credits to: theninthtrack
short oneshot
—————
She blamed her unreliable heart. It was wavering and Yeji didn't have the courage to let herself down. She eyed Ryujin and squeezed her eyes shut when she felt her heart swell. It was a feeling she hated; it made her feel very, very foolishly in love.
"...and then she just did it. Unbelievable." Ryujin took a sip of her can of coke and Yeji only snapped out of her thoughts when she offered her some. Yeji shook her head.
"We should do that sometime," Ryujin mumbled.
The frown on Yeji's forehead made Ryujin chuckle.
"Skinny dipping," she said, "we should do that."
"Skinny dipping?"
"Skinny dipping."
The driveway was abandoned and somehow the dark made Yeji feel uneasy, as if Ryujin could very easily kidnap her right in this instant, strip her off her clothes and throw her in ice cold water. Everything sounded very appealing, except for the water.
Ryujin jumped off the hood of the car and went to Yeji's side, tugging her shirt.
"What do you think?"
"About what?"
"Skinny dipping!"
"We're not -"
"Let's go."
The car door opened and Ryujin held out one arm, a gesture for her to get in, like Yeji was some kind of princess.
Before she knew it, Yeji was in the passenger seat heading to nowhere with Ryujin holding her hand.
———
It was strange. Yeji had witnessed a sweat-soaked Ryujin undressing herself after hours at the gym day by day before heading for a shower in their shared apartment, her clothes as much as Yeji's thoughts scattered everywhere.
Now she got a shirt thrown to her face and the same Ryujin clad in underwear in front of her, but it felt so different she had to swallow hard. She gripped the shirt tightly.
"Don't tell me you're chickening out now."
"I'm not," she protested, pulling down her own pants. She was about to take off her shirt when she felt Ryujin's hands gripping the hems of it.
"Let me help you then," she grinned. Yeji raised her arms to let the shirt pass and shivered when their eyes met. Something was definitely different.
All she heard were the faint brushings of leaves against the wind and it made her all the more conscious of her breathing. Yeji felt like she was running out of air and that her heart was pounding so hard, Ryujin was able to hear its rapid beating.
"You want to get naked now?"
She stared at Ryujin. "What?!"
Ryujin's laugh echoed through the woods and she looked at Yeji with the most mischievous grin.
"It's not skinny dipping if you're not naked, stupid."
"Oh. Right."
"So?"
"You go in first."
The water sent waves of chills down her body the moment she went in, hand holding tight onto Ryujin's. It left her with an odd sense of relief, her fear leaving along with the shivers when she got used to the cold. Ryujin's skin was whiter than she remembered in the dark.
"You're cold?"
Yeji's hand had drawn to Ryujin's hip and she was about to pull back when Ryujin laid hers on top of it, holding it in place.
"Be careful."
The water reached their bellies. Ryujin hummed their favorite song and turned around to give Yeji a smirk. Her hands found Yeji's arms and she rubbed them feverishly, closing the distance between them slowly but surely until her arms were around Yeji's shivering body. Yeji was sure it wasn't because of the cold.
"Ready to get naked now?"
Yeji cursed herself for not recognizing the glint in Ryujin's eyes, because in the next second her bra hit the water with a small thud. It sent wrinkles down to the rest of the lake.
"You." Her eyes sent daggers.
Ryujin felt the glare even in the dark. "You can take mine off," she tried to negotiate.
They were far off from the main road, the lake hidden behind a thick layer of trees. No one could ever find them. It was the perfect crime scene, Yeji thought.
"I'm half-naked now thanks to you."
"Wasn't that the whole point?"
"I could've done it myself."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"I'm capable of killing."
"That I know, you heartbreaker."
"I'll save you your heart. A broken leg should do."
"Oh, come on now." In the midst of inventing ways to murder her, Yeji failed to realize that Ryujin's hands were still on her back. The slow caresses to smooth her anger did their job and she huffed in defeat.
"Thanks for coming with me." The look in Ryujin's eyes made her shift just slightly. Ryujin was so simple, so easy to read, but she was also the one Yeji was in love with and it seemed like that fact colored every of her judgment.
She leaned into Ryujin's embrace and after drawing useless circles on her back for a while, Ryujin's hands traveled down to her hips. It made all the hair on her back stand up and Yeji imagined their hearts joining each other, making a pact to always carry one another with each other.
A sudden jerk and she found herself bare under Ryujin's gaze. She watched her ripped panties float away from her in disbelieve.
"I'm so sorry," Ryujin looked at her in panic, eyes wide like the moon, "I didn't think you'd wear underwear of such poor quality."
A shriek traveled through the forest and water splashed. Seconds of silence followed after and behind curtains of long soaked hair was Ryujin's smile and Yeji's victorious one.
———
It burned. Ryujin's skin was like fire and it pressed against her own as they were huddled together in the back of Ryujin's car. It was still dark, but the day was about to break in and blind their eyes in an instant. Yeji tried to let herself drown in sleep when she heard Ryujin's voice.
"Don't fall asleep. The sun will rise in an hour or so."
"It's not like this is the most comfortable place to sleep, anyway."
Ryujin looked at her.
"You're not comfortable?"
She shifted and Yeji felt her thigh deliberately brush against her own. The air suddenly got heavier.
"I am. Just saying sleeping in the backseat is never good for your back."
"Okay."
Ryujin shifted again and Yeji squeezed her eyes shut. The burning got worse with Ryujin's hand on the side of her waist. She cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry about your underwear," she said, "It should be here somewhere."
"It should be," Ryujin nodded, "I'm not keen on going back into the water though." She remembered the cold and made a face.
"You have to find mine, too."
"Where did you get them anyway?"
"Why? They're pretty sexy, right?"
"Hmm..." Ryujin thought for a minute. "They are, but they rip so easily."
"Exactly."
Yeji gave her a wicked smile when she turned to her. "You're such a tease."
She got a shrug in response and moved away wet strands clad to Yeji's cheek, cleared her face.
"Heartbreaker," she grinned.
Everything was so easy, Yeji thought. Undressing in front of each other was, making suggestive jokes was, huddled naked under a shared blanket in the backseat was. But she knew that confessing wouldn't be.
Their thighs were tight against each other and she wondered what happened to the empty seat next to them.
"I think you break a lot more hearts than I do."
The blanket slid off her shoulders, baring her chest and she quickly covered herself. She looked up and saw Ryujin confused.
"No, I don't."
"You do." Yeji rested her head on her shoulder, sighing. She couldn't look her in the eye.
"You break hearts without knowing and that makes it a lot more painful," she continued.
The sigh made her quiet.
"Maybe," Ryujin paused, "But as long as I don't break the most important one then it should be okay, right?"
"There's something like that?"
"Of course."
The air got chilly and Yeji wrapped the blanket more securely around her shoulders. She found it suddenly very cold.
"I haven't broken yours, have I?" Ryujin whispered.
Yeji looked up with a slight jerk and found Ryujin's face dangerously close to her own. It felt very warm when Ryujin spoke.
"Your heart," she paused and exhaled, her breath coated Yeji's lips, "It's a pretty damn important one."
It was then that Yeji felt more naked than ever with Ryujin looking so deep into her eyes.
"I'm really bad at this," she chuckled, "But... But it'd be nice to do this more often with you. Like, watch the sunrise and lie in each other's arms and stuff. I'd really like that."
It took an eternity, Yeji was sure, before she unfroze and her brain processed Ryujin's words. She woke up from her daze still looking into Ryujin's expectant eyes.
"So?" Ryujin asked nervously, her eyes fixed on Yeji. She panicked when Yeji's darted away.
"I'd... I'd hold your hand when we go grocery shopping," Ryujin bit her lip, "I'd make you breakfast, unload the dishwasher, kiss you awake.. Would you like that? I'd do a whole lot of things I dislike doing now. But I'd do that for you."
An answer didn't come, because the distance between them was too small for Yeji to not do nothing. It still burned, but this time Ryujin's lips set her on fire and the softness was addicting, her smooth skin against her own even more.
She gasped for air when Ryujin pulled back an inch and nuzzled her nose in her neck.
"Say it again."
Ryujin looked up to see her smile. "What?"
The smile got wider. "Say it again." She moved to kiss Ryujin's lips lightly, tenderly. "Say it."
She felt her grin against her lips.
"I'd love you. Would you like that?"
"Yeah... I'd like that.