It was bright when she woke, feeling for a second unsure of where she was, the room both strange and strangely familiar. Still half asleep Shuai squinted at the sliding doors before running her tongue over her dry, pink lips. Yuuta’s shades were not as thick as hers and did a pretty poor job of keeping the sunlight out. With a soft sigh Shuai rolled over onto her other side and frowned to see that he was already gone. She liked it better when Yuuta was there with her in the mornings. His face was always a happy sight to see. As she reached for his pillow she heard noises coming from the kitchen. At least he’s still in the apartment, she thought with a grin. Nuzzling the pillow up to her face she took a second to breathe in his scent. Almost all of her things, especially her clothing, smelled like him now, but that’s the sort of thing that happens in kind of relationships.

Shu-shu rolled out of his bed wearing her long pajama pants and one of his thin shirts that clung comfortably to her shape. She stepped toward the sliding doors and looked out onto their neighborhood. Everything seemed quite peaceful. The weekend had a way of slowing everybody down, even Shuai’s chatty neighbors that lived across the street. A couple of kids were playing ball in the street and Shu-shu watched them for minute, until the delicious scent of rice omelet filled her nostrils. Inhaling more of the wonderful scent she slowly crept toward the door and watched the herbalist as he finished setting the food onto a plate. He was too good to her. Sometimes she worried that he would vanish into thin air, and then Tuyen would call and tell her that it all had been a dream, him becoming her roommate, that night at the club, and then…

Shuai glanced down at her hand and stared at the pink scar that wrapped around a few of her fingers, half of the back of her hand, and some of her wrist. Yuuta had taken care of the wound so that the color of the scar had turned from an angry red to a soft rosy hue. It still looked awful against her caramel skin, but at least she was a firebender again. It could have been worse, she reminded herself as she tiptoed toward the figure in her kitchen with the long sable hair. But before she reached him there was a surprisingly loud knock at the door, and before Yuuta answered it, Shuai already guessed who it was.

“Tuyen,” Shuai scowled, echoing some of the disbelief she had heard a moment ago in Yuuta’s voice. “So nice of you to show up, uninvited.” The editor smiled at the two of them before stepping past Yuuta and heading directly for her ex-roommate. Shuai smirked at Yuuta and allowed her friend to pull her by the arm toward the kitchen table. She order Shuai to sit and knowing better than to upset Tuyen, Shuai took her seat and snorted under her breath as her friend ordered Yuuta to do the same thing. Shu-shu stared at him with kind yellow eyes and prayed that he would just follow her lead. The quicker they gave Tuyen what she wanted the sooner they’d have the apartment to themselves. “So,” Shuai said as Tuyen took a seat next to her, “what can I, we, do for you this morning Tuyen?”

And then the editor just came out and said it, “What the hell is going on with the both of you? I've never been this confused in all my life. Are you together or what?”

And Shuai blushed.