Inevitable x Michaeng

Real World

This is one of those moments.

Myoui Mina sits upright in bed beside her sleeping best friend, eyes open to the midnight hush of the world, overly aware and aching, alert to every breath Chaeyoung sighs out into the still bedroom.

This is one of those moments.

Myoui Mina thinks she might as well be back in sixth grade, back pressed against the wall of the empty girl's restroom in the art wing, coming to terms with the earth shattering magnitude of this revelation, coming to terms with the immensity of this love that dwarfs the room and the apartment and possibly the very fabric of the ever expanding universe.

Mina wonders how Chaeyoung still sleeps, how something like the way Mina feels exists, fully realized, and does not wake her. Mina closes her eyes and tries to breathe, gripping hard to her knees, stuttering out her exhales. Chaeyoung stirs and Mina's eyes shoot open, observing the mop of hair that shifts as Chaeyoung rubs her cheek sleepily into the pillow. Mina reaches out a hand, calmly running it through Chaeyoung's locks, scratching at her scalp until she is rewarded with a quiet hum. Chaeyoung blinks open her eyes slowly, finding Mina's briefly before blinking hers closed again.

"Mina?" she mumbles, the syllable dripping with the syrup-heavy, saccharine-sweet of late night words, "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Mina strokes Chaeyoung's hair again, wondering if things should feel different, wondering why, now that she knows she is in love, touching Chaeyoung feels the same as always. Mina rubs at the soft skin of Chaeyoung's cheek with her thumb until Chaeyoung's mouth falls open in a contented sigh. Mina goes to talk, meaning to tell Chaeyoung to go back to sleep, remind her she had a busy day, but instead—

"We should run away," Mina murmurs, low and rough, thumb still moving in soft circles, "You just graduated, we are adults, we should just—"

Chaeyoung blinks open her eyes again, pulling away slightly from Mina's touch so she can fix her eyes on her. "Mina?" she mumbles again, "what are you talking about?"

"We should run away," Mina says again, less sure now that Chaeyoung is blinking heavy brown eyes at her, "live out of our car, eat exclusively at roadside diners, it would be," she pauses here, "nice," Mina finishes lamely, "it would be nice."

Chaeyoung sits up on her elbows, leaning forward so she can nuzzle into Mina's leg. "Mina, it is like one in the morning, you are talking crazy." She tilts her head to meet Mina's eyes, "I think you might have had too much to drink."

Mina feels her throat tighten and nods deliberately, dropping down onto her back, wriggling until her feet find their way under the comforter. "You're right," she says, trying at a laugh, "I was being crazy."

Chaeyoung nods, content, and pulls Mina in closer, fitting their hips together, fingers stroking at the soft skin of Mina's forearm. "Go to sleep, Mina," she says, voice clear and soothing, eyes already drifting back shut.

Mina follows suit, relaxing into Chaeyoung's hold, pushing down the ache that has settled high in her chest, ignoring the throb that resides at the base of her stomach. Chaeyoung falls asleep quickly, breathing even, huffing rhythmic bursts of air against the back of Mina's neck. Mina soon follows suit, forgetting to wonder at the fact that being In Love with Chaeyoung feels no different then the day before.

*

Chaeyoung wakes at three in the morning with a leg thrown over her hip and a nose pressed against her cheek.

She wriggles back slightly, smiling at Mina's deep sleep mumbles of discontent from the separation. Chaeyoung wipes at her eyes and yawns, taking a second to study Mina's sleep-smoothed face. Her lips part slightly, brow un-furrowed over her closed eyes, movement flickering beneath thin lids.