the charm | winrina

thirteen

Karina woke up with the worst cramp imaginable.

Her right thigh was insufferably stiff, her foot curled in an incredibly painful position that wouldn't flex. Her calf burned, an invisible iron fist clamped around the skin and squeezing it to death. Her entire right leg was immovable, and so, so painful- Karina squeezed her eyes shut and reached down to press on her leg, trying to alleviate the pain, but to no success.

"Ahh," she coughed, her fingers pressing unceremoniously to her ankle. It hurt so badly. She hadn't had a leg cramp in months, but it came from dehydration, the doctor said- and although Karina thought she drank enough water, after a comparison to how much one should drink, Karina found that she was woefully under expectation.

Which was why when Karina's movable leg- her left one- shot out in pain, the bed creaked and the redhead on the other side blinked awake.

"Ahh... fuck," Karina croaked, her nails piercing skin now, and Winter got up tiredly. She tugged the blanket off them, and her eyes widened in surprise at seeing Karina there, all curled up and cramping.

 "What's wrong?"

Normally, Karina would have snapped back at her, saying something like, I'm just lying here in the fetal position because I want to. My leg is cramping, dumbass! but today she wasn't in the mood. And her leg hurt too much.

Or maybe it had something to do with the worried look Winter was giving her, but Karina held her tongue and muttered, "Leg cramps."

A look of acknowledgement crossed Winter's eyes, and she was off, sliding out of bed and darting downstairs. She returned moments later with a bottle of water, and after digging through her suitcase, located a towel, which she poured the water on. She bent over Karina and gestured for her to remove her hands.

"What- no," Karina answered, squeezing her eyes yet again as her muscles contracted violently.

"Shh." Winter pried Karina's stiff fingers off her leg and set to work wrapping the towel around Karina's bare leg. Karina shivered, both at the chill of the towel and the feel of Winter's fingers on her skin. "Resisting makes it worse."

"Shut up-"

Winter tied the towel tightly around her leg and dug her knuckles into Karina's skin abruptly, resulting in the older girl to yelp unceremoniously.

"What was that for?!"

"To help you, obviously," Winter winked, then continued to knead her fingers against the cramp. "It helps. So does trying to flex your toes. Can you do that?"

Karina grunted, stretching her foot out and biting her lip at the pain- but it was definitely fading. "Yeah."

"Great!" Winter sounded genuinely pleased, because she continued to massage Karina's leg until the pain was completely gone. "Couldn't have my partner in crime being felled by a leg cramp, you know." She winked, and leaned tantalizingly close, tapping Karina's nose. "Or my friend."

"Shut up, Kim," Karina muttered, pushing herself upwards off the bed so that she was nearly nose-to-nose with Winter. "I'm not being felled by anything. It's just dehydration."

"I know something you could drink-"

"Winter!" Karina accused, but her bark had no bite, and Winter could tell. She slid closer, one of her legs thrown across Karina's, and perched beside her, putting her chin on Karina's shoulder. She tilted her head suggestively, eyes twinkling, and leaned forward to bump her nose with Karina's.

"I wasn't implying anything, Yu, but if you're up for it-"

"Never mind," Karina grumbled, moving her leg back and forth to regain feeling. "Why are you so horny all the damn time?"

"It's not all the time. It's just when I'm around you." Winter winked and blew on Karina's earlobe teasingly.

Karina grumbled again.

Typical Winter Kim.

(But, she did have to wonder- where in the world did Winter pull those lines out of? And how did she always have them ready when Karina was in the vicinity?)

"What, feeling flattered?" Winter mused, blowing again, moving into Karina's lap and snuggling into her. "Good. It means I'm charming you. Get it?"

Karina snorted. "You may have good lines, Kim, but not good punch lines." (Okay, Karina had to be proud of that one.)

Apparently Winter was too, because she gasped in mock offense and placed a hand over her heart. "You wound me, Yu. I'm not that pathetic," she joked, bumping her nose against Karina's for the third time that day.

(Not that Karina had been counting.)

But all thoughts of counting fled Karina's mind when she realized how close they were. Every breath Winter took skated across Karina's lips, pirouetting across the dips and curves of Karina's softly open mouth, dancing down her neck to warm her. Winter's intoxicating scent- something sweet, tinged with saltwater and something else, something uniquely Winter, overwhelmed her senses until it felt like they were mixed, breathing together, breathing with one set of lungs, with one heart.

One heart.

That felt nice.

But how nice?

Everything Winter was doing was probably just to make Karina fall for her, so that they'd be a more believable couple. So then Winter could do what she was best at- manipulation and seduction, until Karina was nothing more than a pawn in her elaborate chess game, paint peeling and wood cracked, tears of betrayed trust oozing out through the breaks in the carefully cultivated facade Karina had worked years to build.

And Winter was tearing every single fucking one of those walls down.

But, Karina realized, as Winter dropped her head to nuzzle Karina's neck gently, she didn't quite mind.

Apathy was something Karina had become good at, being with Haechan.

Except this wasn't apathy, it was something more- and Karina had to learn to map the boundaries of what had never been estrangement.