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chaeryoung can’t stop staring.
her eyes should be directed at the front of the classroom, where their professor drones on about some type of math equation used to explain xyz, but instead, chaeryeong is too busy being enamored by the pink gloss that sits perfectly over shin ryujin’s lips.
chaeryoung had promised herself that she wouldn’t let her small (read: not small) crush on the other girl interrupt her day to day processes, because there were more important things to do that didn’t involve thinking about running a hand through ryujin’s newly dyed hair (and how the dark blonde hair looks so good on her), or thinking about her smile (the way her eyes scrunched up, the way her whisker dimples would be on full display), or thinking about holding her hands (her hands that looked smooth, and nimble has she twirls her pen in her hand over and over and over—)
and she definitely, should not be thinking about ryujin’s lips, how full they looked, and how they would possibly feel on her own (soft and smooth, with ryujin’s hand on her waist and chaeryeong’s hand at the nape of her neck, and—)
“lee chaeryeong?” the fantasy shatters before her very eyes, the true backdrop of reality showing this: a ryujin staring back at her, eyebrow raised with the amused twist of her lips (chaeryeong never stopped staring, fuck—), and chaeryeong’s slow turn to the front of the classroom, where professor kang stared at her, eyebrow raised with the unimpressed downturn of her lips.
“are we staring off into space again, ms. lee? this time at another student, no less.”
chaeryeong feels her cheeks heat, and she’s sure her face is as red as her hair and her hand, caught in the act.
“sorry professor!” the girl lets out a squeak, righting herself in her seat, eyes trained down at her notes, which are nowhere near up to speed with the current lesson. the professor pays no mind, going back to her lecture, and only after chaeryeong feels like no one is no longer watching her, she silently excuses herself to the restroom, needing a breath of fresh air.
she doesn’t actually need to use the bathroom, and she’s wearing makeup today, so instead she chooses to run her hands underneath the faucet, water cold as can be. she doesn’t even know how long she spends staring at the cool liquid wash over her skin, until she hears a voice behind her.
“it’s not good to waste water, you know?” comes the smooth voice, and chaeryeong whips her head up to look in the mirror, and meets eyes with her number one distraction.
ryujin comes up to the sink next to her, leaning over her own sink to look at the mirror before quickly glancing down at the tap. “you not gonna turn that off?”
“...oh!” chaeryeong is brought back to reality, hastily turning the faucet with more force than necessary. it’s a miracle the poor thing doesn’t snap.
chaeryeong chances another look in the blonde’s direction, who’s still examining her appearance in the mirror. “what are you doing here?” are the strangled words that leave her lips, and for a moment, chaeryeong seriously considers sticking her head into a toilet bowl and drowning herself to end her misery.
‘what are you doing here?’ its a fucking bathroom, what the hell else—
but ryujin merely giggles. perhaps she’s amused by chaeryeong’s ineptitude to socialize, and there’s only a small sliver of solace in that. “i’m just checking my appearance. my friend wants to meet up with me to take pictures after this class ends.”
“ah, pictures. that’s really cool.” of all words to use, cool? just cool? this is a cry for help.
there’s no time to run herself into the ground again, not when her eyes are tracking ryujin’s next movement. she watches as ryujin reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a tube of pink gloss.
it’s another one of those moments, where chaeryeong can’t tell if the universe hates her or loves her, as she gets front row tickets to watch ryujin reapply that damned lipstick on her damned perfect lips, watches how the blonde slowly runs the wand along her upper lip first, before moving onto the bottom, topping it all off with the rubbing of her lips together to smear the residue into place.
chaeryeong could only blink several times, brain barely functioning.
“i like your lip gloss,” is what she says, “you look so good in that color.” it comes out a touch too genuine, but whatever. she means it.
ryujin turns to her, lip gloss still held in one hand. there’s a hint of a surprised smile on her face, and her eyes roam chaeryeong’s face in contemplation. chaeryeong fights down the urge to squirm.
“i— thank you,” is what the blonde finally settles on, looking away bashfully before looking up again. “actually, the more i think about it, this shade would look good on you too. wanna try?”
chaeryeong’s not exactly sure where this is going, barely getting out an uh, sure, when ryujin suddenly takes hold of her hand (as it turns out, her hands are smooth and nice to the touch).
what is not expected is when ryujin lifts her hand, up, up, all the way up to her face, before pressing a soft kiss there, eyes burning into chaeryeong’s the entire time.
for the second time that day, chaeryeong feels heat rise in her face, but this time tenfold. even when ryujin’s lips leave her skin, she can still feel the imprint of warmth that’s been left on them, just as real as the lip gloss marking that’s been left there instead.
ryujin runs a finger along her knuckles as she admires her handiwork, and chaeryeong can only gape like a fish. “yup! this shade is a perfect match, just like i thought,” ryujin looks up at her again, the corners of her mouth on the rise, and chaeryeong is still speechless, her brain cracking under the pressure of working overdrive to process.
“hey, we should probably get back to class soon before it ends. i’ll go first,” ryujin says suddenly, and she takes the tube of lipgloss before carefully turning chaeryeong’s hand so that her palm faces up, and pressing the object into her palm before closing it into a fist. she then leans into chaeryeong’s space, mouth right besides her ear and whispers: “i hope i’ll see you around more, chae.”
ryujin looks at her once more in the eyes— ryujin’s are absolutely sparkling— before making her grace and swift exit, leaving chaeryeong to stand there in awe.
its only after some time, when chaeryeong remembers that she has to be a human being again, that she looks at the lip-shaped gloss on the back of her hands, before she opens her palms, staring down at the tube.
surely enough, upon closer inspection, there’s a set of digits scrawled on it in black ink, only slightly smudged but still legible.
“her power...”
chaeryeong would think about this moment for days to come.
(and much later, there will be another moment that chaeryeong will think about for days to come, when she finally gets to test out her own favorite lip gloss on ryujin, leaning forward and pressing her lips against ryujin’s own in a sweet kiss, at long last.)