Chapter Text
"This is a bad idea," Dahyun tells her immediately.
Chaeyoung frowns at the quick response. "I haven't even finished telling you the plan!"
"You wanna get an apartment with Tzuyu." Dahyun's looking at her like she's crazy, and Chaeyoung is pretty sure they've switched roles. It's usually her doing the judging at whatever idiotic thing Dahyun does. Chaeyoung doesn't really like being on the receiving end of the look.
"What's wrong with that?"
Personally, Chaeyoung thinks it's a great idea. She and Tzuyu have been best friends for years now. They're both attending University of Seoul, and the apartments in Seoul are ridiculously expensive.
The obvious answer is to rent an apartment with each other.
Chaeyoung doesn't see why Dahyun thinks it's such a big deal. Everyone in their little group is already doing it. Jihyo and Dahyun, who both go to Seoul National University, share one. Jeongyeon and Nayeon also have one together, since Nayeon made Jeongyeon swear to her when they were eight to live together. Mina, Sana, and Momo all live together, despite going to three different universities around Seoul.
It's practically inevitable she and Tzuyu will live together.
"Tzuyu," Dahyun repeats and flails her arms around to emphasize her point. "Chou Tzuyu, who you've been in love with since you were sixteen! Probably even younger!"
"Yah, unnie!" Chaeyoung leans over to hit Dahyun in the shoulder. "That was three years ago. I'm completely over her now."
Dahyun gives her a look, meaning she doesn't believe a word of what Chaeyoung is saying.
"I'm serious," Chaeyoung says. They were best friends first and foremost, and that's all they were as far as she was concerned. Three years is plenty of time for feelings to fade.
Dahyun just raises her eyebrows. "Do you remember when Tzuyu dated Mingyu?"
Chaeyoung grimaces. "Did you really have to bring that up."
"I'm just saying, Tzuyu dated Mingyu for a month and you got all sad and mopey. What's gonna happen when Tzuyu brings a guy home? You're gonna get all sad and mopey again, but this time, you can't even try to avoid her because you live together!"
Chaeyoung shakes her head. "That would only happen if I still had feelings for Tzuyu." She glares at Dahyun. "Which I don't."
Dahyun sighs and dramatically throws her hands up in the air from her spot on the couch. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Chaeyoung just rolls her eyes at her friend's antics. It'll be great. She'll be living with her best friend and attending one of the best universities in Seoul. And she most definitely did not have feelings for Tzuyu, so everything Dahyun just said won't happen. She'll be fine.
"So we should probably go apartment hunting, right?" Chaeyoung asks. They're on the couch watching a drama, and Chaeyoung is snuggled into Tzuyu's side because her house is freezing and Tzuyu is a human heater.
"If we don't want to live on the streets, then probably," Tzuyu responds dryly and Chaeyoung flicks her nose. She pouts at Chaeyoung before pausing the drama. "I've actually found some places we can look at this weekend."
She pulls them up on her laptop, and Chaeyoung is impressed by the younger girl's organization. The apartments all seem nice from the pictures, are in their budget, and close to the university.
"Sounds good." Chaeyoung tangles her fingers together in thanks, ignoring the way her heart speeds up.
It was probably from the excitement of buying apartments anyway.
They find the apartment a ten minute walk away from the university. It has two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a room that's half the kitchen and half the living room. As soon as they walked in, Tzuyu had smiled brightly, her dimple making an appearance and everything. It's fairly small, but they didn't need much room anyway.
When Chaeyoung saw that smile, she knew she'd get the apartment too just because Tzuyu loved it.
Dahyun would call her whipped. Chaeyoung would just say everyone who has ever met Tzuyu is whipped for her, and she isn't wrong. There's just something about Tzuyu that makes people want to do anything for her.
With that smile, Tzuyu could probably take over the world.
The two sign the lease, and when Chaeyoung sees their names side by side, she feels her heart skip a beat.
She's totally fine. She's just excited to have found such a nice place without too much of a hassle.
They start moving in the week after. They had their friends help them move all their things, which wasn't much, and repaid them in pizza. Nayeon had cried twice about the two youngest being all grown up, and Momo almost fell down the steps, but they made it out without any terrible injuries, so Chaeyoung considers it a win.
Once everyone leaves, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu stand in the middle of the apartment, taking it all in. Chaeyoung feels more content than she has all summer, standing here with Tzuyu in their new home.
She kinda loves the feeling.
Chaeyoung rests her head on Tzuyu's shoulder. She feels great but a certain element is missing. The apartment didn't feel personal yet. She looks at the bare walls and empty rooms, frowning and imagining what she wants to put everywhere. "Do you want to go shopping tomorrow?"
"Sure. Tomorrow," Tzuyu murmurs, grabbing Chaeyoung's hand. Chaeyoung is pretty sure she almost has a heart attack when she realizes Tzuyu's leading them to her room.
"Tzuyu-ya," she says and tilts her head in the direction of her own room.
Tzuyu drops her hand quickly. "Sorry. Force of habit, I guess."
They always sleep in each other's rooms when they have sleepovers. Chaeyoung guesses Tzuyu was a bit drunk and forgot Chaeyoung now has her own room right next to Tzuyu's.
While she's brushing her teeth, she realizes Tzuyu didn't drink tonight. She rarely drinks at all because she's not too fond of the taste of alcohol, nor the feeling it gives her. Chaeyoung remembers when they were younger, Tzuyu couldn't sleep without a night light and her stuffed puppy.
She frowns and puts on her pajamas. It's completely dark and silent, and Chaeyoung is outside Tzuyu's door, debating with herself. They sleep in the same bed all the time, but then again, they've never had the choice of sleeping in their respective beds during a sleepover. Is it weird if Chaeyoung sleeps in Tzuyu's bed if her own bed is only a ten-second walk away?
The thought of Tzuyu laying on her bed, unable to fall asleep because she doesn't adjust to new places quickly, spurs Chaeyoung on. She opens the door to Tzuyu's room quietly and tiptoes to her bed. After a moment, Tzuyu scoots over to make room for Chaeyoung to slip under the covers.
Chaeyoung lets the silence drag on for a bit before saying, "You can always tell me when you're uncomfortable, Tzuyu."
She's not sure if she's referring to Tzuyu's reluctance to ask Chaeyoung to sleep with her, or the possibility that Tzuyu thinks it's weird Chaeyoung chose to sleep with her when her bed is one wall over.
"I know," Tzuyu says and holds her hand up.
Chaeyoung smiles and laces their fingers together. Soon, Tzuyu's breath evens out, and Chaeyoung is left listening to the soft snores of her best friend. She sighs and closes her eyes.
If Tzuyu is the last thing on her mind before she falls asleep, no one needs to know.
School doesn't start for another week, and Chaeyoung is grateful. She's pretty sure if she had to deal with calculus problems while also learning to live with Tzuyu, her brain would explode.
Tzuyu learned how to use the coffee maker when they moved in, a gift courtesy of her parents. So every day, Chaeyoung has been waking up to the smell of coffee and a fresh pot waiting for her. It was a nice little routine they had created. Tzuyu would wake up and go on a jog, then arrive back home and make coffee before Chaeyoung woke up, then hop in the shower. They'd go out to eat sometimes, other times, they'd just make some ramen.
Yes, they know it's unhealthy to eat ramen for breakfast, but they were college kids. They didn't have the luxury of being healthy.
Chaeyoung doesn't think anything would be different today. She yawns and pads out of her room, rubbing her eyes. She figures Tzuyu already took a shower since she didn't hear the water running.
She didn't expect to see Tzuyu at the stove wearing an oversized t-shirt and some extremely short shorts from her dancing days. Chaeyoung trips over literally nothing, alerting Tzuyu to her presence.
"Hey, Chaeng," she says and flashes her usual grin, nearly making Chaeyoung trip over air again.
"Morning," she gets out and heads straight for the coffee pot. Maybe if she has some caffeine, she'll be able to walk normally. She takes a quick sip and scalds her tongue, but at least it's a distraction from Tzuyu. She swallows thickly. "Did you jog this morning?"
"No, I wanted to try making pancakes." She holds up the box of pancake mix they spontaneously bought while grocery shopping a few days ago. They figured ramen wasn't the only thing they should eat for breakfast.
"Sounds good. How far did you get?"
Tzuyu blushes and looks down. That means she didn't start yet. Chaeyoung stifles her laughter at the cute reaction and pushes off the counter to stand next to Tzuyu. She peeks at the box in Tzuyu's hand, praying to God there's some type of instructions on how to cook pancakes.
"Mix water and pancake mix, then put on a skillet," Chaeyoung reads. It seems easy enough. Tzuyu is already a step ahead of her. She already got a bowl, and she's measuring out the water now.
"Do you remember when we tried to make kimchi?" Tzuyu asks her as Chaeyoung stirs the mix and water together.
Chaeyoung laughs brightly. "How could I forget? I'll always remember you crying because you thought I was going to die."
"We were thirteen and you literally told me you were dying! What was I supposed to think?"
Chaeyoung smiles at the memory as she pours the mix into the skillet. She and Tzuyu had never really cooked anything, and they thought kimchi would be the best place to start since Jihyo was always talking about making it. They were dumb though and tried to make it using the vague information they had learned from watching their parents make it. Needless to say, it didn't turn out well.
The kitchen was a huge mess by the time Chaeyoung's parents arrived home, and Tzuyu was crying because Chaeyoung was gagging after she tried some of their kimchi. Poor Tzuyu really thought she killed her.
"Well, it was at that moment I realized you actually liked me and weren't just keeping me around so I could help you with Korean," Chaeyoung teases.
Tzuyu rolls her eyes. "Of course I liked you." She comes up behind Chaeyoung and hugs her. "How could I not? You were so tiny and cute."
Chaeyoung takes a deep breath, and all she can focus on is Tzuyu. The way her arms were wrapped loosely around Chaeyoung's waist, or that she still smells like the same subtle perfume she's had for as long as Chaeyoung has known her, or how she's leaning forward over Chaeyoung's shoulder and if Chaeyoung turns her head, she'd probably kiss Tzuyu's cheek.
Tzuyu could easily do the same and Chaeyoung thinks if Tzuyu kisses her cheek, she'll combust on the spot. Wait, why is Tzuyu turning towards her. She's not ready for-
"I think your pancake is burning."
Chaeyoung jerks away from Tzuyu and yelps. Even she can tell her pancake is burnt, which is saying a lot. She flips it quickly and groans at the completely black side of the pancake. She had one job and she got distracted.
Tzuyu laughs at her pout and pokes Chaeyoung's dimple softly. "It's okay, Chaeng. We have plenty of batter."
Chaeyoung sighs dramatically. She's seriously regretting her choice to try cooking again. She's good at making ramen, maybe she should just stick with that. She wonders if it's too late to start boiling some.
Tzuyu holds her hand out, and Chaeyoung feels like she's waving the white flag of surrender when she hands over the spatula. It wasn't even her fault, it's all Chou Tzuyu's fault. Why does she have to be so distracting all the time?
She's staring mournfully at her half-burnt pancake, preparing to douse it in syrup to cover up the singed taste, when another plate with more pancakes slides towards Chaeyoung. She looks up to see Tzuyu staring at her with a small smile.
Of course she'd make pancakes perfectly the first time, and of course she'd give them to Chaeyoung. Tzuyu's too good for this world.
"Tzuyu-ya, you should eat these since you made them. I can try making pancakes again."
Tzuyu looks at her, unimpressed. "I don't want the apartment to burn down, we've only had it for a few weeks."
Chaeyoung takes it all back. Tzuyu is evil.
Evil or not, she cooked up some delicious pancakes. Chaeyoung had forgotten how good not-ramen food is. She's not cut out for cooking, but maybe Tzuyu is.
The thought of coming home to Tzuyu cooking them dinner is so domestic that it makes her chest physically ache. Chaeyoung glances at Tzuyu and even when she's barefaced and has on the round glasses she only wears inside the house, she's beautiful.
Tzuyu notices Chaeyoung staring and looks up with a smile. "What?"
"Nothing. You just look really pretty right now."
Tzuyu blushes and thanks Chaeyoung, and Chaeyoung realizes that she needs to call Dahyun as soon as possible.
She needs help.
Chaeyoung has to wait for Tzuyu to be in class before she calls Dahyun. The second the door shuts, she rushes to her room and FaceTimes Dahyun on her laptop.
"Don't say I told you so."
Dahyun squints at her from the screen of her laptop. "You still like her."
Chaeyoung is grateful for the lack of teasing. Dahyun probably knows how conflicted she feels right now and despite her humorous personality, she's able to take things seriously when need be.
She's also glad Dahyun didn't use the word 'love' like before. Chaeyoung wouldn't go as far as to call it love. It's a small crush. Tzuyu's just unfairly pretty and kind and smart and…
Chaeyoung cuts off her line of thoughts. The point is, it's nothing serious. It's easy to fall for your best friend, especially if they're someone like Chou Tzuyu. It has nothing to do with the fact that Chaeyoung was smitten with Tzuyu when she was sixteen and seventeen.
She tells all this to Dahyun, who doesn't comment for a long time.
"Have you ever considered the possibility Tzuyu likes you too?"
If Dahyun were next to her, Chaeyoung would've hit her for even suggesting that. "Stop joking around and help me figure out ways to stop having a crush on my best friend and roommate."
"I'm serious, Chaeng." She holds up a hand to stop Chaeyoung from interrupting. "You've never seen the way she looks at you."
Chaeyoung scoffs. "She looks at everyone like that. Did you ever see her heart eyes with Mingyu?"
"And the way she acts?" Dahyun presses on. "She willingly hugs you and holds your hand. She even initiates it. You've seen what she does to Nayeon sometimes, right? Tzuyu completely stiff-arms her."
"Because it's Nayeon. Everyone does that to her. Even Jeongyeon, and they're practically married."
"And she even flirts with you! Do you remember when we said where we wanted to go and she said 'your heart' to you? Do you? Because I do."
Chaeyoung winces. That was not her best moment. Little Chaeyoung had just put into words what she was feeling for Tzuyu and had a gay panic when Tzuyu said that. So when Tzuyu asked her where she wanted to go, she responded with a waterpark. Tzuyu had pouted at her for the rest of the night, and Chaeyoung is embarrassed just thinking about it.
"Chaeyoung-ah." Dahyun is completely serious now. "Is it really that far-fetched to think your feelings aren't one-sided?"
Chaeyoung doesn't even want to think about that. Tzuyu could probably have anyone she wanted at this university. There are so many options here, why would she choose Chaeyoung over all of them? It just wouldn't happen.
And if Chaeyoung did entertain the idea, she'd probably do something like confess to Tzuyu and then their eight years of friendship would be over like that. Chaeyoung couldn't risk not having Tzuyu in her life at all.
It was just a simple crush. She could get over it, then she can go back to being Tzuyu's best friend without wondering every other minute what it'd be like to kiss her.
"Dahyun-unnie." She pulls the unnie card to let Dahyun know how serious she felt about this. "Please, just help me try and get over this dumb crush."
Dahyun stares at her for a long time, and then she nods. "Okay, I'll try and help you." She grabs her phone and starts to type something. "Grab a paper and a pen."
Chaeyoung is slightly suspicious but obliges anyway.
After a minute, Dahyun seems to find what she wants and fixes her gaze on Chaeyoung through the monitor. "How to stop liking your crush in 6 steps. With pictures."
Chaeyoung groans and resists the urge to hang up. "Are you serious?"
"Deadly." Dahyun cracks her knuckles. "Get ready to take notes."
Chaeyoung feels slightly stupid as she uncaps her pen and readies it on the paper. Using some random article on Google to help her get over Tzuyu seems absurd, but Dahyun looks determined. Chaeyoung doesn't have the heart to resist.
"Number 1: Distance yourself from them."
Chaeyoung mindlessly writes down the first rule when she realizes what Dahyun means. Her head snaps up to stare at Dahyun incredulously. "Are you kidding me? We live together, Dahyun, I see her literally every day."
"True." Dahyun frowns and looks down at the screen again to reference the website. "But you can still kinda distance yourself. For example, stop sleeping with her."
"I'm not-!" Chaeyoung's voice suddenly goes very high, and she clears her throat. "I'm not sleeping with her!"
"Not like that, idiot. I mean sleeping in the same bed. I know you guys do that sometimes, and I'm willing to bet my entire stash of ramen you guys are still sleeping in the same bed to this day."
Chaeyoung wisely chooses not to respond.
"I'm right and you and I both know it."
"So no sleeping in the same bed," Chaeyoung murmurs and makes a tiny note next to the rule. "Got it."
"Number 2: Remove them from your phone."
Chaeyoung rolls her eyes. "I'm trying to get rid of my crush, not get rid of Tzuyu entirely."
"Okay, we can just modify this one too." She takes a second to think before snapping her fingers. "Your lockscreen is Tzuyu with that one puppy at the animal shelter, right!"
She nods, even though she doesn't like where this is going.
"Change it," Dahyun says. "It's hard enough seeing her every day, you don't need to look at a devastatingly cute picture of a puppy with a puppy every time you go on your phone too."
"But it's a cute picture," Chaeyoung whines and turns on her phone. Tzuyu's cradling the puppy to her chest, and she's staring down at it with the biggest smile. Chaeyoung's heart literally beats faster every time she sees it.
Fuck, Dahyun is right.
Defeatedly, she scribbles down the second rule and looks back at her phone. She'd remove it later. "Okay. What's next?"
"Number 3: Stop talking to them and thinking about them."
"I still live with her," Chaeyoung reminds her, doodling a tiny heart on the side of the paper.
"Just stop thinking of her then. Don't think any lovey-dovey thoughts, like how pretty she looks, or how cute her smile is, or how God himself created her with perfect proportions in mind…" Dahyun trails off and shakes her head in slight wonder. "Tzuyu really is perfect."
"Yeah, she is," Chaeyoung says without thinking. Dahyun shoots her a look as if to say I told you so, and Chaeyoung scowls. "I can't just stop myself from thinking about Tzuyu, she makes up like, ninety-nine percent of my brain."
"You can stop yourself from dwelling on her. You can think 'oh, she's really pretty', then move on to something else. Don't wallow in your feelings."
She writes down the third rule, even though she knows she'll probably break it constantly. "What's next?"
"Number 4: Lean on your friends." Dahyun grins widely and motions to herself.
Chaeyoung is unimpressed. "Did you make that up?"
"Rude. I did not, look."
Chaeyoung sees a very grainy version of proof on her friend's phone. "Fine, lean on my friends. My friends that are not Tzuyu."
Dahyun nods. "Definitely don't lean on Tzuyu." She looks back at her phone. "Number 5: Focus on yourself and your interests."
Chaeyoung jots it down. That one seems the most straightforward out of all of them.
"And Number 6: Consider dating other people."
Chaeyoung doesn't have much experience in dating. She spent middle school listening to girls gush about boys and not understanding a thing. Then, once she had everything figured out, she spent half of high school pining over her best friend. She went on a couple dates here and there, and there was the weird thing with Mina for a couple months that none of their friends wanted to acknowledge. The biggest thing was probably her relationship with a girl named Rosé, but that had ended quickly when they found out they actually shared the same first name.
Chaeyoung puts it down anyway. She's in college now. Isn't this the time to experience life or something? She should probably start at least going on dates.
"And that's a wrap," Dahyun says. She checks the time and her eyes widen before she curses under her breath. "Sorry, but I need to go. I told Sana I'd meet her for dinner today."
"Speaking of crushes, how are you and Sana?"
Dahyun blushes. "Nothing is happening between us, how many times do I have to tell you that?"
"Okay, Dahyun," Chaeyoung says in a tone that means she doesn't believe her. "Call me when you finally man up and kiss her."
"First off, I'm a girl. And second off, I hate you."
"You love me." Chaeyoung blows a kiss and waves at the monitor.
"This is what I get for helping you," Dahyun mutters. She gives Chaeyoung a look. "So what are you gonna do now, Chaeng?"
"Follow the rules," Chaeyoung says.
"You can do it. Fighting!"
With that, Chaeyoung is left with silence and a piece of paper that was supposed to help her get her life together. She skims over what she's written.
Number 1: Distance yourself from them
Number 2: Remove them from your phone
Number 3: Stop talking to them and thinking about them
Number 4: Lean on your friends
Number 5: Focus on yourself and your interests
Number 6: Consider dating other people
Chaeyoung dates the paper. Hopefully in the future, she can look back on this and laugh with Dahyun about the ridiculousness of using WikiHow to make rules to get over Tzuyu.
Until then, she'll have to wait for this crush to go away.
"Chaeyoung-ah, I'm home," Tzuyu says in a sing-song voice, and Chaeyoung almost chokes up because of how cliche it is. She and Tzuyu were like those married couples in the movies. Immediately following the thought was an image of Dahyun frowning in disapproval at Chaeyoung and waving around a piece of paper.
Number 3: Stop thinking of her like that, Chaeyoung silently reminds herself. They aren't in some movie, and they definitely aren't married.
"Hey, Tzuyu," Chaeyoung greets her from the couch and makes the minimal amount of eye contact to be considered polite before dropping her gaze back to her Twitter feed. She decidedly does not look up when Tzuyu plops on the couch with her.
"What did you do today?" Tzuyu asks.
"Um, not much. Cleaned a bit, FaceTimed Dahyun, that kind of stuff." At this point, she's just randomly liking tweets so it looks like she's doing something.
"Dahyun? How's she?"
"Good," Chaeyoung mumbles. She can feel Tzuyu staring at her, and finally she looks up to see Tzuyu frowning at her.
"Are you okay?”
"Yeah, why wouldn't I? Everything's completely fine. Nothing out of the ordinary." Tzuyu is looking at her strangely, and she abruptly stands up. "Let's have dinner."
She turns away so she doesn't have to see Tzuyu's expression.
Dinner is even worse. Tzuyu's foot had brushed against her calf while they were eating, and she jolted like someone electrocuted her. Tzuyu probably thinks Chaeyoung is having a stroke or something.
"Um, do you want to watch a movie before bed?" Tzuyu asks when they finish putting the food away.
Chaeyoung would say no so she could get away from Tzuyu before she does something dumber than what she's already done, but she doesn't want Tzuyu to be suspicious, so she halfheartedly agrees.
She can't pay attention to the movie. It was as if she had this sixth sense only tuned in to everything Tzuyu did, and it was awakened when she and Dahyun talked earlier that day. She'd see Tzuyu do something simple, like brush her hair behind her ear and be in awe of her, then have an internal battle to stop thinking about Tzuyu.
Needless to say, it was very exhausting. She's just lucky Tzuyu wasn't in a cuddly mood today, or Chaeyoung would have been fucked.
"You ready for bed?" Chaeyoung says hopefully so she could escape and compose herself.
Tzuyu just nods, and Chaeyoung can see she's still shooting Chaeyoung questioning glances but won't directly address the awkward atmosphere.
Chaeyoung sure as hell wasn't going to address it either. What was she gonna say? Oh, sorry I'm being so awkward, I just keep thinking about a list of rules I made to help me get over you. She didn't think that would go over too well.
When she's all ready, she comes out of the bathroom to see Tzuyu standing outside of the bedrooms, looking down at her phone. She looks up when she hears the door open and stares at Chaeyoung expectantly.
She's waiting for Chaeyoung. Of course she is.
Chaeyoung curses under her breath as she recalls rule one. Distance yourself. Specifically, no sleeping in the same bed. Dahyun's stern face pops up in her mind again. She searches her mind for any excuses.
"Sorry, Tzuyu. I have this lecture I need to catch up on before class tomorrow," Chaeyoung says.
Tzuyu pouts, and Chaeyoung's resolve almost crumbles instantly. "Can't you do it tomorrow morning?"
She takes a calming breath to try and ground herself. "No, I need to get the hang of it tonight. It's gonna take a while, so don't wait up. If it's not too late, I'll go to your room."
"Okay," Tzuyu murmurs quietly, the frown still etched on her face. She seems to contemplate something for a long second before she steps forward and hugs Chaeyoung, who freezes at the contact. Her brain starts to work again after a second, and she hugs her back loosely. "Good luck on your class."
Tzuyu disappears into her own room, but she leaves a tiny crack open. It's a reminder that Chaeyoung is welcome to come anytime.
Chaeyoung sighs and presses her palms into her eyes. The rules seem to echo around in her head, taunting her.
That reminds her. She opens her phone and stares at the home screen for a long time. Tzuyu's bright smile automatically brings a tiny smile to Chaeyoung's face too. Her eyes take in every detail of the picture she's had as her background for months now.
Number 2: Delete them from your phone. Chaeyoung clenches her jaw.
She changes her home screen to one of the preset ones that comes with every phone, and she doesn't go to Tzuyu's room all night.
She also doesn't sleep well at all, but it doesn't really matter in the big picture.