Easy Does It

by Oeuf Trick

It all started when SeeU got locked out of her dorm room and a friendly Yukari offered to let her stay over. Of course, events became quite a bit more complicated. Yukari/SeeU, M for a reason.

"You've got to be kidding me," SeeU muttered as she stared at her phone.

hey seeu! i'm really really sorry for the last minute text but please find somewhere else 2 sleep 2night, my boyfriend's over!

The text was sent at 11:30 PM. SeeU always tried to sleep before 12 AM. So now...she's effectively stranded. Thoughts of marching into her room and shouting at her roommate and her boyfriend to get out danced through her mind, but SeeU heaved a sigh. She had no desire to make things awkward with her roommate for the rest of the school year. It was only the second week of classes at college, and SeeU wasn't quite used yet to campus life yet.

Didn't stop her from being pissed though, and as SeeU began the walk back to her dorm she thought murderous thoughts about what she would do to her roommate and her boyfriend in the morning. Seriously, SeeU had a myriad of assignments due soon, and she needed the sleep. Her frown deepened as she pondered. Where could she sleep? It was a bit too early for her to have made friends - most clubs haven't had their first meeting yet, and while she did talk to a few people in her classes, they were more study buddies than friends. Furthermore, it wasn't as though she had many friends in her hall either. The RA of her hall was little more than a bored guy doing the job for the free housing and big room, and first day of college, all he did was call the residents out for a meeting to go over the rules. From then on, they were on their own. In addition, it was ostensibly the quiet hall, so people weren't all that sociable in the first place. SeeU had chosen this hall figuring that she could make her friends in classes and in clubs, but at this moment she found herself regretting that she didn't choose a more sociable hall for her freshman year dorm experience. Maybe then she would be close enough with a few people so that she could crash somewhere.

Lost in thought, SeeU didn't realize that she was back at her dorm until she was at the dorm door, which was guarded by a bored security woman and electronic gates. One could only get in if one slid one's student ID through the card reader. SeeU did so, the gates parted, and she walked into her dorm. It was a labyrinthine place - technically, this particular dorm was split up into four dorms, but they were all interconnected and they all led into each other, so students just called the place the Quad. It was the prettiest dorm, all done up in grand gothic style complete with a courtyard, but also one of the oldest, so facilities were shoddy and mice were many. Still, it was worth staying in for its proximity towards SeeU's classes, as well as its general beauty.

Not that SeeU was paying any attention to the state of her dorm. All of her thoughts were laser-focused on how much everything sucked. All of her shit was in her room. Well, maybe not all - SeeU had her laptop in her bag at least, and some of her assigned reading - but all of her clothes, her pajamas, her toothbrush and toothpaste, they were all in her room. SeeU checked her phone for the time. It was 11:45 PM. Maybe her roommate and her boyfriend weren't at it yet. That way, SeeU could at least snag a change of clothes. SeeU tromped up the stairs to her floor and made a beeline straight for her room. The dorm had old wooden floors, so each step SeeU took was accompanied with a squeak. Plus, the walls were thin, so people in their rooms could always hear when someone was coming by. So much for 'quiet hall'...but whatever. SeeU eventually stopped at her room door and searched her pocket for her keys.

But then, she heard a suspicious noise. SeeU stopped and listened carefully. The thin walls worked both ways, and sure enough, SeeU could hear the repetitive squeaking of cheap bedsprings, and the only thought that went through her head was a single, well-worded Fuck.

Sure, she had heard stories of being sexiled, but for some reason, she never thought that it would happen to her. For one, her roommate seemed so mild and quiet, a low-key girl named Kokone who studied art history. For two, well, SeeU had never quite thought about sex being a real possibility in college. At least, she never thought that it would ever apply to her directly - she was in college to study, not to fuck around, and somehow she thought that her roommate would share that sentiment. There was that roommate matching quiz she had to do, and, well...

Whatever. Things were as they were now. All SeeU could do was find alternative lodgings and hopefully get back in her room at some point to get her clothes. Resigned to her sleepless fate, SeeU sighed and turned to survey the hall. Where could she sleep? There was a floor lounge...maybe she could crash there. Destination set, then. SeeU walked the short length of the hall down to the floor lounge. It was little more than a room with a table and two couches around it, with a vending machine in the corner. There was a rectangular window that offered a nice view of the dorm's courtyard too, but right now, all SeeU wanted was to sleep.

Thankfully, the lights were off. SeeU plopped herself down on a couch and with a sigh, closed her eyes and tried her best to sleep. It was hard, though. SeeU was never the kind of person who could sleep wherever she wanted, and the couch was uncomfortable, cheap and ratty and vaguely stinky. Still, it was all she had at the moment, and slowly SeeU let her thoughts unravel into nothingness...

-o-o-o-

"SeeU? You alive?"

SeeU's eyes snapped open, the night breaking in, thoughts confused. Where am I? and Why am I not in my room? scurried through her head until her memories coalesced and it all came flooding back, the text and getting sexiled and deciding to sleep in the floor lounge. The lights were on now, illuminating the lounge in all of its cheap glory, and a girl was looking at SeeU strangely, dressed in a black and purple rabbit-eared hoodie, messenger bag slung over her left shoulder. For a moment, SeeU didn't recognize her, but then she remembered. She had seen this girl before - she had given a brief introduction of herself during the first hall meeting, but SeeU remembered nothing about her other than the fact that her favorite animal was rabbits.

"Huh? What is it?" SeeU croaked, rubbed her eyes.

The girl smiled. "Good to see you're alive. Just wanted to make sure you weren't dead."

SeeU groaned and checked her phone. It was half past midnight. Her mind, foggy from being woken up so abruptly from sleep, cranked and churned with consternation at the late hour. "I'm not dead, I was just...sleeping."

"Huh. Never thought of you as the hobo type. Why not sleep in your room?" the girl asked, sitting down next to SeeU.

"I'm not the hobo type! I just got sexiled and I didn't have anywhere else to stay, that's all," SeeU snapped.

The girl arched her eyebrow. "Why not crash at a friend's place, then?"

SeeU frowned and looked away. She didn't have any friends yet, but it seemed a bit too pathetic to say that straight out, so she said nothing instead.

"Well," said the girl, "you're in luck. My roommate's out for the weekend staying with the 'rents. Wanna stay at my place?"

SeeU's eyes widened and she looked over at her. "Really? Your roommate won't mind?"

"Honestly," said the girl with a grin, "my roommate's barely here and she pretty much told me that I can do whatever I want in our room. So, she won't mind."

"Wow, I, um," SeeU stumbled over her words, unused to this. "Thank you. I won't make a mess, and I'll be, um, out in the morning."

"Stay as long as you want, I'd like some company. I can't let a cute girl like you sleep in a stinky lounge. Seriously, when I walked by, I almost thought you were a ghost or a corpse or something, just sitting there in the dark. Anyways," she got up, "let's go and get you settled in, shall we?"

"Wait," SeeU said. "Before all that, what's your name?"

The girl laughed. "You don't remember? I usually make an impression on people. I'm kind of hurt that you don't seem to remember me at all...SeeU."

SeeU frowned. "Well...how do you remember my name?"

The girl looked at her blankly. "I mean, your name's SeeU. Not exactly a common name."

SeeU looked away, feeling a blush heat up her cheeks. She had always been rather sensitive of her name. Sure, it was a normal name in Korea, but for some reason, when she immigrated here her parents decided to romanize her name as 'Kim SeeU' as opposed to the far more normal and socially acceptable 'Kim Si Yu'. Once she graduates, SeeU vowed, she would definitely change her name. "Wh-whatever. What's your name, then?"

"Yukari Yuzuki," said the girl with a smile. "Anyways, enough talk. Let's go to my place."

-o-o-o-

"And here we are!" Yukari announced as she unlocked her door. "Chez Yukari and Absentee Roommate. You get a bed and a sink and, at zero bucks a night, it's priced competitively."

SeeU stood and took in the room. It was the same size as her's, which was to be expected, but it was far better decorated. As opposed to SeeU's spartan room, there were posters of old movies and drinking games, a mini-fridge with rabbit magnets, beanbag chairs, a carpet, precariously-hung, cheapo Halloween lights. It looked...nice. Cozy, almost. SeeU then drew her attention to the beds. One was little more than a pillow on top of some white sheets, and the other was decked out in rabbit plushies, the sheets a lilac purple. It was obvious which was whose.

"Nice room," said SeeU after some silence.

Yukari laughed, dropping off her bag on her desk and plopping down on her chair. "Thanks! When I first got here, Mizki - oh, that's my roommate, by the way - and I decided to decorate it. But as you can see, she's never here." Yukari made a face. "Cons of a roommate who's from the area and has a bunch of friends from high school at college. Gets kinda lonely."

"Oh. That, um, sucks..."

"No, no, it's fine," Yukari shrugged. "I know a few people already and it's nice, having a pseudo-single. Anyways, you can sleep in my bed. It's no biggie."

"Really? But it's your bed," SeeU said. "I can sleep on the other bed."

Yukari waved her hand. "No, no, please. As the gracious host, I insist you sleep in my bed, it's more comfortable. I can take my roomie's. It's totally cool - trust me, you're not the only sexile who slept over."

"But," SeeU protested, "it's your bed. You should sleep in it."

"Like I said, it's fine. I can sleep in my roommate's bed. Unless, what, you want to sleep together?" Yukari's grin became mischievous.

For a moment, SeeU wasn't sure that she had heard correctly. Did Yukari really just say that? They barely knew each other! Furthermore, how did she know that SeeU was...well...whatever. SeeU was suddenly quite aware that perhaps sleeping in an almost complete stranger's room wasn't the best idea. "What? What the fuck are you talking about? No!"

Yukari laughed, leaning back and holding up her hands. "Damn, overreaction much? Relax, I was joking."

SeeU scowled. "You know, before, I thought your offer was generous. Now? I'm afraid of a price tag."

"Didn't I say that Chez Yukari and Absentee is priced at zero bucks a night?"

SeeU's frown deepened. "Dollars aren't the only way to pay."

Yukari laughed again. "Don't worry, SeeU, my intentions are honorable. Unless you don't want them to be?"

SeeU wasn't sure how to respond. She was completely out of her element, having no exposure to flirting and other such things. The closest she got was stammering out a tired pick-up line to this girl she had a crush on in freshman year of high school and getting promptly rejected. "Uh...maybe I should go back to the lounge."

"Suit yourself. But!" Yukari shot SeeU a winning smile, "Are you sure you want to go back to sleeping in the lounge? I mean, who knows what kind of sordid stuff the Class of 1957 and every class after did in that room? At least here, you're guaranteed one," Yukari held up a finger and began to count off, "a clean bed, two, a nice sink, and three, scintillating company courtesy of yours truly. I have to admit, it's hard to pass up."

This Yukari kid was way too good at sweet-talking. Against her better judgment, SeeU sighed. "Fine, I'll stay. But why do you want me to stay here so bad?"

Yukari shrugged. "Call it loneliness, if you'd like, or boredom. Sucks having a roommate who's gone pretty much six nights out of seven. She's either sleeping at her friend's place in the high rises or staying in town with her 'rents where she gets the luxuries of free laundry and a car."

"Having a roommate isn't that great," said SeeU. "It sounds like you have a good deal. A single for a double's price. If I were you, I wouldn't complain. Anyways," SeeU sat herself down on the bed, "why are you staying in a quiet hall? You definitely don't seem like the type."

"Ah," Yukari smiled sheepishly. "I signed up too late for housing because I took a gap year, so it was either the quiet hall in the Quad or that shitty dorm that looks like a prison. Naturally, I chose the Quad."

"You took a gap year?" For some reason, SeeU wasn't too surprised. Just from how talkative Yukari was, she definitely seemed like the type who would take that kind of risk. "What'd you do?"

"Eh. I took some time to figure out what I wanted to do. I lived close to a small family farm, so I spent some time picking. In strawberry season, they hire tons of student pickers. I made like, forty bucks a day, and then I moved, umm," Yukari made a face as she thought. "I think I went to Maine, washing dishes at some tourist resort. Then I used the money I saved up to go to Europe and travel on the Eurail."

"Eurail? What's that?"

"It's a train pass," Yukari explained. "I got it on discount, but basically you get to travel all over Europe for a month, for free! You can go from Portugal to Norway, from Spain to Turkey, all over. It was a ton of fun. I even went to fuckin' Bruges."

SeeU furrowed her eyebrows. "What's so special about Bruges?"

"Oh, uh, it's a movie reference. In Bruges. It's about hitmen in Bruges, it's a blast, you should go see it. I think it's on Netflix, so you have no excuse not to."

"Huhh," SeeU said, filing the movie away in her 'maybe-watch-but-probably-not' list. "But what'd you do in all these countries? Were you just traveling to travel?"

Yukari blinked. "I guess you can call it that. I mean, I always wanted to see what it's like in another continent. I could've gone to Asia too, I guess, but my family's Japanese so it's not as exotic for me," she laughed. "But yeah, I was just there to be there. I looked around, walked around, tried to eat what the locals ate, tried not to get ripped off, tried to find cheap places to stay for the night. I just wanted to be there, you know?"

All of that sounded terribly exotic to SeeU. Travelling was something she would like to do sometime, but it was more of a thing that she thought she would do after she got her life figured out in college. "So? Did all of this travelling get you any insights as to what you want to do?"

"Sort of? I think humanity is really interesting overall, so I honestly can't decide between psychology, anthropology, or sociology. Really soft stuff, I know, but I can't help my own interests. How about you?"

"Pre-med."

Yukari's eyes widened. "Wow! Pre-med? That's really, really cool. You must be really smart, huh? I heard the pre-med life is tough as hell. Well," Yukari grinned, "I'm cheering for you. Speaking of which," Yukari checked her watch and grimaced. "It's pretty late. Sorry I kept you up with all the talking."

SeeU checked her phone. It was two in the morning. Fuck. She was supposed to be in bed by now so that she could get up early to study. "Shit. I should've been sleeping hours ago."

"You wanna get your stuff?" asked Yukari. "Should be safe to go now. In case you don't want to wake them up, feel free to use my toothpaste"

"Thank you," SeeU shrugged off her backpack. "Just...let me back in when I knock-"

"I'll keep the door unlocked for you," Yukari said with another one of her charismatic smiles. SeeU swallowed the lump that suddenly appeared in her throat and dashed out.

-o-o-o-

Her room, when she got there, was dark, but it was light enough to see that there were two people in her roommate's bed as opposed to one and thank God they were sleeping soundly. SeeU stepped her way through discarded clothing and slowly opened her drawer to fetch her pajamas. She would change her clothes here, but she didn't quite feel comfortable changing with some random male stranger in the room, even if he was sleeping and her roommate's boyfriend. Then again, SeeU wasn't sure if she was all that comfortable changing with Yukari in the room either, what with that insinuation of sleeping together earlier.

Basically, SeeU was stuck. She stared blankly at her pajama bottoms for a few seconds before hurriedly shaking her head. She'd just change under the covers in Yukari's room. That decided, SeeU exited her room and went back to Yukari's. True to her word, the door was unlocked. When SeeU stepped in, Yukari glanced up from her phone and smiled.

"Didn't wake up anyone, yeah?"

SeeU nodded. "They were dead asleep."

Yukari smiled and her eyes focused on SeeU's pajamas. "I see you're changing here?"

SeeU glared at Yukari. "Well, of course! I'm not about to change with some stranger right there."

Yukari put a hand over her heart in mock surprise. "SeeU! I didn't know we were so close already!"

SeeU scowled. "Whatever. You better not peek or anything. I'm on to you."

Yukari blinked owlishly. "On to me?" she asked, her voice all sweetness and innocence. "What are you talking about?"

"You were...you were...earlier..." SeeU tried, but her words were nothing but machine-gun stammers, and face red she gave up and heaved a huge sigh. "Look, just don't look, okay? I'm going to change under the covers."

"I give you my sterling word as a lady that I won't look."

Yukari was altogether too verbose for her to not be suspicious, but when SeeU examined her face she saw nothing but poker-faced innocence. With an airy 'hmph', SeeU climbed into the roommate's - what was her name again, Mizki? - bed. It was rather uncomfortable, most likely due to the lack of a mattress pad, and SeeU quickly changed out of her jeans and into her pajama pants, out of her shirt and into her other shirt. When she was done, she clambered out of bed to see Yukari busily texting.

"You didn't look, right?" SeeU asked.

"Even if I did look, there would've been nothing to see," said Yukari. "You were under the covers, and I don't have X-ray vision. Why the defensiveness?" Yukari's lips quirked into that smile again. "If I didn't know better, I almost would've thought you wanted me to look since you're telling me not to look so much."

"How does that make sense?" SeeU frowned. "No means no, you know."

"Simple," said Yukari. "Denying something lots of times makes you sound more insecure, and thus, the thing you're denying is more likely to be true. One hundred percent pop psychology."

SeeU's eyes narrowed. "You're laying it on pretty thick here. Do all people who you invite to your room get this kind of treatment?"

"No," said Yukari, her voice suddenly sincere. "I just think you're fun to tease, and fun to talk to."

SeeU wasn't sure what to say to that, but despite herself she felt a faint bit of warmth bloom in her heart. It was the most friendly thing that anyone had said to her at college. She ducked her head to hide the heat in her cheeks. "Oh. Uh. Thanks."

"No need to thank me," said Yukari cheerily, "but let's hang out together sometime. You're probably dead tired, aren't you, so let's go to sleep." Yukari hopped out of her chair and shrugged off her somewhat baggy hoodie, revealing slim shoulders and thin arms. "I'm going to change now. Feel free to look if you want."

"Don't flatter yourself," SeeU muttered as she climbed back into Mizki's bed, but quick as a flash Yukari was there, her hand on SeeU's upper arm. SeeU froze, looked down at the hand, and looked up at Yukari. The girl was so close SeeU could smell her perfume, so close SeeU could study her face. But SeeU had the sneaking suspicion that if she stared at Yukari's face too long, she would rapidly lose control of her speech and thought processes, so she tore her attention back to what Yukari was saying.

"No no no, you're sleeping in my bed, remember? As a good host I have to give you the good bed, that's like, the rules. Besides, you're a pre-med, so you need all the top-quality sleep you can get."

"But," said SeeU, but Yukari was already ushering her out. Before she knew it, she was in Yukari's bed with one of Yukari's numerous rabbit plushes in her arm. She had to admit it. It was a lot more comfortable, and ten times more cozy than her own bed. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of Yukari changing. It was too silent for SeeU to not say anything, and she searched her mind for a suitable topic.

"This bed is really nice," SeeU managed before immediately berating herself. 'This bed was really nice'? What a dumb thing to say, of course it was nice, that was immediately obvious just from looking at it. Didn't she say something like that when she first walked into Yukari's room, anyways?

"On average, humans spend thirty three percent of their life asleep. That's a ton of time, so I might as well make myself as comfortable as I can."

"Fine, but then why aren't you sleeping in your bed? I really don't mind sleeping in your roommate's bed. It's like I'm kicking you out like this."

"Geez, you really like to harp on about the bed thing, huh?" Yukari said, her voice good-natured to take away whatever sting her words may have contained. "Touches my heart that you're so concerned about my sleep quality. But it's fine, like I said. It's just one night. Anyways," Yukari flicked off the light and the room went dark, "I'm going to sleep now. Night, SeeU."

The effect of the lights going off was startling - SeeU began to feel every inch of her tiredness. She could hear the squeaking of bedsprings as Yukari got into Mizki's bed, but she was so tired it sounded as though it came from a long way away. "Night," SeeU mumbled, and that was that.

-o-o-o-

And nothing came out of that night. Sure, Yukari was nice, even if SeeU got the distinct feeling that she had been hitting on her. And sure, Yukari was attractive and talkative and even somewhat exotic given the fact that she had taken a gap year and traveled (SeeU didn't exactly know much about the world outside of the United States and some fragments of her childhood in Korea, so anyone who traveled outside of those countries were by definition exotic). Sure, Yukari had insisted that they add each other on Facebook and swap numbers, but, well...SeeU was never the type to initiate conversation, and Yukari never contacted her afterwards. Any why would she? SeeU was just some random girl who crashed at her place after getting sexiled. It hurt a bit (okay, maybe a lot), but time heals all wounds and c'est la vie and so on and so forth.

And for a while, nothing majorly Yukari-related happened. Kokone had apologized profusely the afternoon after for the inconvenience, citing reasons such as a last minute train ride and the fact that it had been three weeks - "Three whole weeks, SeeU!" - since she had last seen her boyfriend, and so on. SeeU let the excuses slide off her back and in the end forgave her, with the warning of giving her a day's notice before something like this happened again. The first club meetings began to happen as well, and after visiting a few SeeU managed to meet some new people and begin the beginnings of a friendship with some. She even got a steady study group to study neurobiology with, so that was another win.

College progressed smoothly, and the next time SeeU met Yukari was during finals.

It was a late night, and the library was absolutely stuffed full of students desperately cramming last-minute knowledge into their brains. SeeU counted herself as lucky for managing to get a table to herself. She needed the space - the table was full of her spread-out notes, and she had energy drinks in her bag. There was a cafe in the library too, but it was only open until 2 AM. Not late enough for the majority of students here, and even SeeU's 'bed-by-midnight' rule was thrown out in the looming face of finals.

SeeU had just started to delve into her biochem notes when she heard someone clear their throat. Annoyed, SeeU didn't bother to look up. "This table's taken."

"Hey, why so cold? It's been ages since we last saw each other," said a familiar female voice, and at that SeeU looked up. There was Yukari, looking rather frazzled, bag slung over her back and a large coffee in her hand. SeeU's mouth immediately went dry and a whole host of emotions swelled up in her chest, but she couldn't think of a thing to say. After an awkward silence, Yukari smiled winningly and gestured at the rest of the library. "This place is completely packed, and I'm just studying on my laptop. I won't take up too much space, promise."

"Oh," said SeeU, temporarily losing track of her words. "No. I mean, yes. Sure, you can sit."

Yukari brightened up. "Thanks!" She pulled out the chair opposite and plopped herself down, opening her bag and pulling out her laptop. "Man...can you believe all these people? It's insane. Makes me wonder why people bother to study in a library, you know?"

This was dangerous. SeeU couldn't allow herself to get caught up in conversation with Yukari. Some instinctive part of her knew that if she started talking with her, she might never get around to getting her studying done.

"Yeah," said SeeU.

"Because think about it," Yukari continued. "You can get work done in your room as well, or in the hall lounge without trekking all the way over here and fighting for tables."

"Then why are you here?"

"Oh, I wanted to give the whole library-studying thing a try. But..." Yukari looked around. "Eh. It's not working out that great for me. Say," Yukari leaned forward, a smile on her face, "I know a great study place. Like, no one seems to know about it, it's awesome. And there's even a fireplace and comfy chairs and books and everything. Wanna come with? I promise it's better than..." Yukari glanced around, picking her words, "...this underground prison."

SeeU raised an eyebrow. "If this study place is so great, why do you only know about it?"

"Oh, well, you know me," Yukari grinned. "Fearless adventurer."

SeeU bit her lip. Yukari's smile was making her stomach feel fluttery and weird. Not bad, but SeeU tried to remind herself of how Yukari never contacted her after that night. Clearly, Yukari was just the kind of girl who hopped from one person to another, or maybe she was just a jerk with temporary friends, or maybe she never really thought SeeU was that interesting to talk to at all, or, or...

"How about it?" Yukari continued. "If you hate it for some inexplicable reason, you can come back here."

SeeU sighed. "Do you know how hard it is to get a table here?"

"Five month's reservation in advance, gotta know the maître d?"

Despite herself, SeeU felt a smile play around the edges of her mouth. "Not like that."

"So, you down?" Yukari asked. "Let me show you my study spot."

Damn it. Yukari was way too persuasive, and SeeU gave up the struggle between her heart and head. "Fine. This study spot better be amazing."

"Trust me. It's the best."

-o-o-o-

"Are you sure we're allowed up here?" SeeU asked, looking around the empty hotel as Yukari ascended the stairs. There was a hotel near their school for parents and for recruiters from various companies to stay in, but it was the off season for both and thus the hotel was completely deserted. "This seems exclusive to hotel patrons. Not to random college freshmen like us."

"It's fine," Yukari assured her. "My APO mentor showed me this place, and it's tops."

SeeU blinked. "You're in APO?"

"Yeah, it's fun! You should rush next year."

"Uh, maybe. I don't have the time to join a service frat."

"It's a suggestion," said Yukari. She stopped at the second floor and took an abrupt left, SeeU scrambling to follow her. The floor of the hotel was heavily carpeted, and the walls were wood. It was completely silent. Were they really allowed up here? SeeU sighed. There was nothing for it now but to follow Yukari.

Eventually the two of them reached a lounge area with a large, heavy wooden table in the middle, several armchairs around the perimeter, a fireplace to the right, bookshelves all around, and a large window at the end that overlooked the street. From here, SeeU could spot the art building, the business building, and her dorm. The room itself looked high class, like the library of some noble's estate. The carpet was thick and red, and a painting of some verdant landscape hung over the marble fireplace. The armchairs looked old and valuable, and the wooden table antique and solid. It definitely was a lounge for a high class hotel, something that made SeeU feel rather nervous. Were they really allowed up here?

As if reading her mind, Yukari smiled over at her. "Don't worry. No one comes up here anyways, and what's the worst they can do? They aren't going to arrest us. Students like us are the lifeblood for all of their patrons. Worst case, they let us off with a slap on the wrist and a 'don't come here again'. Anyways, what do you think? Pretty nice studying place, huh? This table," Yukari gave the wooden table an affectionate thump, "is like, twice the size of those dinky tables in the library."

"It is nice," SeeU admitted as she walked over to the table and started spreading out her study materials. "So you're in APO, huh? Is your roommate still out most of the time?"

"Oh? Why do you ask?" Yukari teased. "Want to stay over again?"

"No! I just wanted to know."

"She's unfortunately out a lot, yeah," Yukari answered, "but it's not that bad. It's like I have a big party room, so most of my friends come over and hang."

Now that Yukari mentioned it, SeeU did remember hearing a fair amount of noise from her room. Not that she was paying that much attention to Yukari's room or anything.

"Sounds like first semester has been fun," said SeeU.

"It has! How about you? Make any friends? Join any clubs? Partied at any parties?"

"Yes, yes, and no," SeeU said. "I don't have time for parties."

Yukari's eyes widened. "Really? I'm guessing you hadn't hooked up with anyone either then, huh?"

"What? Of course not," SeeU snapped. "Do I seem like that kind of person?"

"Hey, you're cute enough," Yukari smiled winsomely. "I'm sure that if you go out and dress up, people'll be all over you."

SeeU's eyes narrowed. "I came here to study, not to talk about hooking up. Is that the only thing you think about?"

"What makes you think that?" Yukari looked wounded. "I'm a well-respected member of the community!"

"Yeah, the community of sleazes," SeeU sat down and searched for her notes.

"Okay, maybe I deserve that," Yukari laughed, sitting down across from her and taking out her laptop. "I'll leave you to your studying, Miss SeeU."

-o-o-o-

The clock ticked away minutes and seconds and SeeU yawned and rubbed her eyes. Her notes were all beginning to blur together, and her can of Monster was empty. SeeU dully checked her phone for the time. 2:00 AM. Still a good amount of night to burn. SeeU suppressed another yawn and searched for her place in her notes, but there were so many of them and she had lost her place. She glanced up at Yukari. Despite Yukari's seemingly flighty personality, she was surprisingly focused on her work, having not said a peep after leaving SeeU to her studying. It was impressive, SeeU had to admit. But then again, it wasn't as though getting into Vocalo University was an easy feat either. It was only to be expected that Yukari knew when to work and when to play. SeeU's eyes traced the path of Yukari's long, currently mussed purple hair, the curve of her face and the shape of her nose. The conversation earlier about hooking up popped into SeeU's mind, and she suddenly felt incredibly curious. Did Yukari hook up a lot? She definitely seemed outgoing and personable enough to have. It was easy to imagine her dancing with someone at a party, or making out, or...

Shit. What the fuck was SeeU thinking about? She had to get her mind out of the gutter. She rubbed her eyes with her hands and tried to refocus her thoughts on work as opposed to on the girl across from her. Unfortunately, SeeU's actions only had the effect of drawing Yukari's attention to her; Yukari's lilac eyes flicked up to examine SeeU.

"Tired?" asked Yukari.

"Sort of, yeah...there's so much shit to go through, ugh. I'm only halfway through the material."

"When's your final?"

"It's in three days."

At that, Yukari's mouth dropped open. "Three days and you're already studying this hard? What class is this, orgo?"

"No, it's biochem."

"Damn," Yukari said. "I only start studying two days before the test. Anyways," Yukari closed the lid of her laptop, "wanna take a study break? We've been at it for like, two hours. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to get my mind off of work for a while."

"Sure," said SeeU, leaning back on the couch and closing her eyes. "What do you want to do?"

"We could watch something," said Yukari. "I have Netflix." SeeU could feel Yukari settling down next to her, the fabric of her hoodie brushing against SeeU's arm. SeeU swallowed, acutely aware of the girl's closeness. "Or we can do something else, I don't know. How do you take a break?"

"I walk around, or talk with my friends, or mess around on my phone," said SeeU.

"All fine pursuits," said Yukari. "Well then, we can take a walk if you'd like. Talking to your friends, well, I'm a friend, aren't I?"

"We barely know each other," said SeeU. "I just slept in your room once - ages ago - and we haven't talked since." The words hung unsaid - you never texted me.

If Yukari picked up on it, she gave no indication. "Sounds like a good enough qualification for friendship to me."

SeeU frowned. Yukari wasn't going to smooth talk her way out of this, and the growing annoyance she felt for Yukari fused with the pent-up hurt she felt from being ignored, and when SeeU next spoke, she spoke harshly. "Well, not for me. Friends keep in contact with each other. Maybe that's not the case for you, but friends have to stick around before I call them friends. So no, you're not my friend."

Yukari, for the first time, looked surprised. Her mouth hung slightly open, as if she couldn't quite think of something to say. SeeU looked away and focused on the chair of the couch. The silence stretched on and on until it was almost physical, pressing up against SeeU's insides and squeezing her lungs.

"Um..." Yukari started, and then trailed off. "Well...I'm sorry. But I would like to be friends with you."

"If you really thought like that, you wouldn't have just ignored me for the past few months," SeeU snapped. "You never texted me! Did you even think about how I would have felt after that? You told me that I was fun to talk with, but apparently I'm not fun enough for you to talk with me for the past few months. Looks like your life's been going along swimmingly, pretty tops for you without me anyways, right?"

Yukari winced and held up her hands. "Whoa, okay, okay. I'm sorry." She sighed. "I just got...caught up with college life. And it's not like you were all that enthusiastic when you stayed at my place either. I thought maybe it'd be better to let you text me, rather than push you into talking with someone you didn't want to talk with."

SeeU frowned. She didn't know whether or not to buy Yukari's words, and stayed silent.

"But I really did mean what I said back then, and I really did have fun talking with you. And I would like it if we kept in better contact from now on. I'm sorry for not texting you. I didn't know that you would be so upset."

SeeU heaved a sigh, the fight draining out of her by slow degrees. "Whatever. I don't know why I got so mad in the first place. First weeks of college, you meet tons of people and drop in and out of contact with them."

Yukari hesitated and shifted over so that she was sitting closer to SeeU. SeeU immediately tensed at the contact. Slow seconds ticked by, marked by inhales and exhales.

"I'm sorry," said Yukari, again. SeeU glanced over at her. Yukari's eyes were downcast, her posture slightly slumped. She really did seem apologetic, and what little remained of SeeU's pent up anger disappeared. It wasn't as though SeeU had ever taken the initiative to text Yukari back either. They were both at fault here, SeeU figured.

"It's fine," said SeeU. She made to raise her hand to pat Yukari on the back or something, but then she realized that the tips of her fingers were just barely grazing Yukari's. The knowledge of this simple contact was enough to make SeeU's face heat up all over again, enough to make her heart beat a mile a minute, and SeeU couldn't help but to berate herself, because holy shit their hands were barely touching and she was reacting like a hormonal teenager, which, to be honest, she was. Instead, SeeU pulled her hand away and looked away, willing her heart to calm.

"Really?" Yukari asked.

The heat in SeeU's face wasn't dying down. She nodded. "Y-yes, really."

"If you say so," said Yukari, quite clearly doubtful of SeeU's purported forgiveness. "But hey, there's still a good amount of time left in the semester! Even if it's finals season...there's still a few weeks, and we can definitely keep in contact over winter break. A good amount of time for us to get to know each other...right?"

"Yeah, I guess," SeeU said, looking anywhere but Yukari. "That'd be cool, or something. Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine. Peachy. Thanks for asking," the words stumbled out of SeeU's mouth like drunkards. "I-it's been a while, let's get back to studying, okay?"

Yukari leaned over, bringing her face into SeeU's view. Apparently, whatever she saw amused her, because she was wearing that fucking patented Yukari grin again. "Oh, I see. Yes, okay." Yukari leaned back onto the couch. "Studying? That I can do."

SeeU furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Yukari, trying to ignore the way her heart started going into calisthenics. "What? What is it?"

Yukari flicked her eyes over to her as she opened her laptop. SeeU noted how she wasn't moving back to her original seat across the table. "What's what? We're studying, right?"

SeeU frowned. "I don't like that smile you have on."

"What smile?"

"That cocky grin you have on all the time, that smile."

"Really?" Yukari affected surprise. "Imagine that. I had no idea I was smiling all this time. Maybe it's just because I'm hanging out with you?" She grinned again.

"You're just trying to flatter me," SeeU turned her attention back to her notes the best she could, but she couldn't concentrate at all. All of her attention was focused on the ridiculously distracting girl sitting next to her. "Words are cheap."

"In this economy?"

"Don't be a smartass."

"But wow, this really is a problem," said Yukari, putting a finger to her lips. "Words are cheap, huh? Guess that means you won't believe me no matter what I say?"

SeeU rolled her eyes. "You talk too much."

"Ah, you prefer women of action, then?"

SeeU raked a hand through her hair. The night was slipping away by slow degrees, Yukari was being frustratingly opaque, and SeeU hadn't gotten any studying done in thirty minutes. Her mind was split between her schoolwork and Yukari, and Yukari was so, so, so distracting, but SeeU didn't even know what she wanted to do. Because, when it came right down to it, she barely knew anything about Yukari, really, and SeeU had always thought of herself as being above being prey to her baser feelings, but there was just something about the girl. "Look, I don't know what you want. But could you please let me study? You're really distracting."

"I'm distracting?" Yukari's voice was all sugar and sweetness and it was at that moment when SeeU realized that Yukari knew exactly what she was doing.

That realization changed everything. SeeU's notes slipped from her fingers and if her face was hot before, it was flaming now, and her heart and mind were teetering on the edge of some great, unknown abyss, because SeeU was completely out of her depth and she knew it.

"Um," said SeeU. "Well...yes. You are."

"How so?"

"You just keep talking, and I can't concentrate on studying this way," SeeU mumbled, keeping her head down, studying her hands.

"Here's an idea," said Yukari brightly. The sudden tone switch made SeeU glance up, and she almost flinched. Yukari was so much closer now, SeeU could practically count her eyelashes. SeeU's mouth went dry and she swallowed, hard.

"Uh," SeeU managed.

"Forget about studying," said Yukari, and with that, she leaned forward and closed what little distance remained between the two and SeeU felt the impossibly soft press of Yukari's lips against her own.

Just as Yukari said, all thoughts about studying were completely forgotten after that.

-o-o-o-

Somehow, they ended up back in Yukari's room, and nervously SeeU glanced around, shrugging off her backpack. "Your roommate is out?"

"Of course," answered Yukari.

The Halloween lights were gone, SeeU noted, replaced by Christmas lights. Appropriate for the season. "So...what does this mean?"

"Pardon?"

SeeU struggled. She was afraid, she wanted to say. What if it was like last time, when Yukari never texted back? After something so intimate, it would be hard to deal with, and SeeU didn't want to risk it again. After all, Yukari still seemed so flighty, so hard to grasp. Thoughts like these crowded SeeU's mind, so thick it was like a fog. "I just...I don't know. What if it's like last time?"

"We didn't do anything last time," said Yukari.

SeeU's shoulders sank and she stared down at the floor. "You know what I mean."

"Hey," said Yukari, and she walked over to SeeU and placed her hands on her shoulders, cocked her head to the side and gave SeeU a smile. Not her cocky grins or her friendly 'hey-nice-seeing-you' smile. This one was different, somehow. Softer. "Look, we don't have to if you don't want to."

SeeU shook her head. "No, you don't get it. I just...is this just a one night thing? That's all. That's what I'm afraid of. You're really nice, but...I'm scared. You're like..." SeeU grasped for words, "you're like the wind, or you go with the wind, or whatever, I'm scared that if I wake up tomorrow, you'll never talk to me again, and I'll never see you again, and all we'll have is just this, you know? Just this one night, and after that, nothing."

Yukari was silent for a while, and each tick of silence was a crack on SeeU's heart. She couldn't bring herself to look at Yukari's face anymore, and looked down so that she didn't have to. It made sense if Yukari only wanted this to be a one night thing. She was so carefree, she had so many friends, she went to parties and took a gap year to backpack across fucking Europe. Yukari did stuff and hell, who was SeeU other than an over-studious pre-med who got sexiled one night? There was no reason for Yukari to want this to go any further than a single night. God, SeeU was so fucking stupid.

"I understand why you're afraid of that," said Yukari, carefully. "But I promise you that I'll be here tomorrow, and the day after." She brought a hand up to SeeU's cheek, the warmth heavy and physical. "And you know, I liked you ever since I first saw you at that dumb hall orientation meeting. You have a no-bullshit attitude. It was cute. You reminded me of a tiger."

SeeU managed a laugh. "I've been told that."

Yukari smiled and walked over to her bed, sitting down on it with an audible squeak. "Anyways, if you don't want to...it's fine. I don't want to go faster than you're comfortable with. We can keep it casual."

SeeU exhaled and closed her eyes. Did she want to? To be honest, she did. Curiosity as much as desire was driving her now. And Yukari's words seemed genuine...though what if it was only for one night? Even now, SeeU wasn't sure if she could trust Yukari or not. But at the same time, she knew that she would never know for sure until she took a risk and tried. And, well...SeeU's life had been a bit devoid of risks for a while.

So she took it. SeeU opened her eyes and walked over towards Yukari, putting her hands on her shoulder. "No. I want to." Before Yukari could say anything and potentially ruin the moment with a smart-ass comment, SeeU leaned forward and pressed her lips against Yukari's. Yukari quickly responded, her lips probing as she slowly placed her hands on SeeU's waist. SeeU shivered even at that contact, and wondered what it would feel like if Yukari's hands were against her bare skin.

But then again, she didn't even have to wonder, she could know, just know, and the mere thought of that was amazing, near unimaginable. SeeU trembled to think of it, her lips a hushed breath's apart from Yukari's now, her eyes fluttering between slightly open and closed. Heat pooled in her body and collected in a sinuous pool below. Thus, it was SeeU who escalated. She pushed Yukari back onto her bed and climbed on top of her, moving her lips from Yukari's to brush over her cheek, to mouth at her chin as Yukari tensed underneath her.

"Shit," Yukari half-laughed, "you're aggressive."

"What, have a problem with that?" SeeU placed her mouth in the hollow of Yukari's neck and sucked hard, causing Yukari's back to arch and Yukari to gasp a half-stuttered 'no'. It was good in some perverse way to see the usually articulate Yukari lost for words, and SeeU grinned against the hot flesh of Yukari's neck as she hurriedly divested her of that hoodie she wore all the time, running her hands up and down Yukari's upper arms. It was so hot against her own skin, and Yukari struggled to sit up.

"Wait," Yukari gasped, and reluctantly SeeU backed off, leaned back so that Yukari could sit up a little. "Geez, give me a chance to do stuff too," Yukari laughed, and she slipped her hands underneath SeeU's shirt to slip it off. SeeU shivered - Yukari's hands were hot against her bare skin and it felt as though every nerve in her was screaming to be touched. SeeU was barely aware of when she did the same to Yukari, hands fumbling and clumsy, and both of their shirts were off and the only thing SeeU was aware of now was that Yukari was straddling her, fingers splayed against her bare stomach and roaming their way up to SeeU's breasts. SeeU fixed her gaze on the curves of Yukari's body, running her eyes up and down her slim, athletic frame. Of course she would be in good shape, SeeU thought dryly, but then all thought disappeared once Yukari smirked and leaned down towards SeeU's breasts.

At the first touch of her tongue, SeeU couldn't help but to let out a small, breathy "Oh fuck" and Yukari laughed, the vibrations of her laughter and the gentle puffs of air from her mouth unbearable to feel. SeeU brought a hand up to tangle in Yukari's hair as she squeezed her eyes shut. These sensations were so new and overwhelming, SeeU didn't even know what she was feeling. She felt as though she was gasping for air, as though she was reciting a litany of swear words as Yukari replaced her lips with her fingers splayed on SeeU's breast, dragging her tongue up SeeU's neck, mouthing SeeU's chin before pushing her lips against SeeU's own. SeeU gasped and promptly Yukari's tongue swept in to fill the space, and then SeeU couldn't think about anything but the slickness of Yukari's tongue against hers. Yukari drew her hand away and gently dragged it down, lower and lower on SeeU's body.

"Fuck," SeeU mumbled. "Fuck."

"You're very," Yukari drew her head down to SeeU's ear, "articulate."

"Shut up," SeeU tried, but it ended up sounding more like a half-choked huff as Yukari drew circles with her tongue around her ear and breathed out, sending shivers racing up and down SeeU's spine. She was acutely aware of Yukari - her skin, her body heat, her weight pressed down on top of her, her lips against her ear and one hand on her breast and another trailing in lazy circles downwards. SeeU felt as tense as a drawn wire, and at the first touch of Yukari's fingers down there, she bucked and let out a groan so loud she immediately felt embarrassed. If anyone happened to be walking around outside, thanks to the thin walls, they definitely heard that.

"So much for living in the quiet hall," Yukari murmured against SeeU's lips.

"Don't give me that sass-fuck," SeeU gasped as Yukari's fingers circled round and round, and SeeU screwed her eyes shut. She could feel tension collecting in her body with each rotation, and instinctively her hips thrust against Yukari's. Yukari gave SeeU a lingering kiss on the lips before drawing her lips downwards, down to the valley between her breasts, the dip in her naval, until her tongue touched where her fingers were and sparks flashed behind SeeU's eyes and SeeU found that she no longer cared about how loud she was anymore. She buried her fingers in Yukari's hair, if only to have something to hold on to. Yukari seemed to know exactly what to do with her tongue and lips, alternating between flicking and sucking and fucking hell SeeU didn't know that she could feel so good. It was too much and at the same time not enough, SeeU's thighs tensed and trembling with her need to come. She needed and wanted more of this, more of Yukari, her hips bucking with each stroke of Yukari's tongue until the pressure built up and up and then it burst and she burst with a strangled cry, coming apart in Yukari's hands.

"Fuck," mumbled SeeU on the comedown, everything down there feeling altogether too sensitive now, "fuck," and Yukari was looking up from between SeeU's legs with that fucking smile on her face and a cocky, "Looks like that felt pretty good, huh?"

"You ass," was all SeeU could manage as she felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her. Yukari laughed and climbed up so that she was laying next to SeeU, pulling the blankets up with her to cover them both. "You better text me after this."

Yukari threw an arm over her and kissed her on the cheek and said something, but SeeU was too tired to hear what she said, and when she closed her eyes, the waves of sleep carried her away.

-o-o-o-

SeeU's eyes opened. For a moment, she had no idea where she was, but then she felt the solid weight of an arm around her, of a warm body against her own, and SeeU glanced back to see a soundly sleeping Yukari and the events of last night rushed back in full force.

"Oh god," SeeU groaned, throwing a hand over her eyes. Shit. How did last night even happen? All SeeU wanted was to study, and then Yukari showed up and now she's in Yukari's bed again, except with Yukari in it. SeeU peeked through her fingers at Yukari's face. The girl seemed so innocent when she slept, her face soft and her breaths delicate. A rush of affection filled SeeU's heart and she propped herself on one elbow to simply take in the sight of her.

Then, Yukari's eyes fluttered open and SeeU scrambled to make it seem as though she was doing anything other than staring at Yukari.

"Were you staring at me?" asked Yukari.

"What? No way," said SeeU. "Don't flatter yourself."

Yukari smiled and rubbed SeeU's hair. "If you say so. Hey," she sat up and the blankets fell away from her. SeeU gulped - she forgot that Yukari was naked underneath the covers. "What do you have planned for today? There aren't any classes cause it's reading days."

"I'm going to study," said SeeU numbly, eyes fixed on Yukari's body.

"Study? What? And waste this beautiful day? Come on," Yukari shot her a grin, "how about we go on a date instead?"

"A date?"

"I realized that I haven't actually taken you out on a proper date yet, so we may have skipped some steps in our rush to get to bed," said Yukari. "But today seems like the perfect opportunity. Especially after all the studying you did last night."

SeeU rolled her eyes. "I got like, no studying done last night."

"Sure you did! You're fine, SeeU, trust me. Besides, what's a few hours, right? You can spend the rest of the night cramming if that's your hobby, but spend the day with me. It'll be a blast, I promise!"

SeeU hesitated. Visions of all her exams appeared before her eyes. But then, she refocused herself on Yukari, and for the first time, noticed how earnest she looked, how eager she was to spend the day with her, the affection in her eyes and the hopefulness in her smile. And no one, no one at all, had ever looked at SeeU that way, and SeeU bit her lip and tried to quash the rapidly growing hope beating madly against her chest. "Don't you have other plans?"

Yukari shook her head. "Nothing more important than spending the day with you."

Fuck. "That's such a corny line."

"So is that a yes or a no?"

SeeU laughed, and the anxiety flowed out of her. Because whatever - it was only a few hours, and it was a few hours spent with Yukari. That was a trade worth making, a risk worth taking. "Of course it's a yes."

---

THIS WAS SO MUCH LONGER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE! Anyways. Hi everyone! I wanted to write something, and I wanted to write something that was neglected, so I ended up writing SeeU/Yukari because there are apparently no SeeU/Yukari stories and I wanted to rectify that. It's been a while so I'm quite out of practice, but I hope you guys enjoyed the read, and I hope to continue all the stories I haven't finished yet soon, haha.