yubin rolls off of the pile to catch her breath. Yoohyeon and Bora share a look… and both roll as well, ganging up on the youngest to get her back, giving her a turn at being pinned as well.
Together, they all let their worries melt away for awhile under the steady rain.
When they finally head home, they’re absolutely soaked. They’re finally starting to get a bit chilled, and both they and their clothes are all muddied up. They’re almost certainly going to catch a cold soon. But none of those things are what’s on their minds.
Instead, they make their way home with full hearts. Thinking only of how happy they are to have each other, and how nice it will be to cuddle up together after a warm shower.
And Yoohyeon thinks of how thankful she is to have gotten caught in that downpour.