Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

dahyun doesn’t like her roommate. 

nayeon’s loud and messy and doesn’t seem to understand that their cramped dorm room is for studying, not social gatherings and movie nights. dahyun’s usually forced to study in mina’s apartment or at the library while nayeon hosts yet another party in their room and leaves the whole place a mess.

the room they share is a small, two-room apartment on campus that contains little more than two twin beds, two desks, and a bathroom. nayeon and dahyun switch between taking out the trash and doing the laundry every week. dahyun’s pretty sure the only reason they’re stuck together is that they’re both dance majors and dahyun’s on a full ride and skipped a grade while nayeon’s on the cusp of failing. 

dahyun comes home on a tuesday morning after staying over at her best (and only) friend, mina’s dorm because nayeon invited sana and jihyo over to get drunk and play mario kart. jihyo, conveniently, is mina’s roommate, so on nights like these, mina takes jihyo’s bed and dahyun takes mina’s. nayeon’s side of the room is trashed, full of empty pizza boxes and beer cans. dahyun’s, as always, is perfectly organized and clean, her laptop and notebooks lined up neatly on her desk. 

nayeon’s sprawled out on her bed, the duvet hanging off limply. she’s in yesterday’s clothes: blue jeans and a pink sweatshirt. dahyun can practically smell the booze radiating off her breath as her chest rises and falls. sighing, dahyun grabs a trash bag from under the sink and, as quietly as she can, starts picking up. she might not like nayeon, but she’s not going to wake the girl up when she’s gotten so little sleep. she’s also not the biggest fan of conflict, and waking nayeon up on purpose might start some. 

dahyun’s finished with cleaning up the trash and she’s about to take it out when-

“dahyun?”

she looks over to find nayeon half-sitting, half lying down on her bed, her bangs glued to her forehead with dried sweat. she looks...peaceful, vulnerable in a way that’s almost endearing. 

“why’re you cleaning up?” her brows furrow and her hand reaches up to tuck her hair behind her ear. she’s squinting, her eyes still not used to the light pouring in from the windows. 

“because it’s dirty?” dahyun responds, slowly setting the trash bag down. she doesn’t see why nayeon’s confused; she didn’t want to live in a dirty dorm, so she cleaned it. easy as that. 

“but i made the mess.”

“so?” 

“so i should clean it.” 

“i don’t mind, nayeon.” dahyun picks the trash back up and hoists it over her shoulder. 

“are you sure?” nayeon sits up, blinking sleepily. 

“positive.” dahyun opens the door, throws the trash down the chute, and sneaks back inside. she comes back to nayeon sitting up on her bed stretching her neck. 

“dahyun?”

“hm?”

“thank you.” dahyun looks over to see nayeon smiling, hair flowing down her back, her arms wrapped around herself, and dahyun finds herself smiling back. 

__

they’re not really friends after that, but they’re not not friends. nayeon always smiles and says good morning and checks in on dahyun, leaving snacks on her desk when she goes out or lending a sweatshirt when dahyun rips hers. dahyun tries to think that nayeon’s just taking care of her because she’s older and it’s her job and whatnot, but it doesn’t stop the blush that creeps across her cheeks when nayeon wraps a sobbing dahyun in her arms after exam week.

sometimes, when she can hear dahyun crying in the shower or sees her come back late with red eyes, nayeon buys some hot chocolate (or a chocolate milkshake if it’s warm) and sits next to dahyun under her desk because she knows that’s where dahyun feels safest and she’ll drape a blanket over her and put an arm around her shoulder and they’ll stay there until dahyun takes a deep breath and thanks nayeon with a smile. nayeon just smiles back and holds her tighter and soon dahyun starts turning to nayeon for comfort on her own.

Chapter Text

it’s going to be at jackson’s house, mina’s strangely adamant about going, it’s this friday, and that’s all dahyun knows about the party. 

she doesn’t plan on attending herself because crowds make her anxious and she has stuff to do, namely writing a paper on various contemporary styles of dance and procrastinating said paper. mina never attends parties, but dahyun attributes mina’s attendance to the fact that jihyo will be there and she seems to have some kind of crush on her roommate. flirtatious texts, an abnormal amount of hugs, constantly buying her food, etc. dahyun doesn’t really care because mina’s life is mina’s and even though they’re best friends, dahyun knows there are still boundaries she shouldn’t cross. 

at least dahyun thought she wasn’t going to the party. mina kind of throws a wrench in her plan when she pouts and begs dahyun to come with her because she doesn’t want to be stuck with jihyo. even though they literally live together, dahyun takes pity on her and reluctantly agrees to go. 

which is precisely how she finds herself in the backseat of nayeon’s car in one of sana’s dresses, squished between mina and the door. dahyun’s not even there yet, and her heart rate and breathing are speeding up and sweat drips onto her brow. mina takes her hand, intertwines their fingers. dahyun holds on for dear life. 

fifteen minutes later, she’s in jackson’s house, still holding mina’s hand, and she’s taking her jacket off and mina’s leading her somewhere and dahyun has no idea where she’s going but couldn’t care less because her vision’s blurry and everything’s pressing in around her and she’s nauseous and her head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton. the room’s bathed in soft yellow light and there’s a dj on the wall opposite of wherever mina’s dragging her, and that’s all dahyun sees before she snaps. 

she manages to let go of mina’s hand and make her way over to what she thinks is the bathroom but there’s someone inside so she sits against the wall and does her best to not fall apart even though it feels like there’s a rope wrapped around her rib cage. she wants to throw up and cry and hide under her desk. 

and then there are tears filling up her eyes and leaking down to her cheeks and all the sounds of the party are muffled, like she’s wearing headphones. the rope tightens around her and she starts to really cry, like the sobs are being squeezed out of her. 

there are hands, pulling her somewhere, wiping her cheeks, handing her tissues, combing through her hair, wrapping a coat around her that she vaguely recognizes as not her own. she’s still crying and she gets pulled into a side hug, her butt getting sore from the hard ground underneath her. her head falls sideways across someone’s chest and she squeezes her eyes shut. 

“i can take her home,” dahyun hears, the sound blending into the cacophony of the still-raging party, a hand gently rubbing her back. 

“no, let me.” this time she feels the sound in the other person’s chest, vibrating as they talk. dahyun opens her eyes. 

the first thing she sees is mina’s face. she’s squatting in the middle of the hallway, her black cardigan balled up under one arm. a tissue sits bunched up in her in her right hand, and she reaches out to put the left one on dahyun’s cheek. the next thing she sees is jihyo, squatting next to mina with one arm draped over her roommate and the other holding a box of kleenex. she sets the tissues down to tuck a loose strand of hair behind dahyun’s ear, looking at her with such delicacy, the way you might look at a small injured child. then, she notices sana standing behind them, cradling a glass of water.

lastly, she looks to her right until jihyo’s face disappears, turning into marble-floored and walnut-walled hallway, and finally replaced by nayeon’s wide eyes and slight pout.  

dahyun almost stumbles back when she realizes how close she is to her roommate. 

her head is almost in nayeon’s lap, the back of her skull pushed against nayeon’s torso. nayeon has one arm draped over her and another playing with her hair, the black locs fitting through her fingers almost too well. nayeon’s mouth starts moving and there’s sound coming out, and it takes an embarrassingly long time for dahyun to process her question.

“do you want to go home?”

“y-yeah.”

everything is kind of a blur after that. she sits up, sana hands her the glass of water, dahyun drinks, nayeon takes and it sets it on the ground. mina and jihyo help her up, nayeon grabs her hand and walks her out, she gets in her roommate's car and curls up in the passenger seat, still numb. she looks over and sees nayeon softly singing along to the radio and maybe dahyun smiles. 

they get back to campus, dahyun watches nayeon pay the parking meter, her silhouette lit up by the streetlights. nayeon opens dahyun’s door and dahyun’s breath catches when nayeon leans over to check on her. nayeon, thankfully, doesn’t seem to notice and just grabs dahyun’s hand and wraps an arm around her shoulders. dahyun tentatively inches her arms around nayeon’s waist and interlocks her fingers, freezing up when nayeon squeezes her tighter and walks her back to their room. dahyun lets go of her roommate when they get to their door and stands a reasonable four feet away from her as nayeon rifles through her purse in search of her keys. as soon as they walk through the door, nayeon marches over to dahyun’s dresser and digs out a pair of her favorite pajamas. dahyun stands agape at the realization that nayeon is touching her underwear and then she’s shoved into their bathroom and nayeon leaves the pajamas on the towel rack. 

—

dahyun gets ready for bed on autopilot, mind blank. she showers, gets dressed, and brushes her teeth in an impressive twenty minutes and when she exits the bathroom with her hair wrapped in a towel, nayeon is sitting on her bed, chewing on her nail. nayeon’s gaze shoots up to meet dahyun’s, dahyun walks closer, nayeon stands up and places her hand on dahyun’s shoulder and dahyun’s breath hitches and she stares past nayeon at the wall and hopes nayeon doesn’t realize. 

“-and i’m really sorry, dahyun.”

dahyun looks up, eyebrows furrowing. “it’s okay, nayeon. i’m not mad at you. i’ve never been mad at you.”

nayeon inhales sharply. “really?”

dahyun nods and nayeon seems to deflate, a weight lifting off her shoulders. dahyun finds it endearing.

“i’m gonna go shower, do you wanna watch a movie or something after? it’s only eleven thirty.”

“okay.”

nayeon smiles and lets go of dahyun’s shoulder with a squeeze, grabbing shorts and a t-shirt on her way to the bathroom. 

dahyun grabs her laptop and phone and lies down on her bed, answering mina’s concerned texts and telling her to go have fun, getting a load of heart emojis in return. dahyun smiles. 

nayeon exits the bathroom a few minutes later, not bothering to wrap her damp hair. she saunters over to dahyun’s bed and shamelessly snuggles under the covers. dahyun sits up, staring at nayeon, mouth hanging open.

“what? aren’t we watching a movie?”

“uh- yes. yes, we’re watching a movie. marvel. is marvel okay? unless you like star wars more, i’m fine with either. but if we watch star wars i want to watch one of the prequels. i haven’t seen them in a while, but empire strikes back is so good i kind of want to watch it again and-”

nayeon cuts her off with a laugh. “dahyun, you’re rambling. we can watch anything, i don’t mind.” 

“so is the phantom menace okay?”

“of course, dahyun. now come here.” nayeon pats the space next to her and dahyun tosses her hair towel on the floor and shimmies next to her roommate in what she hopes is a suave and graceful manner. dahyun lets the side of her head brush nayeon’s shoulder and decides that any more physical contact will probably give her a heart attack. she grabs her laptop and rests it on top of their legs and feels nayeon’s breath hit her hair and tries not to let her heart beat too fast.

dahyun doesn’t remember when she fell asleep. somewhere around anakin blowing up the droid control ship, probably. all she knows is that she woke up on nayeon’s shoulder, an arm thrown over her roommate’s waist, head buried in nayeon’s neck.

“good morning!”

“IM NAYEON.”

nayeon bursts out laughing and tugs dahyun closer, saying something about oxytocin. dahyun doesn’t really register what she’s talking about because im nayeon is cuddling with her and her legs are tangled up with dahyun’s and her chin is resting on top of dahyun’s head and her hands are rubbing her back and all dahyun can do is melt.

Chapter Text

sharing a bed is like, a thing for them now. dahyun will come out of the shower and nayeon is lying down one of their beds with her arms outstretched and dahyun turns off the lights and falls asleep curled into nayeon’s chest. it’s not like they sleep together every single night, just days they need a little extra support. like when nayeon got assigned four essays in the same week. or when dahyun was asked to choreograph nearly half of the winter showcase. or the entire month of february. 

one day, though, dahyun’s showering and she hears a knock on the door and a reminder that the building’s turning off their hot water at midnight to run repairs. it’s currently 11:54 so she’s about to tell nayeon she’ll be out in thirty seconds even though she hasn’t even washed her hair yet when nayeon asks if they can shower together.

well. this was new.

dahyun takes a deep breath. remembers the days she and mina would shower together freshman year. reminds herself that she’s already seen nayeon (mostly) naked so she has no reason to get flustered. and really, what’s dahyun supposed to do? let nayeon stink? go to bed wet and dirty? it was march and still cold. she couldn’t let nayeon freeze.

“yeah sure, the door’s unlocked,” dahyun squeaks. she prides herself on not stuttering, though. progress!

she hears the door open and footsteps hit the floor and before she knows it nayeon is peeling back the curtain and stepping into the shower.

“hi.”

“uh- here, i can turn around and here’s my shampoo, i know yours is empty so you can use mine and i’ll just- yeah.”

“okay,” nayeon smiles, so gentle and comforting that dahyun kind of wants to cry. 

they shower, dress, brush their teeth, nayeon stays behind to go to the bathroom. dahyun dries her hair with a towel, not bothering to wrap it up. she hesitates for a second, towel on the floor, standing next to nayeon’s bed, but nayeon is warm and sweet and caring and dahyun has been feeling extra homesick lately so she crawls into nayeon’s bed and lies stiff on her back. 

the bathroom door opens. nayeon’s eyes light up when she finds dahyun in her bed. dahyun blushes, turns onto her side, wishes she didn’t feel as empty as she did. 

nayeon turns off the lights and suddenly there are arms sneaking around dahyun’s waist and lips pressed to her forehead and she buries her head in nayeon’s chest and hugs her back, hard, tears trickling down her face. nayeon shushes her and runs her hand through dahyun’s hair and dahyun starts full on sobbing and there are lips on her forehead, her hair, the crown of her head. dahyun squeezes nayeon tighter and her heart fills and she realizes she’s hopelessly in love with im nayeon.
___

dahyun runs into mina while she’s out getting coffee. mina offers to buy her a cup. dahyun would’ve felt worse about accepting her offer if mina’s family wasn’t filthy rich. 

“how’re you doing lately? i know you get homesick around easter and stuff…” mina trails off, sipping her coffee. she looks meek, dahyun thinks, in her black sweater and ponytail. it kind of makes her want to cry. they’re sitting in a booth now, ruining dahyun’s plan to get on a caffeine high and study until she forgot all her problems. dahyun takes a long drink of her mocha to delay answering, buries herself in her jean jacket a little. 

“i’m okay, i guess. kind of stressed? but other than that i’m fine. you?” dahyun takes another sip. she really wanted to talk through her feelings for nayeon, figure out how to deal with crushing on her roommate, but it feels too privat right now. mina furrows her eyebrows. dahyun hates worrying her. she can’t stand an upset mina. she has the overwhelming urge to hug her until mina is smiling again, radiant and beautiful. 

“are you sure?”

“yes.” dahyun smiles at her. mina relaxes, then looks down with a soft smile, tapping her fingers on the table. 

“…jihyo asked me out,” she says to the table. she looks up with that same smile and dahyun can’t help but lean over and pester her with question after question, gripping her arm tightly with a huge, squealy smile on her face. she’s so, so happy for her best friend. mina blushes hard and avoids dahyun’s eyes, but she removes dahyun’s hand from her arm and holds it instead. she’s still smiling, so dahyun takes that as her cue to go on a long rant about how “if she hurts you i’ll kill her and give her death glares and kick her in the balls” and mina just laughs. dahyun acts offended and stands up.

“mina! why are you laughing at me? am i not scary enough for you? i’m freakin’ terrifying! momo won’t even look me in the eyes, i’m so scary! huh?” dahyun puts on her best fake scary face, and mina doubles over with more laughter. dahyun huffs and crosses her arms. 

“don’t underestimate me, myoui. i’m a fucking terror .” 

mina laughs harder. dahyun smiles and walks to mina’s side of the booth to hug her. she forgets about how sad she is, a little bit.
___

dahyun returns to her room at exactly 11:15 pm. she’d taken up mina’s offer to study at the library all day, breaking for dinner halfway through. all she wants to do now is sleep. not even shower or change, just collapse in bed and deal with everything tomorrow. or the day after. or never. she is, for lack of a better term, exhausted. 

the second dahyun flops in to bed, lying on her stomach, nayeon marches in with a loud, “kim dahyun, i have had a horrible day surrounded by horrible people working on horrible projects and i bought you a chocolate bar because i saw it and thought you would like it but it’s okay if you don’t because i will eat it and maybe i’ll eat it anyway because my day was just that horrible and my head hurts and i have a stomachache and can we watch a movie? but i need to shower first because i stink because i have sweated half my body weight out of stress. maybe i should go to therapy,” and she drops her bag on the floor and goes to shower, seemingly oblivious to the fact that dahyun is trying to sleep. 

dahyun has just processed nayeon’s rant when she shrieks from the bathroom, “DAHYUN DAHYUN MY BOOB IS LUMPY DO I HAVE BREAST CANCER? HELP! COME HERE!”

because she’s so nice, dahyun picks her head up, takes her phone from her pocket, and googles “signs of breast cancer.” 

“is there bloody discharge coming from your nipple?” dahyun blushes hard and feels the need to pray after that sentence. 

“no! nothing like that! there’s just this bump! can you come here? feel it!” nayeon whines.

dahyun doesn’t think she’d survive touching nayeon’s boobs, so she rattles off more symptoms from her phone. 

“are your nipples inverted?” this question, dahyun thinks, is only slightly better. 

“which way are they supposed to be?!”

“pointing out, i think?” dahyun doesn’t really know and nayeon is kind of giving her a migraine. “does it hurt?”

“does what hurt?!” 

“your, uh, breast.” this question is much worse. dahyun buries her face in her pillow and hopes nayeon figures out this boob disease thing on her own. 

“it always hurts!” nayeon whines. “okay, okay, i’m gonna shower now and figure this out in the morning. after we watch a movie. have you showered yet?” the door opens. dahyun turns her head and sees nayeon topless with her head sticking out the door and dahyun instantly squeezes her eyes shut and feels her face heat up.

“you haven’t? come, we can shower together. i need you to check out this boob thing anyway.” dahyun forces her eyes open and pouts at nayeon before slowly dragging herself out of bed. she does her best to keep her gaze solidly on the floor. 

“hi,” nayeon says. “how was your day?” it was incredible how quickly nayeon’s mood could switch. now she was in comfort mode, hand on dahyun’s shoulder and the other playing with her hair. dahyun does her best to keep her eyes on nayeon’s face, resting a hand on nayeon’s shoulder. 

“good. my day was good. i got coffee with mina and she paid but it’s okay because she has a lot of money, but i don’t resent her or anything because she’s such a great person and then we studied for seven hours and now i can’t think and i have so much student loan debt to work off and so many more requirements for my major and i worked all day but I’m not even close to being done and-” nayeon coos at her and dahyun lets her forehead rest on nayeon’s shoulder, arms falling to her sides. nayeon kisses her temple and wraps her arms around dahyun’s waist, murmuring in her ear. she rocks them back and forth a little bit, hands teasing at dahyun’s butt. 

“alright, enough of that. let’s shower,” nayeon pulls away and takes off her pants. dahyun focuses strictly on the wall behind nayeon’s head. nayeon gets in the shower. 

“come on, dahyun. we both know you kinda smell.” dahyun sniffs her armpits. she smells like deodorant and coffee, but undresses and joins nayeon in the shower anyway. she’s about to turn around and grab the shampoo but then nayeon asks her if her boob feels weird and dahyun can’t not help her friend. 

she turns around with a sigh. “where’s the bump?” she’s still keeping her focus on nayeon’s face. she feels hot, suddenly. maybe she needs a cold shower today. 

nayeon points, dahyun tentatively feels and decides that nayeon does not have breast cancer. she quickly retracts her hand.

“i think,” dahyun says slowly, “that you’re fine.” nayeon breathes a huge sigh of relief and hugs dahyun again. 

“thank you. that was really stressing me out.” dahyun slowly hugs her back. nayeon must really be losing it. 

they shower and suddenly dahyun is no longer tired, especially when nayeon plants a hand on dahyun’s butt while they brush their teeth. 

nayeon decides that they should watch clueless today and pulls it up on her laptop, patting the space next to her on dahyun’s bed. she’s wearing shorts that are barely shorts and a sheer white t-shirt. dahyun is essentially in a bodysuit, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. she doesn’t think she’d be able to sleep feeling nayeon’s skin against hers. nayeon gives her a funny look and dahyun reluctantly puts on a short-sleeved shirt. she turns around to change and feels nayeon’s eyes burn into her back. 

dahyun thinks that snuggling up to her roommate like this is probably not normal. her head is on nayeon’s shoulder and nayeon’s arm is caging her in. dahyun wants to never move and run away at the same time. 

she falls asleep fifteen minutes into the movie, and nayeon smiles at her, puts the computer away, and strokes dahyun’s hair for a moment before kissing her forehead and closing her eyes.

(the next morning, she wakes up to nayeon spooning her. when she tries to get out of bed, nayeon holds her tightly and doesn’t let go. they sleep and cuddle and talk for another hour and a half before finally getting up).

Chapter Text

nayeon grew up with extremely high expectations surrounding her and strict, cold parents who were set on their daughter getting a degree in finance and marrying a rich man. she could count on one hand the number of times her parents told her they loved her unconditionally. she couldn’t wait to go to college and start her own life, especially when they found out she liked girls and kept threatening to kick her out.

nayeon, as a result, doesn’t care about her grades or life after college. she’s gay, so marrying a man is out of the question. she has little contact with her parents but talks to her sister constantly. her grades are excellent in dance but horrible in all her gen ed classes. she cherishes any kind of companionship she can get and dahyun is just so cute . how could nayeon resist her? 

dahyun finds all of this out from jihyo, nayeon’s old roommate and mina’s now-girlfriend, and sana, nayeon’s best friend. they had reached out together because they wanted to “get to know dahyun better.” dahyun was suspicious but agreed, so now she’s stuck in this nayeon 101 info session in the same cafe she talked to mina in a week ago at a table across from jihyo and sana. 

“i appreciate you guys telling me this,” dahyun starts slowly, tilting her nearly-empty mug in a circle, “but why?”

sana reaches across the table to put a hand on her arm, forcing dahyun to set her mug down. 

“look at me, dahyun. listen. she needs her friends to know what she’s been through, but she’s horrible at telling them. and you’re important to her. we just thought you should know.” sana nervously tucks her lip between her teeth, but keeps her hand on dahyun. jihyo squeezes sana’s thigh supportively.

“no- i- it’s okay that you told me. thank you for telling me,” dahyun reassures with a smile. sana squeezes dahyun’s arm before letting her go, smiling back and sipping her iced coffee through a straw. 

___

dahyun approaches nayeon with the information later that night, around 10:30. they had already showered (separately, thank god), and dahyun was working at her desk while nayeon lay in bed on her phone. dahyun closes her computer with a sigh and sits on the edge of nayeon’s bed. 

“so, i went out with sana and jihyo today,” dahyun starts, fidgeting with her fingers. nayeon puts her phone down and sits up a little.

“they told me some, uh, stuff about you. and your…your family…” dahyun trails off. nayeon takes a deep breath. 

“okay,” nayeon smiles shakily. 

“do you wanna talk about it?” dahyun asks nervously. 

“nah, i’m fine. seriously.” she smiles again and pats the space next to her. dahyun dutifully lies down and lets nayeon play with her hair. 

“what about you? what’s your family like? it’s only fair, you know.” nayeon braids a strand of dahyun’s hair, then undoes it. it does something to dahyun’s system. she feels the tension seeping out of her. 

dahyun looks at the ceiling with her hands folded across her stomach. “my family’s good. they’re good. like, they’re good as in they’re doing well and good as in good people. they’re better off with me here,” dahyun turns her head to look at nayeon, who looks confused.

“who would be better without you around?” she asks, and dahyun flushes a deep shade of red as nayeon resumes playing with her hair.

“we just don’t have a lot of money, you know, so i’m one less person to worry about,” dahyun answers. dread creeps into her throat. she doesn’t like talking about her family.

nayeon just hums and starts poking dahyun’s forehead, then her cheeks, then her stomach, tickling her with a teasing smile.

“nayeon no! stop it! i’m ticklish! ah!” dahyun dissolves into laughter, curling herself into a ball facing away from her roommate. nayeon laughs and wraps herself around dahyun, forcing her arms around dahyun’s torso. dahyun tenses up and prepares to be tickled again but relaxes when nayeon just holds her close. 

“thanks for telling me. i don’t, like, think less of you or anything. you’re still the hottest roommate i’ve ever had,” nayeon teases. dahyun’s face goes red. 

“i’ll be sure to tell jihyo that,” dahyun responds, trying to seem nonchalant. nayeon pulls her closer. 

“i suppose i walked into that, didn’t i?” nayeon sighs. 

“yes,” dahyun loosens nayeon’s arms and turns around to face her. in a stupid bout of courage, she says, “you’re the prettiest roommate i’ve ever had, if that’s worth anything.” dahyun immediately regrets everything she has ever done. 

nayeon pulls her in and kisses the crown of her head. 

“it does,” nayeon says quietly, and dahyun relaxes into her neck. 

they lie there for a few moments, nayeon tracing patterns on dahyun’s back with her fingers and pressing kisses to her head. dahyun’s body burns hotter and hotter and nayeon’s relaxing into her and her hands are slowing down and she starts snoring a little and dahyun decides to regain some semblance of control. 

“can we watch a movie?” she asks tentatively.

“mh. five more minutes,” nayeon mumbles.
__

(they don’t watch a movie that night. dahyun falls asleep and wakes up at three a.m. with her face pressed into nayeon’s chest. she just nuzzles into her collarbone and breathes her in, and the next thing she knows her alarm is going off and nayeon is begging for ten more minutes in bed).

Chapter Text

nayeon is drunk.

that’s the first thing dahyun thinks when her roommate calls her at two in the morning, asking to be picked up from a party. dahyun is in bed, asleep, but she dutifully yanks on some sweatpants and stumbles outside to hail a cab. 

her street is somewhat peaceful at night: aside from a few police and ambulance sirens, it’s nearly silent outside. the college she attends isn’t near any hugely popular clubs or bars, so nightlife is pretty much nonexistent in her area. still, dahyun watches the world from the curb as she waits for her taxi. she sees teenagers smoking on street corners, coughing and laughing and patting each other on the back. she sees some kids in black hoodies run from a garage with a can of spray paint, giggling and stumbling over their feet. she watches drunk couples stagger down the sidewalk, smiles etched into their faces. it takes dahyun a while to realize that she’s smiling too. 

it’s nearing three a.m. by the time dahyun manages to get nayeon in a taxi home with her, with her stupid pretty makeup on her stupid pretty face with her stupid little black dress and the stupid high heels she’d kicked off to curl up in the backseat, head lolling against the window. the car hits a speed bump and nayeon rolls over and buries her head in dahyun’s neck, linking their arms and forcing her fingers through dahyun’s. dahyun is suddenly hyper-aware of every place she’s touching nayeon, trying not to breathe too much so nayeon doesn’t get suspicious, then worrying that her breathing is weird, then sweating. nayeon smells like booze and smoke and perfume, but if dahyun leans in close enough, she can smell her citrus shampoo and vanilla deodorant. 

nayeon snores. dahyun breathes a sigh of relief.

they make it home, after what feels like forever. dahyun thanks the driver profusely as she tries to wrestle nayeon’s shoes back on. the older girl keeps trying to go back to sleep and swat dahyun away. 

dahyun manages to get them inside their apartment, nayeon hanging off her shoulders like a koala. she ushers nayeon into the shower. nayeon pouts and whines but goes in anyway. dahyun takes the time to clean up their room a bit. 

nayeon comes out of the bathroom thirty seconds later, naked and dripping wet. dahyun shrieks. 

“put some clothes on! fuck’s sake, nayeon…” dahyun trails off and takes a step closer when nayeon doesn’t react. she smells exactly the same. 

“did you use soap?” dahyun asks. nayeon pouts again and shakes her head. 

“jesus christ. c’mere.” dahyun pulls nayeon back into the bathroom, sets her under the shower, turns it on, and hands her a bottle of body wash. when did she become im nayeon’s babysitter? 

“use it,” dahyun orders. nayeon looks at the bottle as if she’s never seen anything like it and has no idea what to do with it, her brows furrowed and lips tugged down into a frown. 

after five minutes of trying to teach nayeon how to take a shower, dahyun gives up and offers to bathe her instead. nayeon nods eagerly, a grin lighting up her face. dahyun thinks she was set up. she isn’t going to complain, though, not when nayeon’s smiling so brightly and her wet hair is sticking to her forehead. 

dahyun sheds her clothes, folding them up nicely on the sink before joining her roommate in the shower. taking care not to get wet, she steps into the shower and begins to shampoo nayeon’s hair. nayeon grunts appreciatively and leans back into her touch. it’s not too different from washing herself, she supposes, except nayeon is slowly edging backwards so dahyun’s breasts are pressing against her back. 

there’s a brief moment of awkwardness when dahyun has to wash nayeon’s torso, but nayeon sighs and washes her chest herself, smirking at how red dahyun’s face is. 

thankfully, nayeon manages to get herself dressed, though she insists on dahyun being within arm’s reach. while sober nayeon is clingy, drunk nayeon is stuck to her at the hip. 

they’re brushing their teeth side by side in front of the sink, nayeon’s hand buried in dahyun’s back pocket. nayeon’s hair is wrapped up in a towel and she’s wearing purple pajama shorts and a t-shirt. standing together, brushing their teeth like this, it feels so domestic. it’s as if nayeon and dahyun have been living together for years, with their little routines and idle chatting while they get ready. 

nayeon spits into the sink and drops her toothbrush in it and wraps her arms around dahyun’s waist, lips pressed against her shoulder, hugging her from behind. she doesn’t move, even when dahyun encourages her to go to bed. 

“dahyun.”

“yes?” she sighs. dahyun prides herself on being the most patient person she knows, but nayeon is really testing her right now.

“you know i love you, right?”

dahyun sputters and spits and her face flushes and she tenses up as she looks at her reflection in the mirror, nayeon wrapped around her like a fucking blanket and talking into her shoulder. 

“yeah, i mean- yes. i do. also, uh, you too. me too? i-” she stutters.

she feels nayeon smile into her shoulder. “i know. good.”

and then nayeon lifts her head up and presses a kiss on the corner of dahyun’s mouth, lingering for longer than she usually would. dahyun gasps. 

nayeon pulls back a little bit, smiling. dahyun has no idea how nayeon’s acting like everything is normal. her brain is stuck on a loop, replaying the moment nayeon kissed her. 

nayeon has absolutely no shame, dragging her eyes up and down dahyun’s face, planting a hand on dahyun’s cheek and turning her head towards her. her gaze locks onto dahyun’s lips. dahyun’s breath hitches.

“okay?” nayeon whispers. dahyun remembers to nod.

nayeon kisses her softly, hand moving from her cheek to cup dahyun’s jaw. she pulls away for a second to face dahyun completely and dahyun has the urge to jump out the window. 

and then nayeon kisses her again, her other hand resting on dahyun’s hip. dahyun tentatively wraps her arms around nayeon’s shoulders. she grunts when nayeon opens her mouth a little bit, licking the dahyun’s bottom lip gently. 

by the time they’ve separated, dahyun’s brain feels like it’s melted. all she can think about is nayeon and how she tastes a little like the beer she drank earlier but mostly like spearmint toothpaste, how nice her hands feel on dahyun’s face, how her mouth feels warm but not hot pressed against dahyun’s.

“that was nice,” nayeon says, not moving. dahyun feels herself come back.

“uh, yes. yes it was. i would love to do it again but can we wait until morning? i’m so tired and you need to sleep and oh-,” dahyun rambles. she’s not tired at all, actually, since nayeon’s kissed her, but she knows that nayeon needs to sleep off her impending hangover. nayeon just smiles again, that stupid soft smile that gives dahyun the urge to hug her roommate. 

“bed,” dahyun says softly, leading nayeon out of the bathroom. she chuckles when nayeon jumps into dahyun’s bed and opens her arms. dahyun dutifully curls up into nayeon’s shoulder and feels nayeon kiss the top of her head. the excitement she felt before starts to seep out of her, replaced with soft content. nayeon’s ability to calm dahyun down was incredible. 

“night,” nayeon says. 

“mh,” dahyun grunts, falling asleep already. nayeon tangles their legs together. 

___

dahyun wakes up with her head buried in nayeon’s neck, the older girl on her back. she has one arm wrapped protectively around dahyun and the other is splayed off to the side. dahyun has her arms around nayeon’s stomach. 

nayeon grunts and grumbles as she wakes up, blinking a few times before she smiles at dahyun again, bright and beautiful like the sun. dahyun can’t help but smile back. she smiles wider when nayeon leans in to kiss her again.