Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gaeul looked up from her phone, sitting on the sofa, as she heard a door open. The first of the morning. It was still quite early, not even 9:00 yet and that was usually way too early for anyone but her and Yujin, who at least today probably would be up last. She liked getting up first though, being ready for everyone else when they finally got up. To help them get through an early morning when an exhausting day awaited them. Today all of them had a day off though, as it was the day after Christmas, so she was surprised that any of the others would be up by now, when they could just continue sleeping instead. As she picked up her coffee from the table, she was very surprised to see who it was that came into their living room.

“Good morning…” Hyunseo greeted her with a cute smile and an equally cute yawn. She almost tiptoed across the room and simply plopped down on the sofa next to her, immediately resting her head on her shoulder.

“Good morning to you too,” Gaeul replied softly as she began to stroke Hyunseo’s head, getting a few giggles out of her as she did. Taking a sip of her coffee, she was thankful the table was so close that she hardly needed to move to put it back there and not needing to bother their youngest as she rested. “If you just wanted to keep resting, you know, you could’ve just stayed in bed. Unless you specifically wanted to rest on me.”

Gaeul couldn’t stop herself from giggling at the growl Hyunseo was trying to make. Not that it sounded much like one coming from her. “No teasing this early…”

“Alright, alright,” she quickly relented, instead focusing on stroking her head, almost treating her like a cat, and going back to her phone. It was interesting reading about how Dives and MYs saw Yujin and Karina’s appearance. She was sure they’d been even more excited than they had been. “What got you up already though? You’re usually never up by now, especially on our days off and when we stayed up so late.”

They had all watched Yujin and Karina’s appearance at the SBS Gayo Daejeon, just sort of celebrating their performance, even if it had been pre-recorded, and their joint appearance at the event, and then stayed up to wait for Yujin to come back.

They had so much fun watching them, because since it was pre-recorded Yujin and Karina had somehow managed to make their entire appearance as cute as possible. Loud gasps and squeals had filled the evening as they watched Karina treat Yujin like a princess.

They had all originally decided to stay up until Yujin came back home, but then she called to tell them that she and Karina would be staying out for a while longer and that it would be fairly late when she came back.

One by one, they had gone to bed, with Gaeul staying up the longest. But she eventually gave up as well when Yujin hadn’t been back by midnight. Though before she had fallen asleep she was sure she had heard Yujin return and some things she wasn’t sure if she had just imagined them or not.

“I wanted to make sure I was up and ready to greet Yujin!” Gaeul almost wanted to coo at Hyunseo’s cute proclamation but knew it would ruin the moment. It was really cute though and it made her heart swell seeing the youngest’s affection for their leader.

Hyunseo almost acted like a cat with the way she was snuggling into her, shifting her head from her shoulder into her lap. And Gaeul let her, because neither her nor anyone else from their group could resist her when she really wanted their affection.

“You did, huh?” she asked, not getting much of a response from her little lap kitten. “Well, she should be up soon hopefully. I heard her get back yesterday before I fell asleep and that wasn’t that late.”

She wasn’t sure if Hyunseo was about to say anything, but it didn’t matter, as a door finally opened. If it weren’t Yujin, Gaeul wasn’t sure who it’d be, considering the rest preferred sleeping a little longer typically. Not much later than 10:00, but still.

Hyunseo slowly, like she almost didn’t want to, got off her lap and sat properly next to her as she waited excitedly to greet Yujin. The first thing they saw was a hoodie, which was Yujin’s favorite to wear on her days off, when it was cold and she just wanted to be comfortable in the morning.

Except it wasn’t Yujin. Or any of the other girls having borrowed her hoodie.

Instead, it was Karina, hair still in a ponytail, looking like a deer caught in the headlights as she stood in front of them awkwardly wearing Yujin’s hoodie. While she didn’t recognize the pants she was wearing, considering they looked too big on her she assumed they were Yujin’s too.

Suddenly it dawned on Gaeul what she had heard last night. It hadn’t been just Yujin returning, but Karina had been with her too.

“Um,” Karina began, looking down at her hands holding clothes, like she was looking for an explanation in what looked to be her outfit from the previous evening, before she looked at them. “Hi…?”

Hyunseo was the first one of them to respond, if letting out a squeak could be called a response. It made Karina let out an awkward laugh as Hyunseo stared at her with wide eyes. Before things could get even more awkward, Gaeul stood up. She shot Karina a smile in hopes of getting rid of some of that awkwardness and knew better than to ask anything in the moment, seeing how Karina looked like she just wanted to run away.

“Hey,” Gaeul finally said, motioning for her to follow to the entrance of their dorm. Yujin had a lot of explaining to do, but she wouldn’t subject Karina to that. No, she would simply help her fellow idol avoid any kind of problems. Problems that could affect both their groups if it became known. “I’ll get you a cap and a mask. Have you sent your manager a message?”

Karina looked guiltily at her phone, though not without nodding. “I have. I’m probably gonna get an earful from everyone when I get back. Or probably just get teased.”

“It would’ve been no different for Yujin with us if the situation had been reversed,” she simply said, shooting another smile at Karina, before she headed to the drawer where they kept caps and masks for when they just were quickly needed. She was sure Karina’s notifications had been full of messages from her members asking where she was. “Though I’m not gonna ask you what exactly happened for you to end up here. That’s something we’ll hopefully get out of Yujin.”

She returned to Karina at the door and handed her the cap and mask, which she quickly put on after letting out a small laugh at what she said. Hyunseo was still watching Karina, having left the couch and now just sort of standing here. She looked somewhere between awestruck and very confused by what was going on.

“I just wanted to say thank you for taking care of Yujin yesterday,” Hyunseo suddenly said and gave Karina a quick bow. “She looked like she was having a really great time with you yesterday.”

“And your performance was great too!” Gaeul noticed that Karina seemed to relax just a little bit at Hyunseo’s words. Then, suddenly, Hyunseo seemed to get a little shy, poking her fingers together and even blushing slightly. “I’m also a huge fan of you and Aespa.”

“Thank you, really,” Karina bowed this time and while it was impossible to tell, Gaeul was sure she was smiling under the mask. Hyunseo made it impossible not to. As she headed to the door, hand on the door handle already, Gaeul spoke up.

“Be careful out there, yeah?” she said as a reminder, Karina no doubt knowing what could potentially happen the moment she left their building. Yet she still wanted to make sure and let her know that she cared. Not just for Yujin and them, but also for Karina and her group. They were all idols, facing the practically the same challenges each day, yet they hardly ever had any moments like these between each other if they weren’t in the same group.

Karina bowed again, followed by a quick “thank you” before she opened the door. She stopped with one foot already outside, only turning her head around and looking at her. “I left Yujin a message, but please make sure to let her know that I really enjoyed my time with her.”

With that said Karina disappeared as the door shut behind her. Gaeul still wasn’t sure if this wasn’t just some weird dream she would wake up from soon, until Hyunseo pinched her arm and made her realize that it wasn’t.

“Ow!” she shot a glare at her, not because it had really hurt or anything, but because it had surprised her. The nerve of the girl. Hyunseo was lucky she was there little baby. She also realized it was the first time any of them hadn’t actively kept their voices down, so she just hoped that it hadn’t woken anyone up. “Come on.”

She and Hyunseo returned to the living room, with Hyunseo quickly taking the opportunity to claim the couch for herself now that she wasn’t there. For a moment Gaeul contemplated what to do now, after what had happened, until Hyunseo spoke up hesitantly.

“Do you think… Yujin and Karina did something?” Hyunseo’s blushed the moment the words left her mouth and Gaeul looked at her with wide eyes. She knew that Hyunseo wasn’t that innocent, though it still shocked her just a little bit to hear it from her. “I mean, something must have happened, right?”

While she wasn’t interested in the exact details of what had happened between Yujin and Karina, she couldn’t help but wonder what exactly had led them together back here. Yujin hadn’t told them more than that she would be with Karina, probably celebrating, and she had then heard them coming back together and going to Yujin’s room. Unless they somehow had managed to stay entirely quiet doing… that, she wondered what exactly had happened. She knew Yujin was responsible when it mattered and no doubt knew what Karina being in there dorm would look like.

“We’ll find out soon enough from Yujin,” Gaeul replied, contemplating about finding something to eat already, but then settled on sitting down next to Hyunseo, after pushing her legs away, and browsing social media on her phone again. But not before she gave her a little nudge. “You could tease her about it. Don’t let the others hear though, unless Yujin says something first.”

Hyunseo giggled at that, followed by a quick nod and eventually busying herself with her own phone, the two of them just browsing their phones together.

Slowly, one by one, the others showed up, all gathering in the living room. Occasionally they talked, conversation flowing freely between whoever was interested in talking, but often they just sat there in comfortable silence as most of them weren’t exactly morning people. Waiting for Yujin, who still hadn’t left her room, despite her almost always being the first or second to do so during any other day.

Finally, a door opened, and everyone stopped whatever they’d been doing, looking expectantly at the hallway where their rooms were and Yujin came from, hardly dressed as she scratched her head and looked at them with big eyes. Everyone immediately turned their heads towards her. “Am I late? Did I miss something?”

“Yeah, us staying up yesterday waiting for you to come back so we could celebrate and congratulate you,” Jiwon said, which prompted everyone to start actually congratulating Yujin on her performance and appearance yesterday.

Hyunseo was the loudest and most affectionate about it, getting up and clinging onto Yujin. trying her hardest to earn her affection. And she was sort of successful, as Yujin indulged her as she dragged her along to the couch, sitting down next to Gaeul with Hyunseo’s head ending up in her lap. It was definitely a tight fit with how Hyunseo spread herself out.

In all of the talk, Yujin made no mention of Karina having been with her in her room and if she hadn’t known, she would’ve definitely missed her small reactions whenever she came up in their conversation.

It was no secret that Yujin had been a fan of Karina for a long time, especially since they did some content together last year, and it was clear that she had grown well past being just a fan. There was a clear level of comfort in the way she talked about her, yet she also almost stuttered multiple times when she talked about her and Gaeul was sure she even saw her blush slightly a few times.

Eventually things shifted to the topic of breakfast and what to order. Naturally, everyone had their own wants and wishes, but Gaeul and Yujin managed to get some semblance of order into the whole thing, before Yujin made the call. This led to Yujin being far enough away from everyone that Gaeul felt they could talk without anyone overhearing them.

“So, Hyunseo and I were very surprised this morning,” she began, and Yujin only looked at her confused. Only for a moment though, as she soon seemed to realize what she meant. “She was very nice about the whole thing. Seemed kinda apologetic too.”

“Oh,” was all Yujin as she blushed properly this time. Gaeul shot her a, hopefully, reassuring smile.

“I gave her a cap and mask, while Hyunseo did her best to show how grateful she was for how nicely Karina treated you yesterday and got some fangirling in too,” she explained, which seemed like quite the relief to Yujin. “What happened though? I know you would normally never do this and I’m certain Karina wouldn’t either. Were you drunk?”

Yujin looked around like she was afraid the others would hear her, so Gaeul gently took her by her hand and led her to Yujin’s room, closing the door behind them. For a moment, Yujin said nothing, but then she spoke.

“We had a really great time at the event together. I’m sure you saw it, right? And even before that already, all the preparation we did together was great,” Yujin was sort of rambling with a silly smile on her face and Gaeul couldn’t help but smile herself. Even if this led to some bad consequences down the line, it was hard to be upset at what she did when it seemed to make her this happy. “And then we wanted to celebrate on our own and ended up drinking a little.”

“Just a little? Are you sure?”

“Very sure. Well, maybe a little more than a little. We didn’t get wasted or anything though.”

“Uh-huh. Just drunk enough that you came back here and spent the night together,” she noted and Yujin at least the decency to look a little apologetic about that. “Did you actually do something though?”

Gaeul didn’t think she had ever seen Yujin blush like that, her ears turning very red as she looked everywhere but at her. She poked her fingers together and looked like she was contemplating how to disappear into the floor. That made her laugh, which only made Yujin blush even more. But Gaeul understood, she really did, despite Yujin not having said a single word yet.

“We shared a bed and cuddled,” she admitted, surprising her, and Gaeul thought she was about to explode if she said anything more. And then she surprised her even more by continuing. “We kissed too. It was nice.”

If it was possible, she would melt on the spot seeing her friend like this. Instead, she settled for trying to convey her happiness as best as she could, saying very little as she smiled as softly as she could. “I’m happy for you. I really am.”

She pulled Yujin into a hug, who practically fell into it and hugged her just as tightly back.

“I think I’m hungry now,” she said and Gaeul couldn’t help but agree more. Being up first had at least one downside.

“Yeah, me too. And I think the others will be very upset if we make them wait for us,” Gaeul replied, pulling away from Yujin. Then she decided that she had to tease Yujin just a little about Karina. “Karina looked pretty cute in your hoodie and baggy pants though.”

“Gaeul!” Yujin shouted, way too loud for everyone to not have heard her and slapped her on the arm. “Breakfast. Now.”

“Alright, alright,” she relented and backed away, lifting her hands in a sign of surrender. Until she decided she couldn’t help herself. “What about the message she left you though?”

“Shut up. Leader’s order.”

“Really?”

“I’m not telling you. Now move.”

Gaeul laughed loudly. Yujin groaned. Yet both of them were happy.

“WHAT?!” a loud shout interrupted the moment, clearly coming from Wonyoung. “YUJIN!”

“I wonder how she managed that,” Jiwon wasn’t shouting, but she couldn’t help herself from speaking loudly. “Ow! What was that for?!”

They couldn’t hear whatever the response was, but Gaeul could only look at Yujin with some amount of horror, feeling like her expression was mirrored in Yujin’s. “Hyunseo couldn’t keep quiet, huh?”

Yujin grimaced but didn’t hesitate to open the door. “Let’s go.”

Gaeul laughed in response. “Lead on, fearless leader.”

God, this was nice. It was really nice. After everything, so many people and so much noise and so much to do, just sitting in a quiet corner of a restaurant with Karina was like heaven. Between delicious food, a shared Korean BBQ that was practically finished, a nice bottle of red wine, their second bottle for that matter, and Karina, Yujin wasn’t sure if she could ask for much more right now.

“You look really happy,” Karina pointed out, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, with a smile that made her look radiant. “Not that I’m not feeling just as happy, so I’m probably looking the same as you do.”

“I am, because spending time with you has been a dream of mine,” Yujin admitted freely, feeling bolder than she usually ever would in a situation like this. “Doing the content together last year and now this, all the prep, the performance, the event. But this is even better. Way better.”

“It is, isn’t it? I’ve been waiting for the chance to spend time with you too and now here we are,” she replied after taking a sip from her glass of wine, before she really looked at Yujin and Yujin wasn’t sure what she saw. Something good for sure but didn’t know if she was ready to try to put it into words. “I’m glad we get to spend time together like this before the year is over.”

Yujin was already blushing at her words alone, but she was sure her heart was going to stop as Karina took her hand in both of hers and stroked it softly with one of her thumbs.

“You know, I was going to and wanted to ask you this earlier, but it never felt right. Now though,” Karina began, and she stopped stroking Yujin’s hand, squeezing it with both of her hands instead. It only made Yujin blush even more. “Would it be okay if you called me and thought of me as Jimin?”

“Oh,” Yujin let out a sound of surprise and immediately nodded. Even amongst each other, there was a tendency to call each other by their stage names, if they had one, and only through a closer relationship did they drop using stage names in favor of their real names. It was different within groups, but it was usually expected that there was at least some distance between members of different groups. “Jimin.”

Saying her name almost felt strange, but whatever she felt, it must have pleased Jimin, whose smile rivalled the sun in her mind. “I hope you’ll say it more for me, Yujin.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that, because she thought she would combust at any moment now, instead hiding behind her hands which earned her a cute giggle from Jimin. Then she almost whispered it, only for it to be further muffled by her hands. “Jimin.”

Daring to finally lower her hands, she could see that Jimin was the one blushing now, though nowhere as much as she’d been blushing. They continued eating their food quietly, it being almost entirely silent between the restaurant practically being empty, and the only sounds they made coming from their eating and drinking. But it was comfortable in a way that was really hard to describe.

Soon, their BBQ was finished, and their bottle was empty. Jimin, despite Yujin’s insistence to at least split the bill, paid for both of them. As they left the restaurant, more than satisfied with how the evening went, they were greeted by the cold, but fresh, winter air. A moment passed between them, where neither said anything. Then Yujin spoke up.

“Would you like to come with me to my dorm?” she asked, glancing at Jimin next to her with big eyes. She knew she shouldn’t do this. She definitely knew she shouldn’t do this and also knew she could get into a lot of trouble for it, but she couldn’t stop herself. The words flowed easily after they had shared two bottles of wine. “Your dorm is so far away, while mine isn’t very far from here. And I want to spend more time with you.”

Jimin looked like she was contemplating it for a moment, before she took her hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. But she didn’t let go of her hand, instead only holding it tightly in hers, like she never wanted to let go.

“Let’s go then,” she said happily and laughed as Yujin could only stumble after her as she also laughed. She didn’t comment on the fact that Jimin clearly had no idea where she was going and was dragging her in the wrong direction. It took them almost twice as long as it would normally take, even more so when they decided that throwing snowballs at each other was a good idea, but she didn’t really care. They were having too much fun as they laughed as they tried their best, but failed spectacularly, to dodge each other’s snowballs on the way to the dorm.

Eventually their laughter turned into giggles as they did their best to get the snow off of each other, before they entered the building and waited for the elevator to arrive.

“Should we really be doing this?” Jimin asked, almost sounding like she wasn’t asking but just wondering to herself as the elevator arrived and they entered it. Not that Yujin thought that she looked like she was regretting it or even looking worried in the slightest at the moment. She looked anything but worried.

“So long as we’re sneaky we’re fine,” Yujin replied teasingly. Before she could react to or even notice it, just as the elevator stopped and the door opened, Jimin gave her a peck on the cheek. She froze on the spot and stared at her with wide eyes, a fierce blush overtaking her.

“W-what was that for?” she managed to stutter out, but the only response she got was a teasing smile as Jimin pulled her out of the elevator.

“Come on,” she said with a cute smile, and Yujin could do nothing but follow along to their dorm. The only thing on her mind now was what could happen once they were in her room.

“Yizhuo~” Yizhuo felt the bed dip as someone sat beside her. “I know you love sleeping in my bed, but it’s really time to get up for breakfast. Else I’m gonna have to tickle you until you get up.”

“A few more minutes…” she mumbled, until she realized who was talking and her eyes shot open. Jimin was looking down at her with a gentle expression and the kind of soft smile she loved seeing on her. “Jimin? You’re back?”

“Mm, yeah. Good morning,” she leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Get up for me?”

Yizhuo simply laid there for a moment, before she slowly moved until she sat next to Jimin. She immediately flopped back down, her head in Jimin’s lap, who only giggled at her and started stroking her head.

“Good morning… Can we stay like this for a bit longer? And where were you yesterday?” Yizhuo asked with a pout. Jimin shook her head to the first question, though she continued to stroke her head, while looking she was thinking about what to say to her second question. It was then Yizhuo realized that Jimin was wearing clothes she’d never seen before. “And what are you wearing?”

“I’ll tell you if you get up and come with me. I haven’t even told the others yet because I wanted to see you first,” she began to stand up, which made Yizhuo whine, but she was left with little choice. “And I borrowed the clothes from a… friend.”

Yizhuo hurried after her, trying her best to get up until she felt Jimin helping her. It made her smile, and she was quick to grab her hand. She sounded quite unsure though. “A friend?”

“It’s a little complicated. Or at least I think it is,” Jimin told her, and she genuinely looked like she wasn’t sure. “Probably even more so since I might get in trouble for it.”

“Trouble?” Yizhuo didn’t like the sound of that, but Jimin gave her hand a quick squeeze.

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, especially since nothing has happened yet,” she guided her out to the common area, where Aeri and Minjeong were already waiting, seated and breakfast ready. “Look who I dragged out of bed.”

She exchanged ‘Good mornings’ with Aeri and Minjeong, who were teasing her about easily she complied with anything Jimin said, unlike them, before she took her usual spot next to Jimin and they began eating.

“So, what happened last night?” Minjeong asked with a teasing smile and an equally teasing tone, like she knew she’d find at least some enjoyment in whatever had happened. “You look like you had to sneak out from your girlfriend’s room and took the first clothes you found.”

Yizhuo almost choked on her drink as she watched Jimin’s ears turn red. “I-it’s not like that!”

Aeri was like a hunter and Jimin was her prey as she spoke. “So, what is it like, huh?”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Jimin exclaimed and then her eyes widened at the realization like it wasn’t the denial she should’ve gone for, that she was digging her own grave. Something suddenly clicked in Yizhuo’s mind, and she let out a loud gasp, which Aeri and Minjeong looked at her intrigued, while Jimin looked at her with pleading eyes. Of course she couldn’t resist them, so she leaned in.

“Did you really stay with Yujin at their dorm?” she asked, trying her best to keep her voice down so the others couldn’t hear her. Jimin only nodded in response, and she let out another gasp, as she almost couldn’t believe it. “Did she treat-”

“You know we can hear you, right?” Minjeong’s words had Yizhuo freeze and made her look very sheepish.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Minjeong continued, turning to Jimin. “Are you seriously telling us you stayed the night with Yujin at the IVE dorm? In her room?”

Jimin was blushing now and Yizhuo couldn’t help but squeal. They had all seen how cute the two of them had been together at the event last night and now they had maybe shared a bed. It was almost too cute in her mind. “Did you two kiss?”

“Yizhuo!” Yizhuo let out her loudest squeal yet, even as Jimin slapped her on the arm and gave her an indignant look. “We might have kissed a few times before we fell asleep.”

“And then you took her clothes and ran away?” Aeri wondered and all of them looked at Jimin’s slightly oversized hoodie and baggy pants, which Yizhuo thought looked very comfortable.

“I didn’t run away,” Jimin was quick to defend herself and seeing how she looked slightly uncomfortable at the thought, Yizhuo gave her hand a reassuring squeeze under the table. “I tried to avoid making it awkward by running into her group members, but that didn’t work out. They were very nice about it though and helped me out.”

It was then that one of their phones received a notification. No one reacted for a moment, until Jimin pulled out hers and looked at whatever message she had gotten. Yizhuo tried to get a proper glance, but Jimin pushed her head away.

“Got a message from your not-girlfriend?” Minjeong teased, looking immensely pleased at the chance to tease their leader like this when she usually wasn’t given a chance quite like this. “And did you actually just sneak out from her room though?”

“I left her a message, which she just responded to,” the response clearly leaving Jimin happy as she even giggled at it. It only made Yizhuo even happier to see her so happy.

“So… what now?” Yizhuo wondered, genuinely excited at the prospect of seeing Jimin together with Yujin, especially after seeing how well they treated each other yesterday. “Will you go on dates and such?”

The idea almost had her bouncing in her seat and Jimin looked like she was about to answer, but then she got another notification on her phone. Her entire demeanor went from happy to serious and worried in a second, her eyes wide in shock.

“Jimin-“

“Someone from Dispatch saw me and Yujin at their dorm yesterday and me leaving today,” she said, and it immediately made Yizhuo’s heart drop. It would already have been difficult under normal circumstances to make anything work between them, but now? Even if it was completely harmless, Dispatch could make it seem like whatever they wanted for attention.

“They really can’t leave us alone. We’re out there all the time, but it’s never enough,” Aeri commented angrily, looking far from happy about the situation and what it meant for Jimin, but them as well. “Have you already been called in for a meeting?”

“Yeah, manager’s coming and picking me up in like 15 minutes or so, she said,” she replied and Yizhuo was left wondering how a nice start to the day had turned sour so quickly. “I’m sure we’ll be forced to go with the usual ‘There’s nothing going on between us. Promise!’ or so.”

They continued to discuss the whole thing while finishing breakfast, no one particularly happy about Dispatch doing this to Jimin and how this definitely would put a damper on anything between her and Yujin, before there was a knock on their door.

Yizhuo looked at Jimin with big and pleading eyes before it was too late. “Can I come with you to the meeting? Please, Jimin?”

She really hoped it was working, because Jimin was looking like she was trying to find any reason to deny her. But she didn’t. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Jimin quickly exchanged hugs with Aeri and Minjeong and then they were out. She really wanted this to somehow work out in Jimin’s favor. She really did. And she would do her absolute best to make it work. Somehow.

Chapter Text

Getting to the door was easier than getting through the door. That was something Jimin realized as she and Yujin were much more interested in each other than actually opening the door. It was like kissing Yujin on the cheek had flipped a switch in her head, because the moment they reached the door, she’d been quite eagerly trying to touch her a lot.

Jimin wasn’t going to let herself be outdone though, which is why she pinned Yujin against the door, their bodies pressed together tightly and their lips almost touching, as they stared into each other’s eyes.

“You would be my first kiss. My first everything,” Yujin whispered, and it made Jimin’s breath hitch. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then Jimin was upon Yujin’s lips, at first gentle and probing, before the kiss quickly deepened. She didn’t let herself being the shorter of them or hardly having much more experience stop her from taking charge, pressing her tongue against Yujin’s lips and easily getting through. They both moaned into each other’s mouth, as their hands roamed each other’s bodies and the kiss continued until they finally had to break apart for air.

“How was that for a first kiss?” Jimin mumbled as she took a small step back to create just the slightest amount of space between them, yet Yujin didn’t let her get too far as she rested her forehead against hers.

“Wow…” was seemingly all that Yujin managed as they just kept standing there. She was looking like she was searching for something in her face, until she finally found it. “We should get in.”

Jimin nodded. That was a good idea, yes. Even if she would rather kiss Yujin again, she could do that in her room too.

She didn’t exactly want to leave Yujin’s space either, but knew she had little choice if they actually wanted to get moving, so she did and instead decided to simply watch Yujin. Because watching Yujin just opening the door was more fascinating than it had any right to be.

Then she found herself pulled along, barely managing to shut the door quietly behind them, as Yujin carefully guided them through the dark to her room, where there finally was some light as she once again closed the door behind her.

For a moment, they just stood there, looking at each other and both clearly unsure what to do now. Jimin really wanted to kiss Yujin again and she was pretty sure Yujin understood that with how much she was staring at her lips. Yet Yujin didn’t exactly do anything to make that happen. Instead, she began getting some clothes from her dresser, before staring at her and blushing.

“Um, could you turn around?” she asked shyly and Jimin was just left a little confused. But she did as was asked of her and turned around, waiting patiently to be able to look at the prettiest girl she knew again. It was at that moment she was hit by a moment of clarity from not exactly being drunk, but still obviously having had enough to affect her.

“What exactly are we doing?” she asked as she waited, clearly hearing Yujin’s clothes rustle behind her. There was a moment of silence as Yujin stopped.

“I thought we’d get in bed and cuddle,” was not what Jimin expected to hear, at least after how hot the kiss made her feel. “And maybe kiss again. If you’d like to. Because I really do.”

“Oh,” Jimin could work with that, because who wouldn’t want to cuddle and kiss someone as adorable and pretty as Yujin? She could definitely work with that and couldn’t help but smile giddily at the thought. “Okay.”

“You can turn around now,” Yujin eventually said, and she was greeted by the cute sight of her in a slightly oversized t-shirt as her sleepwear. And it didn’t exactly do a whole lot to cover her thighs and legs, which she shamelessly took the chance to look at.

“Do you mind if I borrow a t-shirt from you to sleep in?” she asked once she managed to look away, realizing that she had made Yujin blush. So cute. “Unless you don’t mind me sleeping naked.”

Jimin thought Yujin looked adorable with how red she turned at her words. “I- I- I don’t mind!”

She giggled at her reaction, unable to help herself. How could she not? She was almost too cute to be real. And then she began to undress, right in front of Yujin, with no hesitation.

“Oh my god,” Yujin choked out, her hands covering her eyes, though Jimin could clearly see her peeking through her fingers. “You can’t just do that.”

“Well, I do hope it’s something I can do in the future too,” she teased as she quickly found herself only in her panties, faced with a Yujin who seemed unable to look at her properly and like she just wanted to disappear. “Look at me, please?”

When Yujin didn’t listen to her, she carefully approached her and removed her hands from her face. Slowly she lifted both of them to her lips, kissing each of them softly as she made sure to look into Yujin’s eyes the entire time. Every second she spent looking at her she became prettier. It was honestly ridiculous, not that she actually minded it in the slightest.

“So, how about we go to bed now? I’m still waiting for the chance to cuddle with you and to kiss you again,” she whispered and slowly guided her to the bed, until they both fell down. They both let out small yelps and then they did their best to lie down next to each other, trying to find the best way to share the space they had after Yujin turned off the light.

Jimin couldn’t help but notice how stiff Yujin was and while she didn’t need her to actually do anything, she wouldn’t mind if she did. “You’re so stiff. It’s okay if you touch me.”

Having a hard time seeing anything in the dark, Jimin tried to release some of the tension as she did her best to kiss Yujin on the nose. She missed the first time. It earned her a giggle, but she managed on the second attempt. Then she felt Yujin’s hands finding their way to her hips and pulling her just a little closer, until their bodies were touching. And then they kissed. A lot and so much that Jimin couldn’t be bothered to count. She just knew that it was amazing and that she felt amazing from kissing Yujin. Eventually they pulled apart.

“Is this okay?” Yujin asked, sounding hesitant as she did.

“More than okay,” she replied, smiling mostly to herself since Yujin couldn’t see it. “I’m also more than okay with how today went and hope tomorrow and all the days to come can also be this nice.”

Yujin said nothing for a while and only moved to rest her forehead against hers. “I hope so too. Thank you for today.”

Then she flipped around and Jimin immediately pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her stomach. It got a content hum out of Yujin, before both of them just stayed quiet. And then she heard it. Yujin’s soft breathing.

“Yujin…?” she called out quietly and let a few seconds pass, before she knew she wouldn’t get a response. She gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Sweet dreams, Yujin. I really hope we can do this again and figure things out together.”

After that it didn’t take much for her to fall asleep, holding Yujin tightly as she did.

“Jimin?” Yizhuo was poking her cheek, and she slowly realized she’d been completely stuck in the memory of last night. “Jimin, we’re there.”

“Sorry,” she said after shaking her head a few times and noticed that they were already parked and that their manager was waiting for them at the entrance of the building. As she exited the car and followed Yizhuo, who immediately and without hesitation grabbed her hand, they walked after their manager into the SM Entertainment HQ. “Since I wasn’t exactly paying attention during the car ride, did the manager say anything?”

“Not really, besides that we’re meeting the CEO,” Yizhuo said, and it almost made her stop, but she kept walking. Meeting the CEO was a big deal, especially when it was because of  something as simple as a scandal like this one, if one could call it that, that was usually dealt with little fanfare or issues. They made a statement, tried to avoid any further pictures being taken and that was it. It usually didn’t involve a meeting with the CEO. Was it because she and Yujin were the leaders of such popular groups? Even then just statements felt like it should be enough for what had happened.

“That’s… interesting,” she told Yizhuo, feeling like she might as well loop her in on her thoughts since they were together. “I’m not sure why he’s getting involved in something that should be so easily dealt with. Something that usually never is much of an issue.”

Their manager seemed to hear her from up ahead. “The issue itself isn’t what we’re here for exactly, but the solution to it. I wasn’t told what’s going on beyond that though.”

No one said anything for a moment as they headed to the elevators.

“It must really be a big deal if the CEO wants to see you,” Yizhou noted, the last one to speak as they rode the elevator up to the top and eventually found themselves outside of his office. Their manager busied herself as she slowly paced back and forth, while Jimin took a seat together with Yizhuo, who began playing with her hand. That went on for a while, until all of them turned to the elevator as it pinged its arrival.

Out of the elevator stepped Yujin and another woman, probably her manager, both of them in a conversation as they approached.

“I get that it involves both companies, but I still don’t get why we’re here,” Yujin said, looking somewhat annoyed as she did. “This seems as standard as it gets, so what’s the difference?”

“I really don’t know,” her manager replied, and it was only as they got closer that both of them seemed to realized that they weren’t alone. “Got me even more confused now.”

Yujin glanced between of them as she approached, while her manager moved away a little and began talking to hers. Then her eyes settled on her and she smiled like her day was just made.

“Hi,” she greeted her, and she knew it was only meant for her, because the way Yujin was looking at her made her feel like they were the only people present. Her smile was so soft too, like just the sight of her made her the happiest person in the world.

“Hi,” Jimin said in return, almost feeling shy as she did so and unable to stop herself from smiling just as much, probably looking very silly while doing so.

“If I had known we’d see each other again here, I would’ve put some more effort into my appearance and outfit,” Jimin giggled at that, while Yujin was grinning. Then her smile turned back to being soft like it’d been earlier. “Thank you again for yesterday. It was really lovely, even if it got us into quite a bit of trouble.”

“It did, but I’d happily get into trouble again, if it meant a repeat of yesterday,” she responded, taking Yujin’s hands into hers and squeezing them. It was then she realized that they in fact weren’t alone but had an audience of three. Their managers were looking at them like they wished they could make them disappear, whereas Yizhuo was looking at them like she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Yujin made no attempt to pull away her hands as she turned to Yizhuo with a smile, though very different from the one she got. It almost felt respectful. “Hey Ningning. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Factually, Jimin knew that Yizhuo and Yujin had met. Of course they had. Their groups had encountered each other multiple times across the years, both split up in some form and all of them together. But those encounters were usually brief and definitely not personal, hardly ones where you made much of a connection with others.

“Do you two know each other?” she wondered and both of them nodded in response. She remembered that Yizhuo was actually older than Yujin by a little less than a year, which was honestly almost strange to her. Maybe it had to do with Yujin being the leader like her or that Yizhuo was her cute little baby she would always dote on and spoil whenever she could.

“We’ve had a few chances to talk a little more,” Yizhuo told her, and she really couldn’t remember if she’d been around for any of that. “But hardly a lot. Maybe that’ll change though.”

She and Yujin laughed at that, and she couldn’t help but feel a little awkward at the thought. Assuming whatever was going to happen didn’t put a complete stop to things, how would it be between their groups? Yizhuo looked very excited at the thought though and that made her genuinely happy. She was so lucky to have her, a little sister-like figure that adored her so much

“I wouldn’t be against that,” Yujin said happily, sitting down between them as Yizhuo moved a seat. “Should I still to treat you so respectfully if I’m dating Jimin?”

“Nope, would just feel weird if you did,” she replied, only to suddenly look like she had a realization and was pouting at both her and Yujin. “Wait, Jimin? She’s already calling you Jimin?”

“Um. Yeah?” Yujin scratched her head, looking confused at whatever Yizhuo was trying to say, while Jimin only could shrug her shoulders. “You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

“Only if you call me Yizhuo!” she was quick to respond and Jimin couldn’t help but laugh at how adorable she was. Of course that was what she wanted. To not be so distant with Yujin while they were so close.

After that, their conversation flowed easily, with it mostly being Yizhuo trying to fish for details about what had happened, but also just more in general about what the future held for them. It was then that their managers approached.

“We can come in now,” their manager said while Yujin’s was already at the door, opening it for them. It was finally time, and she really wanted to know what all this was about, beyond just the obvious.

Entering the room, their managers and Yizhuo went off to the side and sat down, leaving the two chairs in front of the desk free for her and Yujin. Neither of them sat down yet though, as the man sitting behind the desk stood up.

Cheol-hyuk Jang looked quite happy to see them, despite the apparent trouble she and Yujin had caused, giving them a big and warm smile. But he wasn’t alone, though she couldn’t say she recognized the man who stood next to him.

“Welcome, all of you,” he greeted them warmly, letting his eyes wander over all of them before eventually settling on glancing between her and Yujin. “Please, you two, take a seat.”

Both of them did, with Cheol-hyuk doing the same, while the man next to him kept standing and quickly looked at her and Yizhuo. But not at Yujin, who seemed familiar with him the way she looked at him.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Hoon-hee Lee, CEO of Starship Entertainment,” he introduced himself and left Jimin almost shocked. What were both CEOs of their companies doing together in a meeting with them? She got the answer to that thought almost instantly. “We called for this meeting to discuss a solution to what happened yesterday. It’s an idea that we’ve had for quite some time now but never knew how to properly approach. Until you gave us an easy way to get things started.”

Now Jimin was paying attention, because what kind of idea had they possibly made possible by getting caught like they did?

“Indeed. While you getting caught is unfortunate, as it tends to be with these scandals,” Cheol-hyuk continued, the way he said ‘scandals’ making it clear how little he really cared for them. And Jimin knew, because she’d never heard of him pushing for much beyond a simple statement to resolve things. No drama, little interest in what actually had happened, just solving it as easily and as quickly as possible. “It does work well for us. We have for quite some time now discussed the idea of cooperation between our companies, especially a partnership between Aespa and IVE with how incredibly popular both are. And yesterday? You two blew expectations out of the water.”

No one said anything and she could see the shock across all of their faces as she looked around. This wasn’t what she had expected at all this morning when she’d gotten the message about the meeting.

“So, what, me and Karina being seen together after spending the night together will be said to the first step in our groups working together?” Yujin was the first one to speak.

“Exactly,” Hoon-hee replied, nodding and looking satisfied at Yujin seeming to understand what they were going for. “What you actually did is your business, so long it doesn’t become an issue in the eyes of the public, but we’ll make a statement that it was you spending time with Karina as a first step in getting the groups closer.”

That made her pause for a bit. Their groups getting closer could mean a lot of different things.

“What do you mean with getting the groups closer?” she chimed in. Sure, she could imagine a few different things, but she wanted to hear from them what they meant with that and what they expected of them. “Doing content together? Been seen together? Things like that?”

“Pretty much,” he said with Cheol-hyuk nodding along. “We’re hoping for brands to pick one from each group so you can appear as a duo, for shared appearances on various shows, for you to be seen together, from all of you together to just two of you, being at events together and so on.”

Jimin paused for a moment, taking it all in and considering it. It honestly seemed like not a lot, besides trying to make it work schedule-wise, both group schedules and personal schedules. Just their usual, but with the addition of IVE members to consider. And the other way around for Yujin and her group. Yet it felt like way too little for something that seemed like it could be way bigger.

“I can almost hear the ‘but’ in there,” Yujin pointed out and she couldn’t help but agree with that. Sure, what had already been proposed wasn’t nothing, but it mostly seemed to replace what they would be doing, besides performing. “There’s no way you aren’t expecting something more of us.”

The two men glanced between each other, as if they were deciding who should reveal whatever was left. It was Hoon-hee who spoke. “We want you to have a joint concert sometime next year, where you’ll, besides performing your own songs, perform a few songs from both groups together.”

Suddenly it was a lot more. While it presumably would be quite far away, preparing for a joint concert and learning each other’s songs, both the choreographies and the actual songs, wasn’t just something you did overnight or even over a longer period. There was a lot of work involved in that, on top of everything else they would’ve going on.

But, despite of that, Jimin found it hard to not be a little excited at the idea. It was something different and it would be a big deal. It would also, hopefully, allow her to spend a lot more time with Yujin, without their fans asking a lot of questions about them being together so much.

“We already have a statement prepared, as well as an initial plan we can work with to start,” he continued, pulling out a few papers he handed to her and Yujin. “A lot of things are still flexible and possible to adjust, while down the line nothing is really set yet. We want you to discuss this with all of your group members, together. To get the ball rolling before tomorrow. Assuming you agree to this, of course.”

All of them took it in and Jimin turned to look at Yujin, who did the same. And they simply looked at each other for a while. She saw that Yujin was already willing to do this and so was she. They both turned to their bosses and nodded together in agreement.

“How long do we have?” she asked, assuming they wouldn’t get too much time to fully discuss this, considering the pictures were already out there and there usually was a need to deal with things like this as quickly as possible. “The rest of the day?”

“Yes. Things will already start tomorrow. We’ll put out the statement and announcement out there before the day is over,” Cheol-hyuk told them, which was reasonable enough. That was a lot of time, but maybe they would really need all that time, considering there were ten of them that would be involved in this, alongside their managers. “So, you’re to discuss things and your managers will inform us if you decide on anything major. You’ll get more information tomorrow.”

“What about Karina and Yujin?” Yizhuo spoke up, surprising her as she turned around to look at her. “Can they… be together?”

The question seemed to catch the two men off-guard, neither of them saying anything as they looked like they were genuinely contemplating it. Then they started to whisper to each other and as much as she tried to, she couldn’t hear what they were saying. As they kept going, she reached for Yujin’s hand, not caring if they all saw at this point. She felt happy as Yujin gave her hand a squeeze and she gave one in return. It was then that the two men pulled apart.

“So long they show restraint in public it could even be to our benefit, so we won’t be against it if you choose to continue this. Whatever exactly this is,” Hoon-hee said to Yizhuo, surprising Jimin, before he turned to her and Yujin and she almost thought she saw a twinkle in his eyes. She’d thought they would be against it entirely for practical reasons, but apparently not. “You cannot reveal anything to the public, but anything that can be believably considered fanservice and not more is acceptable. If it being closer to something that is real ends up helping you, you’re free to continue.”

“Just be careful though. The public tends to not exactly be kind in regard to things like this,” Cheol-hyuk warned them and they both nodded. They both knew that fans, if one could call them that in such a situation, could go crazy in a very bad way. But not always and Jimin really hoped that maybe one day that could be the case for them too. “If there’s nothing else, we can wrap this up so that you can discuss this properly and then your managers will inform us if needed.”

They all stood up and shook hands, Yizhuo joining them and their managers trailing them as they left the office as they headed to the elevators.

“We should split up,” their manager suggested as they waited, speaking mostly to Yujin’s manager. “We can meet at their dorm, since it’s quite spacious. I’ll take them there while you pick up the other girls and join us then.”

“I can do that,” she replied and pulled out her phone to probably message one of the IVE girls.

While they kept discussing things, Jimin stepped closer to Yizhuo, who was already standing pretty close to Yujin. She was almost certain that this whole thing would be weird, but in a good way. As the elevator arrived and the doors opened, Yujin walked in ahead of them, but came to a stop and turned around, giving them a warm smile.

“Let’s go.”

The ride back, unlike the previous one with just her manager, was nice and full of a happy energy as the three of them talked about whatever came to mind about their new situation. It was the first time she really got to talk to Jimin again after last night, with the uncertainty of the meeting behind them, but also her first chance to actually talk to Ningning—Yizhuo, she corrected herself in her mind—in a normal situation. Or as normal as them driving back to a dorm that belonged to one idol group but would briefly be shared by two groups could be.

“Should we surprise Aeri and Minjeong and not tell them we’re getting invaded by IVE?” Yizhuo asked, posing the question and making it sound perfectly normal, as she looked at her and stuck her tongue out. Yujin had no issues doing the same in return, which earned themselves a groan from Jimin.

“Yujin, I really don’t need you to be another child for me to take care of,” she said in a way that sounded very disappointed, which was unacceptable in Yujin’s mind, so she tried her best to look apologetic. Yizhuo in turn just tried harder to stick her tongue out at her. “Yizhuo, behave.”

“Hey!” she exclaimed, but didn’t do much more than that, besides pouting and staring out of the window. With her seemingly choosing to ignore them, though she could see the pout turning into a smile in the window reflection, Yujin focused on Jimin.

“So, how do you think this will go?” she wondered quietly, leaning a little on her as she asked the question. “It’s gonna be such a mess, isn’t it?”

She called it a mess, but if anything, it would be a good mess. Because how would it not be a mess when they somehow had to make a discussion between ten people work? And that wasn’t even considering them having to work together. At the same time, she couldn’t imagine it being anything but fun. Crazy, probably insane, but also a lot of fun.

“Absolutely,” Jimin replied and laughed loudly, even getting Yizhuo to watch her. “But that’s gonna be part of the fun. Making this work. We won’t be a ten-girl group for the most part, but still. Spending time together, figuring out who works best with whom, deciding on the songs for the concert. Trying to figure out how this is going to work with our scheduling.”

Well, thankfully that wasn’t exactly for them to figure out. Not that she envied their managers for the task of making things work for them with their schedules. But Jimin wasn’t wrong. While she could hardly judge any of them that wasn’t Jimin and the same could be said the other way around, she somehow doubted they wouldn’t be able to work well together.

“And what about us?” she went on to ask, which got Jimin’s attention and and had her looking at her in a way she couldn’t describe. “We actually got away with practically going on a date and even got, sort-of, the okay to continue.”

It had honestly surprised her that their companies pretty much gave them the okay to continue. Sure, they couldn’t exactly consider it proper dates if they were somewhere that people could see them, but even then they could be affectionate with each other, so long it could be considered fanservice and nothing more.

“A date, huh?” Jimin asked, her tone clearly teasing as she looked like she was thinking hard about it. “We can go on more dates so long they involve a lot of fanservice, especially if we manage to have some real privacy.”

Oh. That seemed nice in Yujin’s mind. Very nice actually. And in Jimin’s too, apparently. It would probably be a challenge to not overdo the fanservice when others could see them, but she would learn.

“If you had a tail, it would be wagging right now, puppy,” she continued, and Yujin froze at her words. “You’re just so cute.”

Yujin couldn’t stop herself from letting out a squeak as Jimin kissed her nose. “That wasn’t too much, was it?”

“No-“

Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by Yizhuo making gagging noises from her other side, before it turned into laughter.

“I don’t know if I want to throw up or to melt from how cute and sweet you two are,” Yizhuo commented as she fake gagged repeatedly as both of them turned to watch her. “Don’t let me stop you though.”

A loud sigh could be heard from the front of the car, but they were spared any commentary.

“But it wasn’t too much. Just unexpected,” she said after a while, feeling herself heat up at being called puppy and being kissed on the nose by Jimin. And she knew Jimin had done that last night, so it wasn’t too bad. Just different now.

“Good, because else I’m not sure how I’d manage to be around you if you couldn’t handle that,” she immediately said and Yujin almost wished she would just explode into sparkles, because hearing those things from Jimin wasn’t good for her. “Though you did manage to sleep with me, so maybe I don’t need to worry that much.”

“What?” Yizhuo and the manager asked at the same time, leaving the car silent.

“What do you mean, what?” Jimin asked in return. “We just shared a bed, that’s all.”

Yujin thought she heard a sigh of relief coming from the front and felt relieved herself that was that, until she saw Yizhuo looking at them with a stupid grin. Thankfully for her, the car came to a stop at just the right moment, making Yizhuo look disappointed that she didn’t get the chance to say whatever she wanted to say.

As they got out of the car, Jimin took her hand as they made their way to the dorm. The first thing that struck Yujin was that it was more spacious than their dorm. Which made her just a little bit jealous.

“We’re back!” Yizhuo announced loudly, something that promptly made the remaining two Aespa members appear. “We even brought a prisoner along.”

Yujin had to blink a few times at that statement and slowly started to worry what she would say next at this point. But before she could, Giselle and Winter began circling her for reasons unbeknown to her.

“Have you demanded a ransom?” Winter asked, looking at her like she was trying to determine her value. “I hope you didn’t demand too little.”

“Yeah, she’s their leader and super popular, so she’s got to be worth a lot,” Giselle went on, earning giggles from Yizhuo and Winter, whereas Jimin just groaned.

“Please stop,” she said pleadingly, looking like she really didn’t want Yujin to experience this. “If you don’t, I’ll be taking Yujin elsewhere, somewhere where she won’t be bothered by you.”

Yujin doubted Jimin was genuinely serious with her threat, but it apparently did the trick as all of her members took it seriously enough to instantly back off. Instead, Giselle and Winter smiled at her in a way that made her feel welcome immediately in their dorm.

“Hi,” Giselle greeted her, Winter doing the same as her and Giselle looked apologetic. “It’s nice to meet you somewhere that isn’t so, well, us.”

Yujin knew that she didn’t mean them, as their groups, but them as K-pop idols. She smiled back.

“It is, so I hope we’ll get to see each other more often,” she replied happily, before leaning in to fake whisper. “And don’t worry about what Jimin said, it’s fine.”

“Don’t encourage them,” Jimin quickly said, giving all three of her members weak glares.

It was then that there was a knock at the door, which almost certainly had to be her members and their manager, and Yizhuo made sure to rush over to it, not giving anyone else the chance. Yujin barely managed to see the very worrying grin she had on her face as she did. She opened the door.

“We’re getting invaded!” she shouted, clearly not holding back. “Aaaah!”

Yujin couldn’t stop herself from grinning, while Jimin only groaned, Giselle and Winter looked completely confused and lost and their manager looked like she wanted to be anywhere else. Yizhuo was clearly a menace. And then she heard Hyunseo scream in response.

“Aaaah!”

She changed her mind from earlier. This wouldn’t be a mess. This would be a warzone of fun and insanity. And she looked forward to it.

Chapter Text

“Just got a message from our manager,” Gaeul called out, which had Hyunseo and everyone else pay attention to her. They’d all been lounging around the living room after Yujin left and waiting for anything from her. “She’s coming to pick us up in a few minutes so that we can meet Yujin.”

“Huh? But why isn’t she just coming back?” Jiwon asked, looking as confused as she felt. Had the meeting not gone well and now they all had to head to the company building? Had she gone elsewhere? But that still didn’t feel like a good reason for why she wasn’t coming back.

“Manager didn’t say,” Gaeul said with a shrug of her shoulders. “It’s definitely weird though. I hope she would’ve said something if there was reason for concern, instead of just this.”

“Guess we’ll just have to find out,” Wonyoung added, getting nods from everyone in return.

Hyunseo couldn’t stop thinking about it though, even as they got dressed and waited for their manager to show up. Once she did, they all quickly got into the car and off they went.

What had happened? Did the meeting go badly? Where were they even going? Manager had given them no indication that something was wrong, but it was still really hard for her to not worry about Yujin.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at what looked like a large apartment building, and it just made Hyunseo even more confused. Yujin couldn’t come back to their dorm, but she also wasn’t at the company building for them to meet her there.

“So…” Rei began as they all got out of the car and gathered outside of the entrance to the building, their manager using the doorbell for whatever apartment they were going to meet Yujin at. “Why here?”

“You’ll see,” their manager replied and Hyunseo was sure she saw her grinning. Had anyone else seen it or had she just imagined it? “You’ll be surprised for sure.”

That wasn’t reassuring in the slightest, but at least it didn’t sound like it was going to be bad. Or so she hoped at least. Maybe this was just some kind of elaborate trap they were walking into, when they instead should be saving Yujin and-

Her spiraling was interrupted by the door opening and them all being herded into the building. The elevator was somewhat of a tight fit for six of them, but they managed to all make it in as they rode to the top floor, where their manager led them to an apartment there and knocked on the door. She wasn’t ready for what was on the other side of the door.

The moment the door opened, Hyunseo found herself face to face with Aespa’s Ningning screaming like her life depended on it. “Aaaah! We’re getting invaded!”

Really, what was she supposed to do but scream in absolute terror and like her life depended on it in return? “Aaaah!”

“Hyunseo!”

“Yizhuo!”

Hearing that leader-like voice call her name got her to immediately stop, Ningning doing the same. And then both of them appeared, Yujin and Karina looking at them with expressions stuck somewhere between exasperation and fondness.

“Really, Yizhuo?” Karina asked, just shaking her head, while she got an eye roll from Yujin. With the initial shock passing, Hyunseo found herself even more confused. Clearly this was Aespa’s dorm, but what was Yujin doing there? What were they doing there? She looked to Gaeul for help and then the others, but they all seemed equally as lost as her.

“Anyways, uh, hi,” Karina greeted them, clearly trying to move on from whatever that had been. Unexpected and very silly for sure in Hyunseo’s mind, but also kind of fun. “Please come in so we can explain what’s going on. And talk like normal people, instead of screaming like we’ve lost our minds.”

They all filed in one after the other and found themselves gathered around a table with way more chairs than it was clearly meant for.

Yujin and Karina were the first to sit down, sitting next to each other on one side. Instead of simply defaulting to sitting next to Yujin, she sat down next to Karina, hoping to send a sign that they shouldn’t just default to sitting next to their group members if possible. And all of them somehow followed her lead with the free seat on her left being taken by Ningning. She shot her a smile as she sat down and quickly got one in return. Their managers sat down off to the side, though they could probably have squeezed in between some of them.

“Alright, so,” Yujin began, looking a little sheepish as everyone was looking at her. “Is everyone okay with dropping the stage names? We might as well get started with getting comfortable with each other.”

There came murmurs of agreement from all of them, before Wonyoung finally asked the question she’d been wondering about the entire time. And by the looks of things, Aeri and Minjeong too.

“So, why are we here?” she asked, just sounding curious as she was. “We’ve been wondering what’s been going on this entire morning and now we’re all here. And most of us seem to have no idea what’s going on, beyond this obviously all being about the two of you.”

Hyunseo watched Yujin and Jimin exchange looks, as if they were deciding who of them should talk.

“It’s no longer just about the two of us. It’s about all of us from now on,” Yujin said. “Instead of the usual solution, a simple statement, we had a meeting with the CEOs of our companies and got told that they’ll spin it as the beginning of a cooperation between Aespa and Ive.”

No one said anything at that, until Hyunseo without even realizing let it slip out. “Huh?”

“Cooperation?” Minjeong chimed in. “As in, we’re all working together now?”

“Pretty much,” Jimin replied. “We’re here to sort-of work out the details ourselves. We’ll be doing content together, be seen together and even perform together. Yujin and I will probably already get to start tomorrow on it, while the rest will slowly get their chances.”

Everyone took that in for a moment. Hyunseo couldn’t remember ever having heard of two groups working together like that, but in her mind it could only be fun. “I like it.”

“Yeah, it’s probably gonna be pretty fun,” Yizhuo backed her up, shooting her a grin. “At least once we get past getting to know each other and being comfortable with each other.”

“You said we’d perform together,” Gaeul spoke up. “Guessing there’re no details on that yet?”

“Nothing yet, really,” Yujin said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’m not sure how exactly they want us to fit that into everything we’re supposed to be doing, between doing things together and what we’re doing on our own, but it probably won’t happen until sometime next summer anyway.”

“Are we going to perform each other’s songs?” Rei asked and that got a little bit of excited chatter from everyone.

“They want us to perform them together,” Yizhuo was the one to answer this time and Hyunseo wondered how she knew that.

“All ten of us?” Aeri asked incredulously. “I can see it if a few from each group perform together, but all ten of us would be insane.”

“All ten of us would be so much fun though,” Minjeong said. “Just imagine it. The fans would probably go crazy over it and love it.”

“That’s something we can figure out as we go,” Jimin noted, which got a round of nods from everyone. “More importantly for today is deciding, at least for the start, who should be with who when needed. Or even just who’d like to be seen together.”

“Besides you two, obviously,” Wonyoung pointed out and everyone laughed at that. Except Jiwon, who looked confused.

“Are you two dating?” she blurted out, before she looked like she was embarrassed at having asked that out loud.

“We-“

“We’re still figuring things out, but I like to think we are,” Jimin interrupted Yujin, who pouted at her. “Aren’t we?”

“We are,” Yujin quickly added, now blushing. “Or at least we are trying to with so many eyes on us now.”

“Just no kissing in front of us, alright? Especially Hyunseo,” Wonyoung said with a smirk, which had Hyunseo shout out a “Hey!” at the thought that she couldn’t handle seeing them kiss. Not that she exactly wanted to see them kiss, per se, but the two of them kissing each other probably meant they were happy together. And that was something she hoped to see a lot of. She really did.

“You don’t need to mind me though,” Yizhuo added and that got everyone to laugh.

“No, I couldn’t do that,” Jimin replied with a pout. “You’re still my baby, even if you’re not the youngest anymore.”

“Are we seriously all just younger than you are?” Rei asked, grumbling as she did. “Wait, Gaeul might have a chance!”

“I’m 22, born September 22nd,” she stated.

“Nooooo, you’re like a month older than me,” Yizhuo whined and Gaeul’s expression turned victorious, their entire group letting out cheers at the fact. “I wanted to be older than all of you.”

“But let’s try to focus,” Jimin called out, looking like she struggled to not grin at their interactions. “Who wants to be together if they ask for two of us? Deciding now also lets us work on getting to know each other and on chemistry between each other. Yujin and I are a given. Obviously.”

Hyunseo struggled to hide her giggle at that, before she glanced around at the Aespa members and thinking who she’d like to be paired with.

“What if I’m with Aeri?” Rei suggested. “I’m sure fans would love that at least and I think it’d be fun.”

“Yeah, why not,” Aeri said and, as she and Rei had ended up next to each other, said something to her in Japanese, which made her laugh. “So, who else?”

“Oh, I know!” Minjeong called out and Hyunseo almost sense of familiarity as she watched her. She looked like a puppy, all excited. “I want to be with Jiwon.”

“Oh yeah, you did a song together,” Jimin noted with a smile, before she frowned. “It was all done solo though, right?”

“Yup,” Jiwon replied, popping the ‘p’. “Kinda sucked how that went, unlike for you two, but we can catch up on that. Minus the recording bits.”

Hyunseo decided to finally take some initiative of her own as she spoke up.

“I wanna be with Yizhuo,” she said quickly, before anyone else decided they’d want to be with her. Yizhuo gave her a smile and a nod. “That’s bound to be popular.”

It wasn’t only because of that that she wanted to be with Yizhuo or the actual reason for that matter. She just wanted to maybe get her chance with her first. They weren’t exactly close in age but maybe spending time with someone who also was the youngest and was the group’s baby would be fun.

“I’m gonna teach you how to be a real menace,” Yizhuo whispered to her with a grin, but made sure to be loud enough that everyone could hear her.

“No!” Jimin shouted, while Yujin only looked on confused. “Don’t do that. It’s already enough that we have to suffer, don’t make them suffer too.”

“What, is she terrorizing you on the daily?” Yujin asked jokingly and got full agreement from them. “Seriously?”

“It’s not that bad and it’s not like we’re exactly better,” Jimin reassured and admitted in one go. “But you better watch out for any bad influence from Yizhuo.”

Hyunseo laughed as Yizhuo did her best to defend herself and without shame dragging the others down with her as she revealed the ridiculous things they sometimes did to each other.

“So, what about us?” Wonyoung asked once that conversation died down. “Do we get our turn later or do we just form trios?”

“Well, who would you like to be with?” Yujin asked both of them. “We can always just mix and match as we go and if they want more than just two of us.”

Both Wonyoung and Gaeul looked like they were thinking about it for a while.

“Minjeong,” Wonyoung said.

“Aeri,” Gaeul said.

“Alright,” Yujin nodded, looking over to the managers. “You got that all written down? Actually, add me and Yizhuo and Jimin and Hyunseo. If that’s okay with everyone.”

Their manager nodded back, while Hyunseo looked between Yujin, Jimin and Yizhuo, them doing the same. They all smiled and nodded.

“Great,” Jimin called out, getting everyone’s attention. “So, what now?”

It turned out that they had a lot to talk about. Conversation flowed easily and freely between them, as they all moved around and frequently switched whoever they were talking to. And it almost always ended up that they talked across groups in some combination. Getting to know the Aespa members was a lot of fun and Hyunseo quickly realized that they were quite a bit crazier than them. Not in a bad way, just… crazier. And not just Yizhuo, but everyone, even Jimin. While she bounced between everyone, as everyone else did, she eventually settled with Yizhuo in their own little bubble.

“This feels like a lot,” Hyunseo said, looking around at everyone. She saw Yujin and Jimin talking with their managers.

“Don’t worry about it,” Yizhuo replied with a cheeky smile. “You got nine big sisters looking after you now.”

“At least you got a new one too,” she pointed out, which made Yizhuo pout. “Do you think we’ll work well together?”

“In general?” she wondered. “Or us specifically?”

Instead of immediately replying, Hyunseo gave it some thought. She knew she had meant the second one when she asked, but there would obviously be times when it was more than just them. When they’d be in some smaller configuration that was bigger than the two of them. And at some point it would be all of them working together. But first all of them would start out small in pairs when needed and all of them when time allowed, which was the most important part. Once they started to get comfortable with each other and got used to each other, everything would get easier.

But with Yizhuo specifically? She really didn’t know. They obviously had being the youngest of their groups in common. But beyond that? Well, she guessed that was something she would learn as she spent time with her.

“Both, really,” she finally said and got an understanding nod from Yizhuo in response. “I mean, we’re kinda isolated, right? Sure, we interact with others, but almost all of our time is spent with our groups or we’re off doing our own thing.”

“So, I hope this works and really want this to just work, but that almost feels like it’d be too easy,” she went on and wondered how Yizhuo felt about these things. “It’s nice that it’s only us in public and that we can do it however we want in private, when we can at least.”

Yizhuo didn’t say anything for a while, looking like she was thinking as she glanced around and watched the others.

“I get it,” she eventually said, which had Hyunseo relieved. “But I do think this will work. Us. All of it. It might just take a little bit of time before it clicks. And I’m glad you picked me. Not that I would’ve minded any of the others, but it’s nice that I get to start with you. And for once, I get to be the older one.”

Hyunseo giggled at that. Sure, she’d never be the older one, at least not with anyone beyond a superficial level, but she really didn’t mind.

“I’ll make sure you get to savor the opportunity,” she told her with a grin, which Yizhuo quickly matched. “Not exactly sure how the others will handle it, but I’m sure they’ll all give you the chance to be the older one. Except Gaeul maybe. Or maybe she would want to experience being the younger one for once.”

Jiwon would definitely be the happiest about it and she was confident the others would be happy to go along with it at least. And despite being the older one, maybe Gaeul would take the chance to not have to be the older one for once.

“Getting to baby all of you is gonna be a lot of fun, especially you,” Yizhuo teased, and she was honestly looking forward to it. She liked being babied a lot of the time. Not all the time, but definitely a lot of the time. It was nice being taken care of like that, to be spoiled by everyone. She was looking forwards to it with all of the Aespa girls.

“You two seem to be getting along great,” Yujin commented from behind her and Hyunseo turned around to see her and Jimin approach them, holding hands. “My little baby is doing so well.”

“Yujin,” she whined and tried to escape as Yujin began to nuzzle her head. “Not in front of Yizhuo.”

As she said that, she realized that Yizhuo and Jimin were in almost the exact same situation as she was with Yujin. Which was honestly pretty nice, seeing that she wasn’t alone in suffering under her leader’s love. Not that she really was complaining either. It felt nice.

“So how are you two feeling about this?” Jimin asked once she was done with Yizhuo and she and Yujin sat down with them. “It’s kinda exciting, isn’t it?”

“Mm,” Yizhuo simply responded, before she got a look from Jimin. “Lots of new dynamics to explore and figure out, so that’s gonna be fun. And Hyunseo and I plan to have a lot of fun together, don’t we?”

She was quick to nod excitedly, and she felt excited too. She also wondered what it would mean for the future of their groups. She doubted anything would really change, as in them becoming a bigger group or something, but would they continue to work together if it was a success? What kind of things would they be doing then or even just in the near future once they’d gotten started?

“I can only imagine things getting chaotic once we get into this. How exactly our companies expect this all to work, trying to prioritize getting companies to pick one from each group, as well as just scheduling everything,” Jimin said and all of them nodded along. Hyunseo was glad that it wasn’t their problem to deal with, though she felt bad for their managers to make whatever ended up happening work. Though not too bad, considering it meant it was them dealing with those issues and not her.

And they kept talking, hardly stopping besides when someone joined them. Soon they were back to all of them talking together and when they found themselves hungry, they ordered lunch. Which was a massive mess, considering they were twelve people and all with different wants and suggestions. Eventually their managers managed to get them to find things more than just one of them wanted, until everyone was satisfied. And then they kept talking and when they were done talking, they started playing games. Hyunseo found it so easy for them to pass time with how easily they got along. And they never really stopped talking, continuing over dinner, which once again turned into a challenge like no other. But it was fun.

Jimin wasn’t really sure how any of them managed to keep going for that long. They’d practically been at it for the entire day, in honestly a way too cramped space for all them, yet they made it work. She didn’t think she’d ever talked so much to so many people in such a short span of time, but she did. Their managers came and went mostly at some point, staying for lunch and dinner and letting them know after dinner that the statement had been released, but else they were left to their own devices. She really liked to think she, and hopefully everyone else as well, got to know the IVE girls a lot better during their short time together. Or as well as one could in such a short time. But that probably spoke to how much effort all of them had put in to make it work. Everyone wanted to get along, to get to know each other. Both because it would make everything much easier for them, but also because a chance like this was so rare. They practically got told to get to know each other, when usually it could be really hard to form any connections to people outside of one’s group.

And now it had gone well past evening, as well as past a few drinks once they’d started for dinner. None of them were drunk, but they were all varying degrees of tipsy for sure. Except for Hyunseo, who literally no one would let drink, and their managers, who weren’t even there to keep an eye on them, but had been convinced to join them anyway. At this point any big conversations had stopped completely and they just all moved around occasionally. Which was how she found herself watching Yizhuo and Hyunseo, off in a corner like they were in their own little bubble, with Yujin. Who had found her way into her lap, leaning back against her and her arms wrapped around her, instead of using a free chair. Not that she minded, as it was the first time that they properly got to be with each other like this since they gathered here.

“Do you guys baby Yizhuo as much we baby Hyunseo?” Yujin asked fondly and while she couldn’t see her face, she was sure her fondness would be clearly visible on it.

“Definitely not,” she said, which got Yujin to turn her head and look at her. “The others don’t at least. I tend to though. A lot of our fans call us mother and daughter.”

It was really endearing to her, even if they probably would be more like sisters. Though having seen herself interacting with Yizhuo through fans’ videos, she couldn’t exactly say they were wrong in their assessment.

Yujin laughed though. “Really? Now I really wanna see that. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen our fans call me and Wonyoung Hyunseo’s mothers. Though you’re free to become her mother too, if you want to.”

“You know what? I’ll take you up on that offer,” she quickly replied and laughed, getting another laugh from Yujin. “So long she’ll let me.”

“She definitely will,” Yujin said with a chuckle. “She’s such a big fan of you, I’m sure she’d be begging you for you to adopt her. Though I guess I can share her with you. Maybe.”

“I’m not sure how willing Yizhuo is to be adopted by you, no matter how willing I’m to share her with you,” Jimin said, and she felt Yujin chuckle.

“Don’t you think you’re forgetting something?” had both of them turning to Wonyoung approach them with a smirk on her lips, but which quickly turned into a pout as she sat down next to them. “Don’t I get to have a say as Hyunseo’s other mom?”

“Of course you do,” Yujin was quick to reassure her. “So long you don’t mind if Jimin gets to, maybe, be her mom too.”

“Shouldn’t I have more of a say from now on?” Jimin asked with some fake offense in her tone or at least she tried. Not that she seemed to be very convincing if the way Wonyoung laughed was anything to go by. Yujin too, for that matter. In the end, she joined them in their laughter, until eventually Yujin got up and pulled over another chair, so that all three of them sat down, looking at each other.

“So, this is where you’ve been all disgustingly sweet, is it?” Wonyoung asked and neither of them deemed to give her an answer with how satisfied she looked. Then her expression turned into something softer. “I really hope you two know what you’re getting into.”

“We’re just gonna have to figure it out, aren’t we?” Yujin turned to Jimin as she spoke and smiled at her. It made Jimin feel warm. “But the bosses practically told us we can use it to our advantage, so long it’s not too obvious.”

“Don’t compensate by making it too obvious in front of us though,” Wonyoung joked. “Not that we really mind, I’m sure. Though really maybe not in front of Hyunseo if you can help yourselves.”

“You say that as if we aren’t able to control ourselves and are gonna jump each other any moment we can,” Yujin replied and Wonyoung simply shrugged her shoulders like that said everything there was to be said about the matter. “Where’s the faith?”

“I think I might have more faith in Jimin than in you when it comes to being able to control yourselves,” she fired back, and Yujin let out a gasp.

“You should’ve seen Jimin last night when-“ Jimin didn’t let her finish that sentence as she slapped her hand over her mouth. Though maybe that had been the wrong choice with how scandalized Wonyoung looked, even if Yujin hadn’t exactly said anything. She would probably have been better off not slapping her hand over Yujin’s mouth like she did, but she had felt too embarrassed at the moment.

“It’s nothing like whatever you’re imagining right now,” she was quick to defend herself from whatever mental image Yujin had placed in Wonyoung’s mind. Then she turned to Yujin, shooting her a weak glare. “Couldn’t you just have kept quiet?”

Yujin did absolutely not look apologetic at either her glare or her words, but it’s not that she was actually upset. Just a little embarrassed.

Before Yujin could make her embarrass herself any further, Yujin almost found herself tackled out of her chair by Hyunseo, letting out an ‘oof!’ as she settled in her lap.

“Manager said it’s time to go,” she said with a pout.

“Already, huh?” Yujin wondered, which sounded almost insane to Jimin, considering how long they’d all been here. “Oh well.”

It was Wonyoung who got up first, dragging a reluctant Hyunseo along by the hand.

“Come on, let’s them give a moment,” she told her and sent her a wink. Jimin didn’t consider the fact that probably all of the IVE girls could wink, while she couldn’t. She definitely didn’t consider that. Instead, she smiled at both of them before she felt Yujin tug on her hand, getting her to stand up and face her with a big smile, whereas Yujin was pouting.

“We really should talk about this sometime, properly,” Jimin said, and Yujin nodded in response. While she didn’t doubt that either of them were more than interested in making this relationship work, they hadn’t actually said too much about it or even done that much for that matter. “Maybe we should start by actually just texting each other more.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Yujin replied, and her pout slowly turned into something else. Something more mischievous. “But I got a better idea.”

Before she could react, Yujin had moved closer and was kissing her. It was a soft kiss though and Jimin was eager to respond, placing her hands on her hips and pulling her a little closer. Yet she didn’t push for more, despite a part of her wanting to. But, no, she liked it soft and slow like this too. They also had an audience this time, much to her chagrin. The only thing she did was give Yujin’s hips a little squeeze. Someone coughed, but both of them ignored it.

“Was that better than talking or texting?” Yujin asked as they eventually pulled apart.

She made sure to give it a moment, putting a finger on her chin and trying look like she was really contemplating it. “Better. Definitely better.”

Yujin didn’t give her the chance to say more as she moved her finger aside as she moved in and they were kissing again. It didn’t last for very long though.

“Hurry up, Yujin!” Jiwon could be heard calling out. “Stop sucking her face!”

“I mean, you’re not wrong, but did you need to say that?” Rei asked.

“No, Hyunseo, you don’t need to go!” Gaeul called out and Jimin giggled at the slight panic in her voice.

“Guess that’s my sign to go,” Yujin said as she pulled away once again. “See you soon?”

“Mm,” she nodded, watching Yujin walk always, only for her to come to a stop, before she turned around and skipped back over to her with a cheeky smile. Yujin quickly pressed her lips to her cheek and without giving her a chance to say anything left. She didn’t move until she heard the door close and Yizhuo approached her.

“You’re still staring at where she was,” Yizhuo noted, and she wasn’t wrong. “Come on.”

Jimin stumbled along as Yizhuo took her by her hand softly and pulled her towards their room. Aeri and Minjeong only shot them glances and raised their eyebrows at them. Once they were in their room and seated on her bed, Yizhuo simply looked at her.

“Tell me everything,” she said. “I wanna be able to help you with Yujin.”

And so Jimin told her everything.