Chapter Text
Panicked, Nayeon checked over her shoulder, only to see Jihyo rounding the corner.
“Nayeon!”
Ignoring her, the older girl took off like a streak of lightning, frantically trying to find a place to hide. Her head swiveled from side to side, but all the classrooms seemed too obvious and her friend was right on her tail. She needed something discreet.
When she deemed nothing on that floor to be good enough, she dashed up the stairs, hoping to seek out a safe haven on the next. And eventually she found one. Running across a door to a small room that was tucked off to the side, presumably for storage, she dunked in there, praying no professor just happened to be in there at that very moment.
Hastily closing the door as soon as she entered, Nayeon took a deep breath and turned around to figure out where the hell she was. She was prepared to find a member of the staff, but what she wasn’t prepared to find was a very pretty girl looking at her with big, surprised eyes, a pair of chopsticks held still a few inches away from her face.
Not wanting to be tossed back into the hallways that Jihyo was presumably still roaming, Nayeon slapped her hands together pleadingly. “I know I’m not supposed to be in here, but can I stay for a little bit? My friend’s trying to find me.” Slowly starting to unfreeze, the girl hesitated before giving her a small nod. “Okay,” she allowed in a rather quiet voice.
Unfazed by the girl's timidness, Nayeon sauntered over to where she sat on the floor, her back pressed against a shelf that housed bins of what looked to be cords and wires. Scanning the room while she went, Nayeon questioned, “Is this an equipment storage room?”
Setting her chopsticks down in the plastic bowl she brought from home, the girl replied a tiny bit louder this time. “Yeah, it’s where they keep the extra stuff for events and computer classes.” Nayeon hummed, taking a seat beside the mysterious girl. “How come you're eating in here?”
Dropping her head down, she pushed and pulled her chopsticks inside the bowl in an attempt at calming her nerves. “I– I’m not one for big crowds. The cafeteria is really busy and I only have a short break between classes.”
“Do you always eat by yourself?” Sheepishly, the girl shook her head up and down, still focused on her food. “No one usually comes in here.”
While the girl was busy staring her noodles down, Nayeon took the time to observe her, finding the calming glow she was emitting to be quite fascinating. Little moles were scattered around her face, it was interesting, almost like they were there on purpose to act as markers for her features, highlighting them.
One stood by the corner of her eye, directing you to her soft downturned eyes. Another, sat just below the tip of her nose, marking the end point of her near perfect slope just above. Then a third laid at the edge of her mouth, urging your eyes to take in her soft looking pink lips that were currently being trapped between her teeth, used as a tool to bite back some of the self consciousness she was feeling.
How on earth a girl that looks like that can be self conscious about anything, Nayeon hadn’t a clue, but she didn’t want her to continue to feel that way. A new goal of befriending this gorgeous stranger circled around in her mind, causing her to introduce herself. “Well, it’s a good thing I'm not just anyone, I’m Nayeon.” Letting her bottom lip drop from between her teeth, the girl offered a small smile to her bowl. “I’m Mina.”
“Well, Mina, want to know why I’m not just anyone?” Nayeon stretched her legs out comically wide on the floor, letting her goofy side show in an attempt at getting the other girl to relax around her. Finally removing her gaze from the half eaten bowl of noodles, Mina’s head shifted just enough to catch a glimpse of Nayeon. “Why?”
“I just so happen to be a world class yapper and I’m pretty sure I was sent here on purpose to entertain you while you eat. You know the whole dinner and a show thing? Yeah, I’m the show.” Mina gave her a full smile, a bit intrigued by the overconfidence Nayeon exuded. Egged on by that, Nayeon flickered her eyes downward, “Go ahead, finish your lunch. I got this.”
Bumping her shoulders up into the air and flopping her head from side to side, Nayeon pretended like she was preparing for the role of a lifetime when Mina began to eat again. “So,” she looked off into the distance, sending a contemplative look to the door handle across from her. “I think we should make the hunger games, but for old people.” Mina’s eyebrows rose.
Happy to get a reaction out of her, Nayeon kept going, “No! No, hear me out! We take all the old people and gather them together, but there's no drawing, everyone has to go in. We set up cameras everywhere–” Nayeon waved her hand in the air, encouraging her to envision the old people arena.
“But here’s where it gets interesting. So, old people move super slow, right?” Reluctantly, Mina nodded, twirling a bundle of noodles around her chopsticks. “Okay, so we’re waiting on the sidelines and the moment one goes in for the kill–since it takes nine to ten business days–we intervene. Now we know which ones are the mean old people. You ever worked in retail and had to deal with one of those assholes?”
Swallowing her mouthful, Mina tilted her head to examine the odd, but weirdly charming girl before her. “Yes. I was a cashier a few years ago.” “So you know how some of them act nice at first then like five seconds after they don’t get what they want, all hell breaks loose? That’ll help weed those ones out. Dear old grammy that bakes cookies isn’t going to stab you with her cane, but Agatha from the home owners association sure will.” Mina let out a little giggle.
“What happens to the mean ones?” Mina asked curiously, nearly done with her lunch. “We take them all to an island. Then, we make a reality show from it. Do you know how entertaining it would be to watch all those nagging old men and women yell at each other? They would be getting rulers out to measure each other's lawns and everything. It would be a hit–” Nayeon was about to continue on about how they could throw oatmeal cookies out and watch them fight, but suddenly the knob turned on the door.
Jihyo came charging in with purpose, her confused eyes bouncing between the two girls. Dismissing the other girl for the time being, she focused her attention on who she came there for: Nayeon. “Hi, funny meeting you here,” Nayeon said innocently. Jihyo rolled her eyes, “Come on, just do it. I need one more person for the team, you're not in any clubs.”
Scrambling her brain to come up with an excuse as to why she couldn’t join the hockey team, Nayeon was too preoccupied to notice Mina studying her. Normally, she wasn’t one to speak up or cause any type of issue, but it was clear that Nayeon didn’t want to join whatever team Jihyo was referring to and she found herself wanting to help her. In a quiet voice, she butted into their conversation, “She–uh, she actually joined the knitting club.”
Nayeons head swung towards her, shocked, but it didn’t take long before she was frantically nodding and turning back to Jihyo. “Yeah! I joined the knitting club.” Jihyo’s brows furrowed, looking between the pair. Normally she wouldn’t have believed it for a second, but the fact that Mina, the quiet girl who never spoke in her physics class, was the one to say it, made her unsure if it was actually the truth.
“But you don’t knit?”
Vigorously whipping her head up and down, Nayeon agreed with her. “I don’t! Which is why I joined! Beginners are welcomed and I wanted to try something new.” Her friend scrutinized her for one more second before deflating, accepting Nayeon's excuse. “Damn it. Okay, sorry. I’ll let you guys get back to–” her eyes flickered from person to person, catching an odd vibe between them, “whatever you were doing.” And with that, she was gone.
Exhaling loudly, Nayeon let her tense body crumble against the shelf behind her. “You're awesome. Thank you so much,” she said appreciatively. The lightest shade of pink appeared on Mina’s cheeks. “I–it’s fine, no problem.” “What made you say knitting club?” Nayeon wondered, cocking her head to the side.
“That’s the club I'm in,” she glanced downward, putting her now empty bowl on the ground beside her so she didn’t have to look at Nayeon, feeling a little embarrassed about being in the knitting club because it wasn’t exactly seen as cool. “I didn’t even know we had a knitting club.” “Yeah, no one does. I’m the only member. There were only three of us to begin with and the other two graduated last year,” Mina said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.
“So, what I’m hearing is– you're the president of the club,” Nayeon bumped her shoulder supportively, “Pretty high position to be in.” Mina couldn’t help, but crack a smile.
“Serious question though, they allow clubs with only one person? I would have started one to get away from Jihyo had I known.”
“No, you have to have an advisor that okays it. Technically the knitting club should be shut down, but Mrs.Kwan’s nice and lets me stay because I have really loud roommates that make it hard to concentrate. And I always stack the chairs in her room before I lock it up, so she doesn’t have to.” “She just lets you use her room?” Nayeon asked, astonished. Lord knows no teacher of hers would ever let Nayeon have free rein over their rooms and for good reason too. Nayeon was a little unpredictable.
“Yeah, everyday after school,” Mina affirmed shyly. “Huh.” Abruptly getting to her feet, Nayeon allowed herself exactly three seconds to stare at Mina’s face, so as to not creep her out, and started walking to the door, the wheels in her head turning. “Well, it was nice to meet you Mina. Thanks for your help with the Jihyo thing.” “Nice to meet you too, um, have a good day?” Mina sort of asked more than told her, unsure of herself. And to that, she simply gave her a big smile, “You too.”
===
“No way, she looks sad,” Tzuyu denied, shaking her head. “Then don’t hit on her yet, just go make her feel better,” Momo pushed on the taller girl's back. “I’m going to annoy her. She’s gonna think I’m that weird underclassmen.” “You're acting like there’s a huge age difference or something. It's almost the same as the gap between Dahyun and I. What other excuse do you have?”
“But, she’s really cool. You're both losers,” Tzuyu complained. Offended, Dahyun and Momo scoffed. “We’re cool,” Dahyun said defensively. “Yeah!”
“You’re both the loser-iest losers to ever loser.”
“Right when we try to build her up, she breaks us down,” Dahyun brought the back of her hand up to her forehead dramatically, dropping backwards for Momo to catch her in a trust fall. When she completed the fall, Momo squinted at Tzuyu. “See what you did!”
“You two are making me want to go over there just so I can get away from you.”
Excitedly, Momo slapped her girlfriend's shoulder, “It’s working! Do more!” Tzuyu halfheartedly rolled her eyes and peered back Jihyo’s way. “Okay how about this. You don’t have to say anything at all, we’ll build up to it later. All you have to do is sit next to her,” Dahyun revised the plan.
“But she doesn’t know me, won’t it be weird to sit next to her out of nowhere?” Tzuyu asked worriedly. “Tzuyu, it’s a bench. It’s made for random people to sit next to each other. Now go!” Both her friends gave her a supportive shove, giving her no choice in the matter.
Awkwardly, Tzuyu tried not to look at Jihyo when she sat down, leaving a large gap between them. Unsure of what to do now that she was just sitting there, Tzuyu glared at Dahyun and Momo who were giving her thumbs ups from across the campus lawn.
Beside her, Jihyo fiddled with the hockey team flier in her hand. She’d already spent a good amount of time trying to find a new member, but the hockey team's schedule just so happened to coincide with a lot of clubs and other sport team practice times. Her friends had other commitments and all they needed was one more person.
Sighing heavily, she dejectedly turned to the random student that sat beside her. “Want to join the hockey team?” She held the paper up, already knowing the answer. Or at least she thought she did. Tzuyu panicked, not expecting them to talk to each other and spouted out, “Okay,” without even thinking about it. Jihyo’s eyes shot up from the back of the paper, “Wait what?”
Internally freaking out, Tzuyu cursed herself for saying that, but the damage was already done. “I’ll join the hockey team,” she forced herself to keep a straight face, not wanting the other girl to know she was causing her some major heart palpitations at this very moment. Standing up instantly because she didn’t know what to do with herself, Jihyo thrusted the flier into the younger girl's hands. “That’s amazing! I’ve been looking for someone to fill the spot all week!”
Tapping on the date and times printed on the paper, Jihyo told her where and when to show up. “You do have to go through tryouts, but that’s just a formality thing. If you have trouble in some areas, we can work through it! I’m the captain, I’ll help you–oh–I’m Jihyo by the way,” she excitedly offered her hand out to Tzuyu, who was about five seconds away from malfunctioning, but willed herself not to show it. “Tzuyu.”
Another two minutes went by of Tzuyu bobbing her head along to the older girl as she spoke, finding it hard not to stare with just how pretty she was. Her veins hummed at the notion that she made Jihyo this happy and it kind of made up for the rigorous training she was about to endure.
After she was done explaining, Jihyo waved goodbye, thanking her again for joining and took off giddily. Dahyun and Momo flew to her side the second the coast was clear. Momo shook her wildly, “You talked to her! What’d you say?!”
Unable to believe her next words, she let out, “I guess I just joined the hockey team.”
===
Originally, Mina thought her encounter with Nayeon was going to be a one time thing. Just a random occurrence, but the next day she returned to the storage room, this time with food and a bag in hand. Not understanding what was going on, Mina’s eyes followed her questioningly. “Okay, so, you have to tell me if I got the right stuff. I’m new to this, so take it easy on me,” Nayeon sat beside her in the same position as yesterday, their arms brushing.
“New to what?”
“Knitting,” Nayeon set her food down on the floor, then adjusted herself to face Mina even more, pulling some yarn out of the bag she was holding. “I got this extra big one, this really soft light blue roll, this green one that's a bit more smooth, and these things, which I hear are knitting needles, but personally I think we should call them knitting sticks because I hate needles,” Nayeon showed her the supplies she bought.
“Wha– I didn’t mean you had to actually join the club. You didn’t have to buy all of that,” Mina felt bad that she wasted her money like that. “I know, but you don’t have anyone to knit with and I figured I could change that. Teach me your presidential ways president– uh, what’s your last name?” Nayeon leaned over to whisper the question to her. With a soft smile Mina replied, “Myoui.” “President Myoui!”
“But, not right now though, we can meet up in Mrs.Kwan’s room later. Right now, we eat! What’d you bring today?” The younger girl wasn’t exactly sure what was going on or why Nayeon had decided to insert herself into her life randomly, but she wasn’t mad about it. “Sushi,” she took the top off her bento box to show off her little rolls consisting of crab and veggies.
“You know, they say sushi is kimbap’s cousin,” Nayeon popped the top of her container to show off her kimbap pieces that looked somewhat similar to Mina’s dish. “Don’t you want to eat in the cafeteria with everyone else?” Mina genuinely wondered.
“Listen, I know I can be annoying, but I’m trying here,” Nayeon jested, causing the younger girl’s eyes to grow. “I– I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry,” she apologized instantly.
A gentle smile overtook Nayeon’s features and she knocked their knees together. “I was just playing, I know you didn’t. You seem a bit too nice to mean it that way. And like I said yesterday, I’m your entertainment. It would be hard to sit in the cafeteria knowing you were bored in here without me. We both know I’m fun to be around, aren’t I?” she jokingly fluttered her eyelashes at Mina, earning a chuckle.
When nothing came out other than that, she tried again. “Come on, you have to say it. My ego severely needs to be stroked. I’m a little too humble these days, as you can clearly tell.” A gummy smile made an appearance on the other girl's face, “You're fun to be around.”
Feeling satisfied and probably a little too happy to hear those words coming from her, Nayeon picked up her chopsticks.
For the duration of their lunch break, the two spent their time getting to know one another. Quickly, they learned that they were two very different people, but surprisingly they still seemed to mesh well together. Nayeon did her best to use her over the top personality to her advantage, getting the younger girl to come out of her shell even more. By the time they were done with their meals, they both went their separate ways, but in the back of their heads, they were anticipating the end of the day when they were scheduled to meet up again.
===
Of all the sports Tzuyu could’ve agreed to join, she just had to pick the one that used extensive coordination. Sure, most sports needed that, but with hockey, you also had to balance yourself on blades which was proving to be a bit difficult for her right now.
Thankfully, she did know how to skate, but the last time she did so was years ago. Her skill has degraded in the meantime and now she’s incredibly rusty. She could stand and walk, but sliding quickly to catch up with the puck felt damn near impossible.
“How long’s it been since you skated?” Jihyo glided beside her effortlessly, having absolutely no trouble keeping up with her pace. “Like four years. My aunt took me to an ice skating rink with my cousins,” Tzuyu pushed the fact that she was talking to Jihyo into the back of her mind. If she concentrated on that, it would take away from her ability to stay on her feet at a somewhat moderate pace. She could worry about that later, right now she needed to focus.
“You're focusing too hard on your steps.”
…okay, maybe she didn’t need to focus.
“But, I’m going to fall if I don’t. I can go slow, but I’m not used to going fast,” Tzuyu let a little panic seep in, racking her brain on how the hell she was going to do this and worry about smacking a puck around. “You’re in your head about it too much, you need to lean into your steps and just let it happen.” Jihyo spun around, now skating backwards in front of Tzuyu, holding both hands out for her to take.
Okay, maybe she could push the fact that she was talking to Jihyo aside, but she wasn’t sure she could do the same when they were holding hands. “Look at me, not at the floor,” Jihyo instructed, connecting their eyes.
The younger girl was very thankful that the cold air of the rink gave her an excuse for the tinting of her cheeks. Swallowing dryly, she looked into her crush’s big brown eyes.
Offering her an encouraging smile, Jihyo pulled her along. “You're picking your feet up some when you try to push off to get more speed. Instead, keep your blades on the ground and move your weight from side to side to keep momentum.”
Following her directions, Tzuyu bit the inside of her cheek in concentration and wobbled as she went. Jihyo’s teeth peeked out at her attempt, “You’re getting there! Try dunking down a tiny bit while you do that, like you're getting into a good song.” A grin tugged at the corner of Tzuyu’s lips when Jihyo gave her a demonstration, still holding on tightly to her hands.
Fifteen minutes later, the younger girl was really beginning to get the hang of it. Her strides were more precise and she was able to set a steady pace that was much faster than when she started.
Dodging and weaving around the other players that would appear in the way every now and then to retrieve the puck and continue their own practice, the girls worked through Tzuyu’s inexperience.
“What made you decide to join?” Jihyo asked curiously, now casually coasting along beside Tzuyu. Not looking at her feet, but also not looking at the older girl, Tzuyu opted to stare at the seats set up around them for spectators. “I’ve just been wanting to bridge out and try new things. This seemed interesting,” she lied through her teeth.
“If you're looking to try new things, you should go to the rope course they built a few months back on the other side of town! I love that place. You get strapped up to a harness and get to go through an obstacle course in the air. It’s so fun,” Jihyo exclaimed excitedly. “I go there all the time.”
Repressing the urge to attend the rope course just on the off chance of running into Jihyo, Tzuyu nodded. “Maybe I’ll check it out after I get this down. I’m really far behind everyone else.” Her gaze shifted to one of the girls racing with everything she had in her to get close to the goal, slamming her hockey stick into the puck to launch it far away.
“You’ll get there. If you’re really worried about it, I come here on the weekend. You can always stop by if you want extra practice time,” Jihyo offered.
The younger girl debated the idea. On one hand, it actually would be nice to get in some extra practice time despite already committing to team practices nearly every day. On the other, she wouldn’t have anything to focus on except Jihyo. At least right now she could watch the others and even Jihyo herself kept observing them, trying to find any hole in their strategies from a distance. She didn’t know how well she would fare with all the older girl’s attention on her.
“I’ll think about it,” she decided on.
===
“Why did you get such tiny needles?” Mina worked on unweaving a knot Nayeon somehow managed to make in the five seconds she was left unattended. “Sticks,” the older girl corrected. “Why did you get such tiny sticks?” Mina rephrased.
“I didn’t want you to think I was overcompensating for something.”
The younger girl paused what she was doing for a moment to bring a hand up to her face, catching the giggles that were tumbling out. Nayeon felt a deep sense of pride at that.
“You should overcompensate a little, these are making the stitches tighter and harder to work with. The bigger ones are easier for beginners to use, it gives a looser stitch.”
“So I went olympic gold medalist before high school athlete?”
“You did,” Mina pulled the end of the yarn through, untangling it fully. Rotating to the side, she snatched her sewing needles and placed them in Nayeon's hands. “You can use mine and I’ll use yours. It’ll make it easier for you to learn.”
Swinging her fingers into position, Nayeon flipped the needles around, getting a feel for the new tools. “You're holding them like chopsticks,” the younger girl informed, resulting in Nayeon trying her hardest to pick up the strand of yarn like she would a noodle. “Force of habit. At any given moment, food is the first thing on my mind and you gotta admit, this yarn is lookin kinda tasty.”
“Please don’t eat the yarn,” Mina jokingly put her hand over the material right as Nayeon clasped the needles together to pick it up. Seeing an opportunity, Nayeon closed them around Mina’s pinky, causing the girl to look up at her.
“Don’t look so scared, I’m no cannibal.”
“I'm not scared, I’m concerned we’re going to spend the rest of the afternoon like this,” Mina referred to them getting barely anywhere because of Nayeon constantly goofing off.
Playfully, the older girl cocked an eyebrow up, giving her a charismatic smile. “Would that be so bad?”
Normally, Mina would have said yes. She was in the process of knitting a new beanie for her nephew’s birthday and was in a bit of a time crunch. But right now, she was weighing her options, considering buying a new one for him instead.
“I guess, it wouldn’t.”
Overjoyed at hearing her words, Nayeon flipped Mina’s hand over, the back of it pressing to the table. “Well, in that case, let’s make things more fun.” Letting go, she moved her attention to one of the smaller needles, catching it between the tips of her slightly bigger ones. With careful precision, she hauled it into Mina’s open palm.
“Feels like I’m a brain surgeon,” she commented when she tried to do the same thing to her other hand, but dropped the smaller needle on the table by accident. On the third attempt, she successfully completed the transfer.
“What’s your major again?”
Clearing her throat, Nayeon willed herself to keep a straight face and repeated, “Brain surgeon.” Mina narrowed her eyes questioningly. “What? I don’t look like a brain surgeon?” the older girl asked innocently. “You’re making me not want to go to the hospital.”
Nayeon gasped, “I would make a great doctor! Doctors have to multitask. I’m a great multitasker. Might be because I have a low attention span, but still!”
Studying her, Mina took a guess at her aimed occupation, “Are you getting a psychology degree?”
Absolutely dumbfounded, Nayeon’s jaw dropped, “Wait, how’d you know?”
Placing the knitting needles in her hand down, she reached up to fiddle with Nayeon's grip, so she was no longer holding hers like chopsticks. “You're really good at making people feel comfortable around you. It’s like you know what to say to not make me nervous. I usually suck at talking to new people.”
The older girl let Mina position what little yarn she had weaved together between the knitting needles. “And because I’m so comfortable around you, I feel inclined to tell you that this is the worst knitting I’ve ever seen,” Mina smiled when Nayeon busted up laughing.
“It’ll get better, I swear. Here, show me again. I’m sorry, I’ll pay attention this time,” Nayeon chuckled, straightening up in her seat.
===
Tzuyu decided not to go train with Jihyo. Or, at least not yet. The first week of practice was already grueling enough. Her body was used to exercise, but not that much exercise. By the time the weekend rolled around, her legs felt like jelly and she decided it was in her best interest to wait a little longer before attempting to add in weekends.
So when Monday rolled around, it had been two whole days without seeing Jihyo’s very pretty face and she was anxious to get back to the rink. As per usual, Jihyo waved hello to her just like she did with every other player upon entry, making Tzuyu’s heart beat a tiny bit faster.
Last week they worked with her on passes, trying to keep it simple to start. Today she would work on taking shots, intending to better her skills at aiming.
Throughout the day, Tzuyu spent time mostly by herself, getting a feel for handling her hockey stick without distractions or anyone hounding her. The other girls treated the day as an endurance training exercise, aiming to heighten their stamina by doing lap after lap around the rink's border.
Every once in a while, Jihyo would come check in and give her advice on ways to improve or things she noticed, but most of the time she too was circling the outside area.
Towards the end of the practice, Jeongyeon, another member of the team and one of Jihyo’s best friends, soared forward to catch up with her friend. “Where’d you say you found the new girl again?”
“Just on a bench in the courtyard. Why?” Jihyo questioned.
“Just curious. You do realize she has a major crush on you, right?” Surprised, Jihyo’s eyes flickered over to Tzuyu, “What do you mean?” Jeongyeon bumped an elbow into her teasingly, “Every time you’re not looking at her, she’s looking at you.” Jihyo’s eyebrows knitted together.
“Really?”
“Yep,” Jeongyeon popped the ‘p’ and bobbed her head. “She’s been working hard, but anytime you move out of place to do something, she always stares at you for a second before she keeps going. Or if it’s been a while and she hasn’t seen you, she looks around to find out where you went. It’s cute.”
“Maybe it’s just because I’ve been helping her with stuff. I am the captain after all.”
Jeongyeon kinked an eyebrow up, “You’re my captain and you help me with stuff too, but I’m not shooting you heart eyes all the time.” “I disagree. I know you want me,” Jihyo grinned, making a kissy face at her friend. Shoving her, Jeongyeon rolled her eyes, “You wish.”
“I do Jeongie-Wongie. Why can’t we be together already? You know you can’t fight this connection between us.”
Taking her hockey stick, Jeongyeon hooked it around Jihyo’s ankle, knocking her to the ground. Not bothering to check on her because everyone was wearing padding, Jeongyeon continued on, pretending like nothing happened.
“You're so annoying,” Jihyo called, pushing herself off the ice. “So are you,” Jeongyeon yelled back, still facing forward. Though she was irritated by her friend's actions, her words did swim around in her head, urging her to glance up at Tzuyu.
Jeongyeon said she was watching her discreetly, but after the fall, she was blatantly staring, obviously wondering if Jihyo was alright. Offering her a small wave to signify that she was good, Tzuyu returned one and went back to what she was doing.
During the rest of practice, Tzuyu wasn’t the only one taking peeks at Jihyo. Now Jihyo was shooting her curious glances from across the ice as well.
===
Nearly a week later, both pairs of girls were doing better at their respective activities. Tzuyu was getting integrated into actual practice games where she tried her hardest to keep up with her teammates and Nayeon was just about finished making baby booties with little oddly made animals on the ends.
“You can tell this ones a bear right?” Nayeon held up her creation. “Uh– honestly?” Nayeon nodded aggressively, holding it even closer to the girl for inspection. “I probably would have gone with a dog, but it’s close. I get where you're coming from and I’m sure whatever baby you're giving it to will love it either way,” Mina offered, trying to build her back up when she deflated.
“These aren’t for a baby, these are for me.”
Mina’s brows rose and she shifted in her seat to look down at Nayeon's feet. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m not sure they’re going to fit.” Nayeon's mouth dropped open in protest, “You're telling me my shoe size isn’t one? How rude.”
She fiddled with the other shoe, “This is yours and this is mine.” Mina was very curious as to why she was being given a singular baby bootie for herself, but she didn’t want to be rude. “Thank you.”
“Mina it’s not a shoe,” Nayeon took the younger girl's hand and pushed two fingers into the shoe. “It’s a puppet, see! Roar!”
Why what looked like a walrus was roaring at her, Mina wasn’t sure, but the fact that Nayeon was now slipping the other bootie on her hand and acting like they were fighting each other had her bent over in laughter.
Comedically, the older girl ripped the shoe off Mina's hand and threw it across the room, acting like her puppet did it. “Wow, look what you did! Too busy laughing you couldn’t even make your puppet fight back, poor guy.”
===
Momo and Dahyun invited themselves to one of Tzuyu’s practices, much to her horror. Granted, it didn’t start out bad. They were being oddly calm and encouraging, just sitting on the benches and observing. It wasn’t until Tzuyu began talking to Jihyo that they started to act up.
“You should really think about coming here this weekend. I could give you a few pointers, help you with some techniques,” Jihyo said, taking her helmet off and running a hand through her messed up hair. It took the air out of Tzuyu’s lungs.
Apparently it showed on her face too, because over Jihyo’s shoulder, Dahyun and Momo started making kissy faces to tease her. Throwing the deadliest glare known to humanity their way, Tzuyu urged them to tone it down and they did, but not before Jihyo saw.
Curious as to why the girl was looking at something behind her with murderous eyes, Jihyo spun around and caught sight of her friends. Their eyes widened and they tried their best to salvage the situation by launching at each other. Acting as if the kissy faces were intended for one another, they started making out in the stands.
With a bright grin, Jihyo turned back around, catching onto what was really happening. Even though she wanted to, the older girl decided not to bring up the crush, not wanting to make Tzuyu feel even more embarrassed. “Do they make out everywhere they go?”
“Pretty much. It-It happens a lot, sorry,” Tzuyu exhaled a breath, thinking Jihyo was clueless and just assumed her friends were odd, which was the truth after all.
But in reality, Jihyo was trying to figure out what her next step should be with the younger girl. If she was being honest, Tzuyu was really cute. In the small amount of time they’ve known each other, they’ve gotten closer. Mostly they talked about hockey related stuff, but she wouldn’t mind getting to know more about her. So, she tried to nudge her in the right direction again.
“It’s fine, but like I was saying before. I’ll be here again this weekend if you want to stop by.”
===
Mina was starting to get attached. This girl that walked into her life so suddenly was lighting it up like no tomorrow. Her jokes, her laughter, her ability to be the rawest version of herself without a care of how much she might have been making a fool of herself was getting to Mina. Consuming her. Nayeon was on her mind all day and it didn’t help that she was with her a good majority of it too.
Whenever they weren’t eating or knitting together, they were texting. It was a constant back and forth from the time they woke up, exchanging good mornings, to the time they went to bed, exchanging good nights. Sure, they took breaks when they were doing something, but when they had time, they would always reply back, no matter how random the conversation.
She even got to properly meet Nayeon’s friends.
On a rainy day when Mina was planning to walk home with an umbrella, Nayeon told her Jihyo said she could ride home with them. Initially she declined the invite, but it was storming heavily outside and she ended up caving.
All at once, she was introduced to everybody in a packed car. Nayeon sat squished up beside her, acting as a wall to fend off her slightly unhinged friend group. The calmest of all being a girl named Chaeyoung that Nayeon’s friend Sana was dating. She-because it was so cram packed-had her girlfriend sitting on her lap beside Nayeon while Jeongyeon claimed shotgun.
Shockingly, Mina had a fun time. Despite being chaotic, they were all very nice and inclusive, being quiet long enough for her to answer questions about herself. Having Nayeon pressed up against her might have been a slight bonus as well.
Even today, Nayeon was being her funny and charming self. “It might be horrible, but I think the odds of it being inedible are low,” Nayeon held up a very oddly formed ball of onigiri with a slice of nori wrapped around it. “It’s tuna, you said that was your favorite, right?” The older girl held it out to her, urging her to take it.
With stars in her eyes at the fact that she not only remembered one of her favorite meals, but attempted to recreate it for her, Mina accepted it. “It is. Thank you.” Taking a small bite, Nayeon sat on the edge of her seat…well, they were still on the floor in the storage room, so the edge of the floor?
“It’s good.”
Nayeon brought a closed fist close to herself, “Yes!” The onigiri was a little on the mediocre side, but Nayeon didn’t need to know that. It was the thought that counts after all. And to Mina, it counted a lot.
At the club meeting they held at the end of the day, Mina made the decision to start working on a new project, one for Nayeon.
===
Tzuyu chose to meet Jihyo that weekend. Making her way into their locker room, she changed into her gear and found the girl by herself in the middle of the field, taking shots at the goal. Catching movement from the corner of her eye, Jihyo’s head rotated Tzuyu's way and a large smile took over her face.
“You came!”
Shyly, Tzuyu nodded, her blades hitting the ice to skate to the older girl. “I figured I could use some extra help.” Right about now, she wished the cold air would do its job because why in the world were her palms starting to sweat when they were literally on ice?
“You got here just in time, I was getting bored. It’ll be nice to play against someone.”
“I don’t know if I could even count as competition.”
Waving her off, Jihyo glided towards the goal to retrieve her puck, “You count, you’re not doing as badly as you think you are. You stole the puck from Yuqi yesterday. It was a really good play.”
“But she stole it back immediately,” Tzuyu countered. “That’s only because she has more experience. Plus she’s small and scrappy.” Letting the puck coast its way back to the younger girl, Jihyo gave her a proposition. “Maybe you just need some incentive, how about we play a game? When one of us scores, we get to ask the other a question.”
“So, I’ll basically be getting interviewed today,” Tzuyu deadpanned, earring a chuckle from Jihyo. “I’ll go easy, no competitive Jihyo today.” “Competitive Jihyo is kind of scary,” Tzuyu noted, opting to leave the ‘and hot’ part in her head.
“I prefer focused,” the older girl got into position, ready to block Tzuyu’s shot. A little warily, the younger girl bent her legs, preparing herself for what was to come.
It turns out, Jihyo is unconsciously competitive. Even when she tries to dial it down, her reflexes keep kicking in, stopping multiple attempts at a goal. “Would you like to know my credit card information next?” Tzuyu joked, trying desperately to keep the puck away from the older girl after answering about twenty five questions about herself.
“I wouldn’t need it if you’d just buy me dinner already,” Jihyo let the comment slip out. It was an accident, but she couldn’t deny the satisfying feeling in her gut when Tzuyu’s eyes widened and she froze up. Taking the opportunity, Jihyo lurched forward and stole the puck, smacking it into the goal not long after.
Giving the clammed up girl an out, Jihyo spoke up, “I’m starving, I missed lunch today.”
The younger girl relaxed.
“Oh, uh– yeah, I could get you something if you're hungry. What would you like?” Jihyo grinned to herself, her back facing Tzuyu while she rescued the puck from the net. It was sweet how quickly she agreed. “I’m not really picky, what’s your favorite? Consider it my question.”
Humming, Tzuyu racked her brain. “Well like I said before, I’m from Taiwan, so that’s probably my first choice, but I’ve been really into Thai food here lately.” “Order your favorites and I’ll try them. While we wait for them to get here, I can just kick your butt in the meantime.”
“Competitive Jihyo’s here to stay then?” Tzuyu gave her a small smile over her shoulder, on the way to grab her phone to order. “Afraid she might be. I don’t think I can contain her.” “To be fair, I think it’s actually helping more than you going easy on me. I feel like it’s making my decision making quicker. I can’t think about my next move when you're constantly coming at me.”
“Ooh okay, time to really go for it then.”
Strangely, Tzuyu wasn’t as scared as she probably should have been. She was having a fun time just being in the other girl's presence.
===
Nayeon was staring. A lot. She couldn’t help it. It felt like Mina was getting prettier every day–every week they spent together. It didn’t matter what she wore, it didn’t matter how she did her hair, her makeup, there wasn’t a style that didn’t work on her. She was completely and utterly beautiful.
Not just on the outside too. No, Mina checked all the boxes. She was caring, gentle, and so so sweet. For god sake, she stopped Nayeon from stepping on a random bug that wandered into their storage room. Carefully capturing it, she set it free onto the grass outside.
“You know there's like a fifty-fifty chance that it just gets stepped on by another student, right?”
Mina shrugged, standing back up to go to their lunch spot, “That’s a fifty percent chance of living. Better than nothing. He might meet his bug wife out there, who knows.”
“I like that your weird shows more nowadays.”
Casting a slight smile Nayeon’s way, the younger girl raised an eyebrow up. “Are you calling me weird?” “I am. Your weirds nice. It compliments my weird very well,” Nayeon sprang forward with a dopey smile, opting to walk backwards and wiggle her brows at her.
“Your weird doesn’t need to be complimented. You compliment it enough for the both of us,” Mina giggled. Flipping her hair over her shoulder sassily, the older girl opened her mouth to make another joke about her ego, but tripped over a rock.
Flying forward, Mina caught her with two steadying hands on her waist, pulling her close. “T-thanks,” for once in her life, Nayeon was having a hard time finding the words to speak. How could she not with how close they currently were?
Mina noticed and carefully removed her hands, but not fully. One slid down to lock their hands together so she could tug Nayeon along. Never would she ever make the first move with anyone else, but this was Nayeon and she just made everything so comfortable. “I made you something.”
“What’d you make?” the older girl asked, still a little dazed, but getting better. “Two things, they match.” Through the hallways, they walked hand in hand until they reached their storage room. “Wait here,” Mina told her, once the door was closed behind them.
Searching through her bag, the younger girl pulled out two items. With blushing cheeks, Mina presented the handmade red beanie in one hand, holding the other behind her back. “This is the normal gift,” she said, making Nayeon smile. “So there's a not normal gift?” Nodding shyly, she stepped forward to place it on Nayeon’s head.
“It’s really pretty, you did a good job with it,” the older girl complimented, pulling it the rest of the way and feeling the soft yarn between her finger tips. “Thank you. So, uh, the other thing. It’s for when you're drafted into the old people hunger games when you're older. It’s a cane wrap,” Mina held out the long fluffy cane cover and Nayeon died.
“You didn’t,” she said between her fits of laughter.
“I did. You’re rubbing off on me.” With a vibrant gummy grin, Mina stepped forward. “But, since it’ll be a while until you get to use it, I made it double as a scarf.” Unhooking a little button flap, she unraveled it to show something that looked exactly like a normal scarf. Nobody would ever guess it had another purpose. “Genius!” Nayeon beamed, her teeth shining brightly as the creation was wrapped around her neck by the girl in front of her.
“I was thinking– I could show you how to make one. You could do one for me too. We–” Mina bit her bottom lip nervously, looking into Nayeon’s eyes. “They could match. Like a couples thing. I mean if-if that would be something you would be into.”
If possible, Nayeon’s cheek stuck out even more, going higher on her face. “Are you asking me out by making me a cane cover?”
“It–it doubles as a scarf,” Mina offered shyly, feeling a little embarrassed.
Bringing a hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind Mina’s ear, she let her palm rest against the younger girl's face when she was done. “That’s by far the best way I’ve ever been asked out.”
“So, that’s a yes?”
Definitively, Nayeon nodded her head, “I’d love to make matching old people hunger games cane covers with you.” With their faces only a couple inches apart, Mina decided to go for it. Leaning in, she captured Nayeon’s lips between her own in a kiss that lasted about three seconds because she had to playfully remind her, “it doubles as a scarf too.”
Giggling against her lips, Nayeon tried again. “I’d love to make matching old people hunger games cane covers that double as scarfs with you.” “Better,” Mina grinned, pulling her back in by the hips.
===
It’s been a while since Tzuyu first joined the hockey team. She’s put in countless hours to improve her skills and Jihyo couldn’t have been prouder…except at this very moment.
Today they had a practice game with a team a couple towns away and that would have been great, had one of those players not been hitting on Tzuyu every other second. Before the game even started, the girl was twirling her hair and introducing herself.
When Tzuyu got knocked down, before Jihyo even had a chance to move, number seven was off to help her up. Anytime Tzuyu scored, the girl was mysteriously at her side to congratulate her. When they took a brief intermission, she instantly pulled the younger girl off to the side, chatting it up.
In irritation, Jihyo took her helmet off and set it down a little too hard on the bench beside her. “Damn, what did your helmet do to you,” Jeongyeon wondered, taking a seat on the other side of her and snatching a water bottle from her bag.
“Number seven won’t quit flirting with Tzuyu,” Jihyo complained, glaring at the player. “Well it’s kind of your fault. You know she likes you, why haven’t you just made a move already if you like her too?” she asked, after taking a large gulp of water.
Jihyo let out a heavy sigh, “When you first told me she liked me, I didn’t know much about her. I wanted to get to know her first. I thought she was cute, but I didn’t know if we would mesh well. Now I know that we do and she’s even more cute. Did you know she volunteers at the animal shelter? She’s so sweet. She sends me cute videos of puppies all the time.”
“Okay, so you know she likes you and now you know you like her. Why haven’t you done anything about it?”
“I was going to! I was trying to make it cute, I wanted to ask her out after we won our first game of the season. But that annoying girl won’t keep her hands to herself and stay away from her. What if Tzuyu doesn’t think I like her and decides to go out with number seven instead?” Jihyo sulked, her shoulders slouching down even further when the girl laughed at one of Tzuyu’s jokes and leaned into her.
“Sounds like you need to fight for your girl.”
“But I can’t even get close to her! Look at them! She’s been beside Tzuyu the entire first half of the game,” Jihyo said, annoyance oozing out of her. Jeongyeon rolled her eyes, standing up and pulling Jihyo with her. “Do I have to spell it out for you? Cut in! Just walk over there and butt into their conversation.”
The whistle blew, commanding everyone to get into position. Jihyo looked at Jeongyeon questioningly.
“Okay nevermind, new plan. We’re switching positions, go to the back where I was with her and stay close by. When seven tries to get to her, make sure you're there first,” she advised, giving Jihyo a shove forward. “Okay– okay I can do that,” Jihyo nodded to herself, spinning around to grab her helmet, then taking off.
The younger girl turned to her in confusion when she skidded to a halt nearby, “Why’re you back here?” “Jeongyeon wanted to start the game off, so we decided to switch,” Jihyo explained, side-eyeing number seven from across the ice. Accepting her answer, Tzuyu nodded and aimed her vision towards the front, getting ready to start.
The game began like normal. A few passes, a few steals, a few goals, and even though Jihyo was keeping a watchful eye over number seven, she did still have to do her part. It was because of this, the older girl wasn’t able to get between them when the puck came hurling Tzuyu’s way with seven barreling after it.
Their sticks were clashing together as both girls tried to smack the puck the opposite way. But just because she missed the initial meeting didn’t mean she couldn’t help nudge that annoying blonde away. Determined, Jihyo raced to them, slamming her hockey stick right into the mix and launching it to the middle.
Seven looked mildly annoyed and it was a very pleasant sight if Jihyo had to say so herself. “Woah, you were quick,” Tzuyu said, shocked at how fast Jihyo came to help, her other teammates still quite a ways away. “Well it seemed like you could use some help, she was breathing down your neck,” Jihyo directed her words toward the girl that was now spinning around to go help her other teammates.
“I know right? She said I was doing really well at blocking earlier though. Said I did great for a beginner.” Jihyo resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the girl's compliments. Yes, Tzuyu deserved compliments, but not from that girl. “You're doing great Tzu, keep it up,” she praised, squeezing the younger girl's forearm supportively before getting back into position.
From then on, it became a game of who could get to Tzuyu first between her and the blonde girl from the other team.
Jihyo situated herself between them twice, back to back and it seemed that the other girl was starting to understand what was happening. First, there were a couple extra elbows trying to fend her off which Jihyo returned in full. Then, her bumps started to become a little more forceful and Jihyo had to use a bit more strength than usual to push her back.
But none of that compared to when Jihyo managed to block her goal and sent the girl back to her side fuming. Apparently it was personal now because while Jihyo’s eyes kept flickering between the puck and Tzuyu, she hadn’t been prepared for the girl to fly into her instead.
Knocking the air out of the older girl’s lungs, she got sent flying across the ice and to the ground. “Sorry, I’m sorry! My foot got caught, I had a hard time stopping,” the girl excused herself rather loudly, but the hint of a smile she held back said it all for Jihyo.
Trying to return the air to her lungs, she gasped as Tzuyu skated up to her side. “Are you okay,” she asked worriedly, crouching down. Jeongyeon wasn’t far behind, coming to her side immediately. “I’m going to kill her. I think I need to sit out before I do something dumb,” she managed to get out, her eyes shifting to Jeongyeon, “I don’t think that worked out very well.”
“The games almost over anyways, I’ll make sure we win. Just take a breather and cool down,” Jeongyeon assured her, taking one hand while Tzuyu took the other to help her up, guiding her to the bench. They resumed the game without her while Jihyo contemplated why she had to be the mature one and sit out before she knocked the blonde on her ass.
Eventually, when her team made the winning shot, she calmed down. Only to get fired up again when number seven whipped her phone out and came skating up to Tzuyu. Absolutely fed up with this whole situation, Jihyo got to her feet, zooming over the colored lines to get to them. She just managed to catch the tail end of number sevens question, it ending in ‘your phone number’, and she already heard enough.
Worming her way in between them and pressing her back to the girls front, effectively creating a barrier between her and Tzuyu, Jihyo disregarded the protests behind her and just focused on the now confused looking Tzuyu. “Will you go out with me?”
“W–what?” The younger girl bumbled out in disbelief.
“I like you and she’s been flirting with you all day. I don’t want you to give her your number. Will you go out with me instead?” No point in beating around the bush right now, Jihyo always tried to be someone that went for what they wanted. And she wanted Tzuyu.
“Hey, we were in the middle of something!”
Jihyo rotated around just enough to say, “I don’t care,” then faced Tzuyu again, her voice softening. “What do you think?”
Still kind of lost, but very much liking what was coming out of the older girl's mouth, Tzuyu found herself dumbly nodding. “Yeah, I– sure, I’d love to.”
All the remaining pent up irritation in Jihyo vanished and she reached out to grab the younger girl's hand. “Come on, let’s go change. I can give you a ride home and we can talk about it more,” she smiled happily. Together, the two left number seven in the dust and made their way to the locker room, both tired, but excited about what was to come of the night.