THE LINE - YVESEUL

TWELVE (M)

Really, Haseul doesn't even know why she was surprised about people thinking they were together.

She couldn't blame Jungeun for that assumption. She and Sooyoung always sat together, went out on dates, fuck, they even kissed.

And there were the things that no one else knew about. She and Sooyoung fell asleep, not always tangled up together at the beginning but by the morning Haseul could barely tell where she ended and Sooyoung began. That was just how it was. It didn't mean anything, not the way Haseul wished it did.

Haseul also wasn't really that surprised when Sooyoung punched the guy who had been bothering them. They had just scored the winning basket, with less than 5 seconds left to score, and the stands erupted into cheers. Haseul saw the boy yell something to Sooyoung and Sooyoung's face went from elated to furious. She sent him to the ground, and Haseul was confused how he didn't get a bloody nose. She was pretty sure the referee saw it and didn't say anything, maybe they thought he was just as insufferable as the rest of the people there.

Sooyoung ran towards Haseul, scooping Haseul into her arms and grinning. Haseul ignored all those confusing feelings and hugged her tightly, whispering "I knew you could do it," into her ear.

"For you," Sooyoung murmured, and Haseul pretended not to hear it.

Another thing she did for the sake of her sanity.

She wasn't nervous when Sooyoung timidly reached out for her from the other side of the bed, pulling them together and sighing above Haseul's head. Well, she was nervous, but she was also used to it. She'd be a liar if she didn't admit that her heart still beat faster from this. Haseul didn't think that that would ever change.

The cars outside made a quiet humming noise, but the only other sound was the ac and Sooyoung's quiet breaths.

"My mom," Sooyoung's voice was soft. "She kicked him out again, finally. I think it might stick this time,"

"That's good," Haseul agreed. "What about your sister?"

"Step sister," Sooyoung said pointedly. "I want her to go with him but..." She sighed. "As much as I dislike her, she's still a kid. Maybe she's a bit too much like me, not letting people in,"

"I can't even imagine how she feels," Haseul breathed. "Well, even if you want to go back, you always have a place here,"

"I don't want to go back," Sooyoung told her. "I might do it because I can't trust my mom to take care of her, but," Sooyoung pulled her a tiny bit closer. "If I could choose, I'd be right here,"

"Me too," Haseul told her, letting it hang in the air for a while.

"You played well today," Haseul mumbled, wishing that she could make Sooyoung talk. She was fine with the silence, usually, but this time it was too heavy. There was too much they couldn't say.

"Thank you," Sooyoung said softly. "I kind of hurt. That game was harder than usual,"

"I'll get you pain medication tomorrow," Haseul easily said. "Was it harder when the boy's team has more energy?"

Sooyoung snorted. "It's harder when one's an asshole and you punch him in the face,"

"Oh yeah," Haseul laughed. "I can't believe I almost forgot about that," She looked up at Sooyoung. "Why did you do that?"

Sooyoung bit her lip, as if choosing her words carefully. "He was saying awful things to us. On and off the court, he spoke to us like we were inferior. Even when we won, it was like we were some joke or something. Also..." She swallowed. "I didn't like the way he was looking at you, he couldn't keep his eyes off you the whole game,"