Work Text:
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
She could feel the blood trickling down her forehead but she didn’t bother to wipe it off. Her opponent was watching her with fierce eyes, and if she didn’t know any better, she would probably be scared.
Her opponent’s breathing was calm, a huge contrast to her own shaky and uneven breaths. Her opponent wasn’t scared, but neither was she.
Three, two, one, she counted in her head, and as soon as her self-timer had hit zero, she charged.
Her opponent was ready, but so was she. When her opponent dodged her attack, the woman wasn’t even phased. She spun around and knocked her opponent to the ground with a nasty hit to the side of her head.
While her opponent was caught off guard, she used the opportunity to brandish her trusty pocket knife from her pocket. Technically weapons weren’t allowed, but nothing about this fight was legal anyways. She tackled the other and lodged the knife into her stomach. The woman sputtered and reached up to grab her neck, wrapping her hands tightly around the muscle. The woman squeezed her eyes shut; this was always her least favorite part. She pulled the knife out of the woman’s flesh, hearing the gross squelching sound that came with it, and stabbed her opponent one more time in her throat. The woman’s grip around her throat loosened to nothing.
Making sure to not look at the mess beneath her, the winner stood up, accepted her prize money, and left.
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“Mina, honey, you have a show today. Why aren’t you getting ready yet?”
Mina let out a huff of air through her mouth. “I am getting ready, Jihyo.”
Her older sister peaked around the door to the bathroom. “Who are you texting?”
Mina clicked the power button on her phone and slid it onto the counter, easily hiding the texts from her sister. “None of your business! And anyways, shouldn’t you be getting ready, too?”
Jihyo smirked slyly and took a step around the corner, so Mina could now see her sparkly blue bodice and her plain tutu. Mina scoffed, saying, “Suck-up.”
Jihyo giggled and stepped into the bathroom with Mina. Mina was wearing her costume already, but she had gotten a bit distracted by her phone and realized too late that she didn’t have her hair or makeup done. She quickly glanced at the time on her phone; she had less than an hour to get ready, eat, and leave.
Jihyo took a glance around the bathroom before patting the edge of the counter, Mina taking the hint and hopping up onto it. Jihyo shuffled through her drawers before pulling out a few items and getting to work on Mina’s hair and makeup. Mina was incredibly thankful; although her adopted sister could be a hassle and they would always get into trouble around each other, they always had their moments. And although Jihyo was adopted, Mina couldn’t remember a time without her.
After curling Mina’s hair and giving her sparkly makeup to match her sparkly costume, Jihyo left Mina to clean up the mess. When Mina came down the stairs into the kitchen, she was surprised to see that their table was set with three plates. Mina smiled softly and sat in between her siblings, Jihyo and Chris, and ate as quickly as she could. Chris was telling her all about a Minecraft Youtuber he watched, saying something about heat waves, and then going on to talk about one of his friends from school. Mina did her best to listen, but it was hard as her younger brother would never stop talking.
After finishing breakfast the three of them loaded into their car and their parents rushed out of the house with bags Mina knew were full of skates and basketballs and even extra underwear. Their mom got into the driver seat and all but teleported to the studio with how fast she was driving.
“I heard our competitors are stuck up bitches,” Jihyo said while they were unloading their bags from the back.
“Language,” their father said, but no one actually listened to him.
Mina swung her bag over her shoulder and helped to hand Chris his IPad that he’d be playing on during their show. “I hope they don’t tamper with the scores like how The Blades did. Everyone knows their team only won because the judge was a huge perv.”
“Agreed,” Jihyo said, reaching down to hold Chris’s hand and the three of them started heading to the studio. Their parents followed as well, but none of them really cared about them.
Mina and Jihyo helped Chris and their parents find seats in the stadium before running off to the back where they’d be warming up and putting on their skates. When Mina sat on the ground to tie her skates, she was very pleased when someone swatted her hands away and did it themself.
“Hey Chae,” Mina said, smiling up at the younger girl. She was wearing a pink costume today, paired with a peachy lip gloss and her hair in cute pigtails.
“Hey Chae,” that was Jihyo, returning to them with her arm around Nayeon’s shoulders. The four of them smiled at each other before racing each other to get into the rink.
Obviously, it was cold, but Mina was used to it at this point. She felt more at home on the ice than she ever did on the ground.
After doing some warmups and scanning the crowd a few times, she finally caught sight of Chaeyoung’s family. She raised her arm high in the sky and waved happily, earning four waves back.
Wait, four? Last she checked, Chae’s family only consisted of her parents and her younger sister, Tzuyu. So who was the extra person, dressed in a tube top and short shorts, with her orange hair long enough to reach her waist? She looked like the epitome of a straight girl, but something about the way she was cheerily waving despite not knowing Mina was too captivating to look away from.
“Hey Chae, who’s that?” Mina asked, turning to look at the blond who was stretching next to her.
Chaeyoung looked up to the stands and did a little finger-wave towards the long-haired girl. “That’s my friend from school. She can be a little weird sometimes, but she’s really kind and I’ve known her for a few years.”
Mina nodded, skating in little circles; it was easier than breathing for her. “What’s her name?”
“Sana,” Chaeyoung said, standing up fully and making her way towards the other side of the rink, making a few laps.
Mina was curious about the girl; she wondered if she was really straight, or if she was one of those ‘straight’ girls who make out with their best girl friends. Or maybe she was just a closeted lesbian. Whatever it was, Mina wanted to know.
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Mina’s skating routine was a duet with a guy her age. His name was Hyunjin, and he was so handsome that Mina found herself questioning her sexuality. But then Mina looked back at the girl in the crowd, Sana, and she was sure that she had to have her.
After the show Mina and the rest of the teams waited around to hear who won. Thankfully there weren’t any weird pervert judges to have the scores persuaded.
Mina ended up coming in second. The first place was a guy named Sunghoon, and third was Chaeyoung. Jihyo and Nayeon cheered so loudly that Mina was sure her eardrums would pop.
“You did so well!” Jihyo cheered once they’d gotten their skates packed up.
“You really did,” Nayeon agreed, reaching over to give both Mina and Chaeyoung head pats. Mina smiled in response; she was really thankful for her friends not being poor sports.
They stood outside the studio for a few minutes, shaking hands with the judges and other competitors. Hyunjin ended up cheering with her loudly before running away to make out with some guy. Mina giggled at that; of course a guy as hot as him was taken.
“You did so well, Chae!” A voice called out, and Mina hopped over to where her friend was to see who was congratulating her. She discovered it was Sana, the pretty girl who had waved at her earlier.
“You did good too,” Sana said, and Mina realized the words were aimed at her.
“Thanks,” Mina said, standing slightly behind Chaeyoung. She wasn’t shy, by any means—rather, she was gay panicking at the sight of the pretty girl in front of her.
“My name is Sana,” Sana said, stepping forward slightly and holding her arm out to shake Mina’s hand. Mina took notice of the small scars on her fingers, but then got carried away by the feeling of Sana’s soft hand on hers.
“Her name is Mina,” Chaeyoung giggled, slapping her shoulder lightly. Mina blinked out of her daze and tore her hand away from Sana’s. Hopefully the girl wouldn’t think she was weird.
“That’s a pretty name.” Sana tucked her hair behind her ear—wait, was she flirting?
“It’s Japanese,” Mina blurted out before even thinking through her words. She mentally face-palmed at how awkward she was.
Sana’s giggle was music to her ears.
“I’m Japanese too,” she said, and Mina wanted to melt.
But their conversation was interrupted by another voice. “We’re gonna have a celebratory dinner, and Chaeyoung’s mom’s gonna take us. Our dads are going out drinking or something, I wasn’t paying attention.”
Mina looked up at Jihyo and nodded. The few of them, including Sana and Nayeon, headed to Chae’s mom’s car and piled in. Mina, Chaeyoung, and Sana sat in the very back while Jihyo and Nayeon sat in the middle, quietly giggling about something.
Mina turned to occupy herself with Chaeyoung and Sana, only to see that they were having a thumb war. Mina played as the referee for a few rounds before Chaeyoung turned to play against her.
Then Sana asked to play against Mina, and she ended up getting too distracted by the idea that Sana’s soft hands were on hers and the way Sana would giggle and cheer when she won. Mina barely even noticed the blisters on her hands and the cuts on the edges of her fingers.
“We’re here, girls!” Chaeyoung’s mom called out, and Mina only registered her words once Sana took her hand away from her grasp.
The inside of the diner was familiar; it was the same restaurant they always went to after competitions, as it had the types of foods they could all agree on. They all sat around a family-sized table and ordered their drinks.
“So, I heard you go to school with Chae,” Mina said, turning to face Sana, who nodded and paused the action of tying her hair up.
“Yeah, I’ve known her for a while but we’re only just becoming friends.” Sana struggled to tie her hair up, so Mina swatted her hands away and did it herself, tying the orange hair up into a messy bun. She even fluffed it up for her.
“Thanks,” Sana said, giving her a little smile. Mina smiled in response.
“Oh, by the way,” Sana said, reaching up to play with a strand of hair that was too short to stay in the bun. “Maybe we could exchange numbers? I noticed that you were really pretty, and I wanted to see you more often.”
Is this flirting? Mina wondered. She figured it was; Sana was giggling and playing with her hair and practically asking her out. And how could Mina say no to those doe eyes and cherry lips?
“Yeah, sure,” Mina said, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. She had changed from her costume into jeans and a hoodie, which looked severely underdressed compared to her makeup and hair, but she couldn’t bother to care. Mina slid her phone towards Sana and watched her type in her name. Actually, she didn’t even type in her name; she wrote Cutie <3 and honestly, Mina didn’t think she would ever change that.
“Here ya go,” Sana giggled, giving her phone back. Mina chuckled but sent her a text so she could have her number too.
The rest of the dinner went smoothly, and afterwards they were all dropped off at their respective homes. Jihyo passed out on the couch, which left Mina to wipe off her sister’s makeup and to set her alarms.
Mina then helped Chris to make some leftovers for dinner; while the girls were at dinner, Mina’s mom had driven Chris to a basketball game. Once Chris was in bed she could finally go to sleep.
Mina headed upstairs to clean her face of the makeup and to take a quick shower. She laid in bed for a few minutes on her phone, and right when she was about to set her phone aside, she got a text.
Cutie <3
Wanna meet up soon?
Like a date. I’m gay
And ik you are too bc if you were straight you woulda fallen on your knees and begged that pretty blond you were skating with to marry you
His name is Hyunjin and he apparently has a boyfriend
So you’re not gay? Damn.
I never said that.
I’m free next Sunday
Like a date?
Yeah
Cool I’ll pick a place and we can talk about details later
Goodnight
Night
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
“When are you gonna tell me who you’re going out with?” Jihyo cried out, flopping to the floor dramatically.
“I’m not going out with anyone! I’m just meeting up with some friends,” Mina said. They all knew it was a lie; If she was meeting with friends, she wouldn’t be dressed up in a blouse and the jeans that made her hips look extraordinary. She especially wouldn’t be sitting on the bathroom counter and attempting to do her makeup, her hand shaking and making her eyeliner smudge.
Nayeon humphed and grabbed the pen from her, helping her wipe off the makeup she’d done so far. Mina was complaining until Nayeon said, “Hey, just wait. I’ll make you look nice for your date.”
“It’s not a date,” Mina pouted, but she let Nayeon finish her makeup anyway. At the end it was a soft pinkish color that made her look like a real-life princess.
“Thanks,” Mina said once Nayeon had finished. Jihyo moved over to do her hair, tying it in a half-up-half-down ponytail, making her look even more like a princess.
“Have fun,” Jihyo said, handing Mina one of Jihyo’s bags. “Text me if you need anything and don’t do anything stupid. And text me the address of wherever you’re going.”
Mina rolled her eyes; her sister was too overprotective. But she agreed anyway; for all she knew, Sana could be the leader of some gang and only asked her out to recruit her. So she sent the address to her sister before leaving home.
They had chosen to go to an arcade, somewhere that Sana had said she’d wanted to go to for a couple months but could never afford. Mina planned on paying, but she wouldn’t tell Sana until it was too late for her to change that.
Mina rounded a corner and caught sight of a head of dyed orange hair. Sana hopped up and waved at her, smiling brightly and waiting for Mina to catch up.
Mina checked her out not so subtly, and she heard Sana giggle at that. The ginger was wearing a pink skirt and a different tube top than she was wearing the other day. Surprisingly, she had slight abs, which Mina would never expect from someone as soft-looking as her. Sana slipped her hand into hers and Mina intertwined their fingers.
“You’re dressed cute,” Mina said, leading Sana into the arcade and towards the front counter.
Sana giggled, “Thanks. You are too.”
Mina smiled softly and turned to the man behind the counter to pay for their tokens. She bought more than enough for both of them, secretly hoping that there’d be some left over so Sana could come back again sometimes and not have to pay.
“I would have paid,” Sana said, and Mina had expected her to say that. She smiled and took Sana’s hand in her own again.
“I wanted to.”
“You’re weird,” Sana said, looking away.
Mina chuckled. “Which game do you want to try first?”
“Let’s do that one!” She pointed at a tall game in the corner.
Mina let herself be dragged around the whole day, happily watching Sana score points for all different types of games. It wasn’t until towards the end of the day when Mina caught sight of something she hadn’t noticed before.
Mina tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. Sana was playing an intense game of Pac-Man, so Mina took the chance to look down at where Sana’s tube top had slightly ridden down.
On her chest where it had been covered before, Sana was adjourning a small scar. It was pink, meaning it was old, and it looked pretty deep. Mina only realized she’d been spacing out when she caught sight of Sana tugging her shirt up.
“I didn’t mean to stare,” Mina said quickly, and Sana just scowled. Mina followed Sana to where she was walking, seeing she was heading towards the back door of the building. Mina realized she’d made Sana feel bad, so she quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the back corner of the arcade behind a machine. No one would see them here.
“I didn’t mean to stare,” Mina repeated. Sana tried to look away from her, but Mina grabbed the side of her face and forced her to stay still. Once Sana finally sighed and gave her attention, Mina continued.
“I didn’t mean to offend you, I promise. I understand now that it was invading your privacy, so I’m sorry. Please forgive me?”
Sana blinked down at her and finally nodded, Mina letting out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.
Mina realized too late that her hand was still holding Sana’s face so she let go, her hand dropping to her side nervously. But Sana just smiled softly, grabbed ahold of Mina’s wrist, and placed her hand there again.
“Can I kiss you?” Sana asked, and Mina was seriously surprised. People usually waited to kiss for a few dates to go by, but Sana seemed eager. In all honesty, Mina was eager too.
“Sure,” Mina breathed out, and Sana smiled at her softly. Then their lips met in a gentle kiss, their lips moving against each other’s like that’s what they were made to do. When Sana pulled away, Mina couldn't help but dive in for more, pressing Sana back against the wall and brushing her hand through the taller’s hair.
Mina only pulled away when a little kid came running up to them, ducking behind them to hide behind the machine. They both laughed and ran off to let the kid play his game of hide-and-seek.
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
Mina felt her heart stop for the first time in her life.
It had been a normal day; Jihyo had woken her up late, Nayeon had come over to raid their fridge, and Mina had set off to her studio to practice a new routine. Everything was going swell until her studio’s door burst open and a girl dropped onto the ice like a dead weight.
Mina all but screamed, racing her way over to the orange-haired girl and saying “Sana, Sana, what’s wrong?”
Sana groaned but didn’t say any words, which only had Mina worrying more. She fell to her knees and helped to flip Sana over onto her back, and the sight she saw was enough to make anyone pass out in an instant.
Sana’s black shirt had ridden up to reveal a painting of red liquid across her entire stomach. In a moment of panic, Mina pulled her shirt up, not even realizing that her chest was on full display, until she found what had caused the mess of blood.
Across Sana’s ribs was a deep cut, something that couldn’t have been the effect of an ‘accident’. Someone had meant to hurt Sana.
Mina couldn’t think it over too much; she was already on her skates and rushing to the other side of the room where a first-aid kit was hanging on the wall. She hauled it down and returned to Sana.
“I’ll call Chae’s mom,” Mina said, already about to leave through the door to find where she’d left her phone. However, Sana’s hand weakly gripped her ankle and she stopped to look down at her.
“Don’t,” Sana said, and Mina was about to ignore her until Sana followed up with, “I did much worse to the other person. Don’t tell anyone.”
A million questions were racing through Mina’s head but she didn’t voice any of them. Instead she crawled towards Sana and got to work on wrapping gauze around the wound, following a Youtube tutorial on Sana’s phone.
Mina held Sana’s hand while she used a few wet paper towels to help clean up the mess of blood. Sana had started crying at one point, but Mina was too scared to comfort her.
Did Sana get into a fight? Was this all Sana’s fault? Did she hurt someone worse than this, and that’s why she was suffering like this? Did Sana do something seriously wrong?
But again, Mina didn’t ask any of these questions. She disappeared to her dressing rooms to grab a change of clothes that Sana could change into. Then she did her best to wipe up the blood on the ice, finding it much harder to do than it seemed. It left a hole in the ice but she really hoped no one would ask about it.
Mina joined Sana on the stairs behind the building. It was sunny outside, helping to warm them up from being freezing inside. While Mina was used to the cold, she knew Sana wasn’t, and she felt empathetic towards the orange-haired girl.
It was silent between them, as if one word would make their whole world shatter. Mina couldn’t stop thinking, though; what bad had Sana done? If she found out about it, would she have to turn Sana in to the cops?
As if Sana could hear her thoughts, she finally said, “I guess you deserve an explanation, huh?”
Mina nodded, turning to look at the girl. Her long hair was tangled and her eyes had bags, but she still looked as beautiful as ever. They’d been on many dates together, and Mina had found herself really liking the girl, wanting to kiss her and hold her and never stop. But if whatever Sana said next was bad enough, her fantasies might all end and her heart would be shattered.
Sana took a deep breath before starting. “My parents, they needed money. My dad was abusive and got my mom hooked on drugs, and they were together for years. They only split up around a year ago, and my mom finally got sober but she realized too late that she needed my dad in order to survive. Mom didn’t have a job, so dad was the one paying the bills, but when my dad left, mom was on her own. We needed money, and she got on drugs again and started dealing. Dad came back, but when mom got sober again she took his money and kicked him out. So we moved here from Japan, with the help of my aunt Jeongyeon, but we ran out of money fast. My mom did her best, but she never made enough money.”
“I’m so sor-“ Mina began, but she was cut off.
“I wanted to help, so I got a job, but that wasn’t enough either. I needed a way to make money, and I didn’t want to stoop to drug deals, so I went out at midnight through all the back allies and looked for someone who could recruit me.
At first, I found no one, but one night I stumbled upon an underground group of fighters. They were all betting money on winners and I realized that if I joined, I’d be able to get money.
So I pickpocketed a stranger, who I realized too late was Chaeyoung’s mom, and I bought a gym membership. I did my best to build up my physique and I joined the fight group. They welcomed me, and I was so happy that I was making money. But I never get to keep the money; it all goes to paying bills, and even now it's not enough to get by. But I don’t want your pity, by the way.”
The story was heartbreaking. Mina knew that underground fighting was illegal, especially when it utilized weapons that Sana quite obviously got hurt by, but she still couldn't help but feel bad. Sana was forced into that life; the world was cruel and unfair, and though Mina never had it as bad as her, she could feel Sana’s pain as if it was her own.
Mina didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything at all. Instead, she leaned forward until her lips were on Sana’s. The taller’s hands reached over to hold hers, and this time when Mina felt the scars on her hands, she didn’t try to ignore them. Instead, she rubbed soothing circles across Sana’s knuckles, even going as far as to kiss the scars as if they were beautiful and not something terrifying. Sana smiled at her and pressed their foreheads together.
Mina tucked a strand of orange hair behind Sana’s ear. “It’ll get better,” she murmured, and Sana just closed her eyes with a hum.
The honk of a car’s horn interrupted their bonding. They both flinched and turned towards the car, which they soon recognized as Nayeon’s.
“C’mon,” Chaeyoung yelled out the window, “We’re going shopping!”
“When were you gonna tell us you were hanging out with the pretty girl!” Jihyo whined.
“I was the first to know,” Nayeon bragged, sticking her tongue out at the other two.
Mina laughed at her friends’ antics. She grabbed Sana’s hand and pulled her into the backseat, squeezing in next to Chaeyoung. Nayeon turned the radio up, their favorite song playing. Jihyo cheered and rolled down the windows, screaming the lyrics out of the window.
And if a cop pulled them over and they got a ticket, which they all knew Mina’s mom would pay, then who needed to know?
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ Epilogue ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
“A million fucking dollars,” Mina gasped out, intending for it to be for only Jihyo to hear, but when she looked up to see a thousand surprised faces aimed at her, she realized that fuck, her mic was on, and everyone in the stadium heard it.
It was silent for what felt like forever until someone from the crowd stood up and shouted out, “A million fucking dollars!” The one cheer erupted into thousands, everyone in the crowd standing and cheering Mina’s name, all following the chants of a pretty ginger somewhere in the midst of them all. Mina felt herself being picked up, realizing too late that Nayeon had picked her up, which caused her to squeal out and laugh loudly into the mic.
Nayeon spun her, and when she was set down, she was picked up again, everyone taking turns spinning her in the air and congratulating her. She felt higher than she ever had, all the adrenaline coursing through her veins like what she assumed it’d feel like to be on drugs.
The crowd never died down. Soon Mina felt hands wrapped around her waist tightly and she turned to see her girlfriend in all her glory, smiling brightly down at her and slightly bouncing on her toes.
“You won,” Sana said, and Mina made sure to pull the mic away from their faces.
“A million dollars,” Mina breathed out, and Sana nodded excitedly, her hands gripping the sides on Mina’s face.
“What will you do with it?” Sana asked, her smile never fading.
Mina had already thought this through a hundred times. She’d thought about going on vacation, or running away, or donating to charity. But there was one idea that screamed to her so loudly that she just couldn’t refuse it.
“I’m giving it to someone special,” Mina said.
Sana’s excited face turned confused. “Someone special? Like, your sister? What would your sister do with a million dollars?”
“Not my sister, silly,” Mina chuckled, and she took the time to press her forehead against her girlfriend’s. “I have a few things I’d like to do with it.”
“Please do tell.”
Mina smirked evilly. “Well, firstly, I kinda want a puppy.”
“Ooh, a puppy!”
“I also kinda want to move out, you know? I’m already 20, and I still live with my parents.”
“Oh, that’s so exciting. I’ll help you pick out house decorations!”
Mina giggled. “There’s one last thing.”
Sana nodded, booping her nose against Mina’s in the process. “Tell me, tell me!”
Mina chuckled; her girlfriend was so adorable like this.
“Well, I know someone in need of help, and I’d like to do what I can, you know?”
Sana nodded, saying, “That’s so sweet of you. Who is it?”
Mina pretended to think. “You know her very well. She’s about this” —Mina pointed to the top of Sana’s head— “tall, and she’s the cutest girl I’ve ever met, and she had beautiful soft lips and brown eyes and—“
Mina was shut up with a kiss. “You don’t actually mean that?” Sana breathed out, before kissing her again.
The crowd cheered.
“Sana, how about we start from the beginning? Your mom gets her rent paid, your dad gets a long jail sentence, and you get a new life, together with me, in a little apartment complex with brick walls about fifteen minutes from here. What do you say?”
Sana kissed her again, and again, and again. Her happiness was immeasurable.
“Yes,” Sana gasped out, “Yes, yes, I love you.” And she kissed her girlfriend.
It had been years, and Mina was ready. They were in the arcade they had gone to on their first date, giggling behind the machine in the back. When Sana was distracted by her phone for a second, Mina pulled the ring from her pocket.
And when she got down onto her knee and brandished the ring, Sana’s eyes widened comically. Mina chuckled.
“Sana, will you marry me?”
Yes, yes, I love you.
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊