Everyone knows Nayoung started the whole “morning kisses” thing, sure. But can you blame her? She got stuck in a room with one person who can sleep through a war, another who’s always out for schedules, one who stays up late every night to watch anime, and a little kid who shouldn’t be up before 9 AM. So, yeah, she’s the only one here who’s both a night owl and can wake up at an early hour.

And that is why the managers made it her job to wake up the other members.

At first it was the usual shaking and tapping of cheeks. Then, since that obviously doesn’t work well on humans so scared of the light, she tried blasting loud music from the manager’s speaker and phone. (Mina and Mimi locked her out the dorm for waking them up with Pick Me, it wasn’t worth it.) And there was that one time she spilled water over Hana’s face (Mina’s idea, and an unfortunate turn of events in rock-paper-scissors made her do it) and she was grounded for a day. ‘Grounded’ is literally just Hana forcing the other members not to talk to her for a whole day, and even though it was a rather peaceful change, it almost drove her mad whenever Mina and Hyeyeon made fun of her indirectly and she couldn’t do anything.

Long story short, she ran out of ideas. And so, one morning when the sun was shining particularly brighter but the frowns on the sleep deprived faces of her members were deeper, she went over to Mina’s bed and found the younger girl scowling in her sleep - a sight so darn adorable it still makes Nayoung unconsciously smile. Giving in to the urge, she kissed Mina’s fat cheek and watched in glee as the latter scrunched her nose and opened her eyes immediately.

That’s how the tradition of kissing each other good morning started. And now Mimi tries to wake up earlier than her during some days only to wipe toothpaste over her lips and kiss Nayoung’s nose with them and Mina always covers her face with a blanket only for it to be pulled down by Sejeong, Mimi, and Nayoung and for her to be showered with kisses everywhere - the older ones finding great pleasure in watching her curl away in annoyance.

It’s always either Mimi or Nayoung who wakes up earliest. The two have this constant battle of ‘Who is More Infuriating’ and try to wake up earlier than the other just to be the one who wakes the others up using kisses. Sejeong knows Mimi likes kissing Hana’s forehead tenderly - a stark contrast from Nayoung’s messy kisses on Hana’s cheek, and maybe that’s the main reason why Mimi likes waking up the earliest - because she wants to be the one who wakes up Hana. And that makes complete sense, knowing how much of a whipped pup Mimi is towards Hana although she never admits.

But what Sejeong doesn’t understand is why Nayoung would even try to compete with Mimi in this. She’s pretty sure even Nayoung - resident clueless - knows about Mimi’s schoolboy crush on Hana, and as her best bud, she’s obviously supposed to help set them up, which means she should let Mimi wake them up every day until she gathers enough courage to finally kiss Hana on her lips. Mimi’s annoying kisses aren’t that big of a deal compared to this ‘one true love’ everyone’s always bullting about, right?

Which is why this morning, after a particularly creepy nightmare, she stays awake and waits for any sign of any of the two waking up. It takes a long time of shifting and thinking before she finally hears some shuffling from the other bunk bed. To her relief, it’s from the lower bunk. She hears the slow dragging of feet across the wooden floor to somewhere, probably to her bathroom basket. Then the footsteps grow louder and she can almost see Nayoung crouching down by Mina’s bed with a sleepy look on her face. She hears her chuckling - probably at the frown that’s always on the younger’s face whenever she’s asleep, then after a few more moments and footsteps, a shadow looms over her and she tries not to open her eyes, expecting chapped lips to meet her cheeks.

But they never come. She can only feel the soft, warm breath hitting the tip of her nose. And then a sigh of something - contentment or adornment, she isn’t sure. Then the shadow leaves, lazy footsteps leading out their room.

She opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling, wondering why her heart’s beating fast. She dismisses it as just an after-effect of that nightmare she had.

Why didn’t Nayoung kiss her yet? Did she brush her teeth first? From what Sejeong remembers, Mimi never bothered with brushing her teeth before kissing them (sans Hana) unless she thinks it’s time for a toothpaste-filled kiss. She doesn’t remember whether Nayoung brushed her teeth before kissing them though, all she remembers are soft lips greeting her cheeks good morning. And a smile from her to start her day.

She hears the footsteps again and she closes her eyes, still stubborn about this facade of her still sleeping. This time, the footsteps go straight to her. And the once warm breath turned into a cold, minty one - almost like a refreshing hit of the cold sea air after hours of warming up in front of the campfire. She feels the lips nearing, although she isn’t so sure how. It’s just that the hair or whatever on her cheeks - they’re tensing up. And she hears her heart beating against her eardrums and-

She dismisses them again as just from that nightmare. Feeling her inner little personality kicking in, she turns her head with a smirk.

Which quickly falls off her cocky face because that is not air her lips are meeting. Air isn’t soft and cold. Air isn’t frozen in mid-kiss. Air isn’t connected to a shocked Kim Nayoung. Air is not Kim Nayoung’s lips.

And why the are they not pulling away? This isn’t some ing k-drama where you take at least 5 seconds, and at most a whole new episode, to pull away. She gulps down whatever’s blocking and pulls away slowly, and just as slowly, Nayoung snaps out of her daze.

Maybe Nayoung won’t kill her?

“What the , Kim Sejeong?”

But her tone certainly did. She smiles through pursed lips. “I’m-”

Nayoung sighs loudly, rolling her eyes in that ‘I’m so ing done with you’ way she does whenever Mimi’s singing Pick Me at the top of her lungs. Then she shakes her head, disappointment masking her eyes.

And then she’s gone - out the door faster than Mina whenever Haebin calls out that dinner is ready.

Sejeong falls back on her bed, feeling her heart beating loudly - this time it isn’t fear, nor whatever it was that time Nayoung leaned close - it’s a whole lot of ‘what the is so bad about kissing me’ and a pinch of ‘why the did I even do that’. In other words, not at all a good feeling.

She stays in her bed until much later. Even after Mimi kisses them all good morning - skipping her cause it’s obvious she’s not in the mood. Even after Haebin shouts ‘breakfast is ready’ from the kitchen. Even after Hana taps her nose affectionately and asks her if she wants to watch a movie in the living room with the rest of the members.

She stays in her bed, a million thoughts running through her head but a single thought screamed louder over the others.

Was it really that bad to kiss her?

//

She decides to walk out just after lunch, because no matter how hurt she is, she can’t ignore the fact that she’s hungry. So she sneaks to the kitchen and grabs herself some of the breakfast Haebin cooked - fried eggs and rice.

However, she isn’t alone in the kitchen. That’s not much of a ‘wtf’ moment since there are nine girls in the group and their managers live with them. But usually, when it’s movie day, everyone gathers around in front of the living room wall that the projector’s facing to fight over how the movie should’ve went.

This time, however, Soyee isn’t out there with them. She follows Sejeong in the kitchen as soon as she spots her. “Anything wrong?”

Sejeong sighs, remembering the ‘thing-that-should-not-be-said-aloud’ that happened a few hours ago. “Apparently, yeah.”

“What happened? You didn’t join us for breakfast or lunch.”

“Not in the mood to eat.”

Soyee raises an eyebrow. “Or not in the mood to share the same room with Nayoung?”

Sometimes, Soyee’s way too smart. “What makes you say that?”

“It’s obvious when something’s going on in Nayoung’s head.” She replies, sending a flitting look towards the living room. Then she smiles at Sejeong. “And she was frowning the whole day and playing with either her fingers, or another member’s fingers the whole time. What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know?”

“I vowed to myself that I’ll never say it out loud.”

The younger sighs, nodding. “I see. Morning kiss gone wrong?”

She looks up, alarmed. “How’d you know? I mean- what makes you say that?”

“To be honest, all of us four girls on the second floor always talked about how your morning kisses will one way or another go wrong. Haebin thought Mimi would confess to Hana through this. Hyeyeon wished Mimi and Nayoung will accidentally kiss. However, Xiening and I agreed that whatever will go wrong will happen to you and Nayoung.”

“Why us?”

A grin forms on her face. “Because Nayoung and Mimi are a bit too careful when kissing each other, Mina and Hana never kiss any of you, and Mimi will obviously stay as much of a coward as she is now.”

Sejeong stays quiet, suddenly very much interested in the way the rice is fried in that exact Haebin way. Maybe if she pretends she’s not interested in this conversation Soyee will leave.

But of course Soyee doesn’t leave. “So, what happened? How did the morning kiss go wrong?”

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes for the nth time that day, she sighs. “I moved.”

“Oh. She got mad?”

She looks back at the living room where Hyeyeon and Mina are fighting with Mimi over something stupid, as usual. Nayoung’s seated against the wall, eyes trained on the movie like it’s the only thing she cares about. Hana’s beside her, eyes on Sejeong instead - questioning and worried. She sends her a small assuring smile and watches as the leader nods furtively before leaning her head on Nayoung’s shoulder - an act she always does when she feels like the members are too stressed about something.

“Yeah, I guess she got mad.”

Soyee follows her line of sight and shakes her head. “That’s not mad.”

“What?”

“That’s not mad. Nayoung’s not mad. She’s… confused. Agitated? Scared.”

“Why would she be confused, agitated, or scared? She’s obviously mad because my joke went too far this time. I don’t think she had a first kiss yet.”

Soyee laughs. “You think so lowly of her.”

“What?” She asks, looking up with furrowed brows. “Nayoung had her first kiss already? How come I never heard of this? And you did? We were friends first!”

“Chill.” Soyee tells her, raising a hand that’s supposed to look comforting but actually just looks taunting. “I was there when she had her first kiss.”

“You were there?”

“Yep.”

Her lack of detailed answers just worries Sejeong more. Why the did Nayoung - her friend for more than two years, the one she first talked to about the mole on her lower back, just above her - not tell her about her first kiss?

“Who?”

She gets a clearly faked innocent stare back. “What do you mean who?”

“Who did she have her first kiss with?”

“You have to ask that from her.”

Of course Soyee’s going to be difficult, when was she ever not difficult? “We’re not really talking to each other, remember?”

Soyee chuckles. “And I should care, why?”

“You’re an .” Sejeong replies in an offended tone, eyebrows meeting once again. “I thought I could trust you.”

“If you really want to know the answer, you should ask her. I’m not in the place to spill all her secrets, you know.” She sends her a taunting smile before looking back at the living room where Hana’s now hugging Nayoung and Nayoung’s arm is around Hana’s shoulder. “Sometimes, the answer’s right in front of you.”

Sejeong gasps, realization kicking in. But, no. It can’t be. But then again, maybe that’s the reason why Nayoung competes with Mimi? But- no. “You don’t mean…?”

“What are you talking about?” Soyee counters, eyebrows furrowed mockingly. She shrugs. “I don’t think I understand what you’re talking about. I better go, I’m missing more than half of the movie.”

Then she leaves, like they all do. Sejeong leans back on her chair with a frown, plate of fried eggs and rice completely forgotten, as she stares at the members and managers watching the movie through a projector and Nayoung’s laptop. Her gaze automatically lands on Nayoung, and the koala bear named Hana clinging to her like her life depended on it. Unconsciously, she feels her blood boiling.

I bet Nayoung told Hana about her first kiss, she grumbles to herself, glare piercing through the air. She should be the best friend of those two, not each other. But then again, maybe Nayoung’s first kiss is- no. She stops that thought before it finishes itself, worried that it’ll add up to her already pretty bad mood.

She tries to focus on Hyeyeon and Mina trying to cover Mimi’s loud mouth with a pillow to stop her from talking (she talks quite a lot during movies. Excuse you, Mimi, no one cares about how you think Slytherins should’ve been part of Dumbledore’s Army.)

But as expected, she can’t help but bring her attention back to Nayoung. It’s a comfortable position - the one those two have. They’re both leaning against the wall with a long pillow to support their lower backs and a blanket carelessly thrown over their shoulders in an attempt to protect them from the harsh winds coming out the broken AC unit. Nayoung’s left arm is still around Hana’s shoulders and Hana’s arms are still hugging the airs out of Nayoung’s abdomen.

Oh, and Nayoung’s absentmindedly playing with Hana’s fingers with her right hand. Endearing.

Is Hana Nayoung’s…? Probably not. That’d be breaking all rules and conduct between bros, and Nayoung is not one to break rules and conducts between bros. Unless Nayoung doesn’t know that Mimi likes Hana?

She’s a , if ever. A clueless, insensitive who doesn’t give a (or maybe just really, really oblivious) about other people’s feelings.

And so is Hana, Sejeong adds, feeling herself getting annoyed as the seconds go by. They’re both ignorant s who only care about their own emotions.

Inconsiderate. Thoughtless. Unmindful. s.

“Why are you glaring at the living room?” She looks up and finds Mimi blinking cluelessly at her, a glass of water in hand. “Are you mad at someone?”

Does Mimi not realize how disgustingly lovey-dovey Nayoung and Hana are? Doesn’t she like Hana enough to notice that?

She fakes a smile and shrugs. “It’s nothing. I was just thinking hard.”

But of course, her fake smiles might work really well on the members of that other group she’s in, but not in gugudan. Never in gugudan.

Because these kids are very, very snoopy and like to stick their noses in other people’s business.

Mimi nods, lower lip jutting out in that way it does when she’s not buying anyone’s bullcrap. “Sure. What were you thinking about then? Ways to kill Hana?”

So she did notice. Sejeong squints her eyes at the calmness masked face of the girl so disgustingly in love with Hana. “No, were you thinking of ways to kill Nayoung?”

“No.”

Stubborn, just like Sejeong. She sighs. “Okay then.”

Mimi lifts the glass to her lips. “Okay then.” Then drinks.

Silence fills the kitchen, only echoes of the noise from the living room filling their ears. Both eyes trained on the living room, infinite amount of something (not jealousy. Definitely not jealousy) filling both pairs.

Hyeyeon looks up from her spot by Nayoung’s and Hana’s feet and sees the two of them staring. She nudges Mina’s side and points, whispering something.

Mina nods at whatever she said, looks back at Hana and Nayoung - both too immersed in the plot of the movie to notice the youngest two whispering - and nods again, a frown marring her face.

Sejeong knows that means trouble. She’s just not sure what kind of trouble yet. She’ll worry about it later. For now, she’ll stare at the two until they feel someone glaring (and quite possibly plotting murder) and pretend she wasn’t once they both look up.

She’s sure Mimi’s doing the same. And she looks up and hides a smile as she confirms her speculation.

If looks could kill, gugudan is about to be a seven membered group in a few more minutes.

//

Of course, as Sejeong thought, those whispers from the two youngest meant trouble. And trouble apparently meant locking her, Nayoung, Hana, and Mimi in their room, with all gadgets taken out, from the moment the movie ended until they’re ready to… “come out”.

Sejeong stays in her bed. This is easy, of course. She stays in her bed and readies herself to go to sleep. Mimi also stays in her bed, but she sits by the desk and doodles on her notebook.

Hana and Nayoung, however, are both in Nayoung’s bed, talking and giggling about things that Sejeong clearly aren’t eavesdropping on. (The movie, they were talking and giggling about the movie.)

The thing is, this can be easy. Real piece of cake. But since those two are talking so loudly, Sejeong can’t fall asleep. And Mimi keeps on ripping pages out her notebook, crumpling them, then throwing them a feet away from the trashcan, kicked pup look never leaving her face.

So, yeah, this could’ve been easy if it weren’t for those two.

“Can you shut up?”

Sejeong sighs. At least she’s not the one who had to say it. She sends Mimi a small smile but she isn’t looking.

Hana turns in Nayoung’s bed, scowl directed at Mimi. “Can you say that in a more polite way?”

“No.”

“Then no.”

Mimi twists, sending Hana a glare. Then she faces her desk again, grumbling under her breath, “ Hyeyeon. Mina. everyone. this dorm room. whoever invented locks. whoever invented locks that can only be locked from outside. whoever invented outside and inside. whoever was born with the artistic ability I wasn’t born with because that is so ing unfa-”

“Are you done yet?”

She faces the two again, glaring. “Can you say that in a more polite way?” She mocks, “No? Then no.”

“What is your problem?” Hana asks, voice raising. She sits up straighter, leaning towards Mimi’s bed. “Why are you much more annoying today than other days?”

Nayoung grabs her clenched fists and massages them, relaxing the leader.

Mimi’s gaze land on them, and her pupils shake as she returns her gaze to Hana. “Why do you care?”

“Obviously because whatever is bothering you is now bothering me too through you and your asstwat personality.”

“I’m so sorry then. I’m so sorry I have an asstwat personality and Kim Nayoung doesn’t!”

Sejeong has never seen Nayoung drop something so fast. Hana’s hands lay limply on the mattress, the owner’s glare softening at the sudden change of tone from Mimi.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Mimi grumbles, going back to doodling harshly on her notebook.

This is the most fun Sejeong’s had in a while - watching this soap opera-esque drama between her members. If only she wasn’t part of it.

She lays on her back, staring at her ceiling and trusting her ears to do their job for her. She hears the leader scoff. “Are you jealous?”

“No.”

“You’re jealous.”

“I’m not.”

Another scoff, and some shuffling from Nayoung’s bed. “Nayoung, she’s jealous isn’t she?”

“Don’t drag me in.”

“Don’t drag me in.” Mimi mocks.

“Real mature.”

“Real mature.”

“Can you please make her stop?” Sejeong figures Nayoung’s talking to Hana.

“Can you please make her stop?” And that Mimi’s still being an immature little .

“I love Hana.”

“I love Ha- you what?”

Sejeong peeks through the side of her bed and finds Mimi staring at Nayoung with a dropped jaw and wide eyes.

“I love Hana.” Ooh, that hurts. “In a completely platonic ‘I’d you if you weren’t the one my best friend’s so hopelessly in love with’ way.”

Sejeong frowns. That still hurts.

“You’d her?”

“If you weren’t so hopelessly in love with her.” Nayoung adds, nodding innocently as Hana chuckles beside her.

Mimi blinks. “I’m what?’’

“Dude, everyone and their mother knows you’re in love with her.”

“I’m your best friend?”

Sejeong throws her head back to her pillow, rolling her eyes.

“That’s what you got from that? Hana, go sit on her bed and talk this out. Maybe if you kiss Satan’s kids will finally let us out.”

Again, shuffling. And then someone plopping down on the bed underneath hers and- is that an infinite amount of fear she sniffs from the air?

She closes her eyes and tries to lull herself to sleep by thinking of their CEO’s nagging voice. However, she can’t. Because her CEO’s nagging voice is high and pitchy and most probably deadly. And also, someone’s poking at the top of her head. Guess who.

“What?”

“I’m sorry.”

Abruptly, she opens her eyes, and she’s blinded by the light overhead. She flips herself and lays on her stomach, eyes squinting at the girl also on her stomach on Hana’s bed. “For what?”

“I think I hurt you when I walked out a while ago?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be mad at me though?”

Nayoung shrugs. “Supposed to? Kinda. But no.”

“Because I’m not your first kiss anyway?”

Her eyes widen comically, and Sejeong would’ve laughed if it were any other day without accidental kisses. “Who told you?”

“Soyee.”

“That girl never cares what her actions may bring. I hate her. I can’t believe she told you about my kiss with Hana.”

“With Hana?”

“What?” They hear the said leader call out from under. “With me what?”

Mimi’s head pokes out her bed space. “Probably about your kiss with Nayoung.”

“You know about this?” Sejeong mutters harshly to her, betrayed.

“Yep.” And then she’s back out of Sejeong’s sight.

“Your first kiss was Hana?”

“Soyee didn’t tell you?”

“All she told me is that you had your first kiss.”

“It was a dare. We were drinking that one time you were out on a schedule and Mina and Hyeyeon were already sleeping upstairs. Xiening, that little , thought it was a genius idea to dare me to kiss Hana so Mimi can get really jealous and confess with drunk slurs.”

“That obviously didn’t work.”

“Yeah, obviously. Mimi only pestered me the whole night. She even poured soju down my shirt and claimed she heard someone dare her to do it.”

Sejeong nods. That seems like Mimi alright. “So… I’m your second kiss?”

“Well…” Nayoung frowns. “There was that one time with Soyee.”

“What?”

“Mimi’s payback for what Xiening did. Xiening confessed there and then though, courageous little Chinese, that one.”

“Why is it always you?”

“Haebin’s too hetero.”

Sejeong sighs. “Third then?”

“Well-”

“ing hell. Did you kiss Haebin too?”

A huge smile appears on Nayoung’s face. “Nope. As I said, she’s too hetero. Why does it matter so much whether you’re my first, second, or third kiss?”

“It doesn’t. So, who was your third?”

“You. And it was the worst one yet.”

She glares, offended, then throws a pillow to Nayoung’s face before lying back down on her bed in her sleeping position.

“Can you blame me? Hana and Soyee are pretty great kissers. And yours was just a peck.”

Is this really the girl she was so fond of teasing? What the hell happened to the extremely easily flustered Nayoung she liked making fun of? How come she’s so confident now?”

“Want to try one that’s more than just a peck?”

This is definitely not Nayoung. She stays frozen, feigning sleep. But her heart’s beating too fast and she thinks that maybe Nayoung can hear it too.

“I mean, if that’s okay with you. Judging from how annoyed you were a while ago towards Hana and me, I think you’re in love with me. And, of course, that thing you pulled this morning. Thank you, by the way, I was just gathering the courage to plant one your lips but then you got ahead of me and did it.”

She turns in one quick motion, facing Nayoung again. “Where the do you get your confidence from?”

Nayoung grins at her and Sejeong’s scowl tries to fight its way out her face, giving space for the smile stubbornly trying to replace it. “You’ll be my first kiss then. My first real kiss. One which I’m not forced to do. One which I’m not clueless about.”

Sejeong glares at her hard, annoyed at how much this is making her happy despite how much it’s clearly making Sejeong frustrated. She glares at this inconsiderate, thoughtless, unmindful .

And the next thing she knows, her lips are on her lips and they’re leaning towards each other over the separation of Sejeong’s and Hana’s beds and her lips are surprisingly still minty and her hand is on her cheek, pulling them closer to her face. And her tongue’s beginning to do their magic on her, melting everything inside her.

“Get a room.”

And of course Mimi’s being an again, Hana grinning beside her.

Nayoung pulls away, grinning too. She throws Mimi a dismissive look. “We already did. The upper bunks. You two go back to your lower bunks room and make out.”

Mimi returns the eating grin. “Do we tell the other members we’ve all reconciled?”

Hana shrugs. “I think I like Nayoung’s idea better.”

“Of course you like Nayoung’s idea better.” Mimi grumbles, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. “It’s always-”

‘Shut up.” Hana murmurs, pulling Mimi back to her bed with that vacant but lustful look on her face.

Mimi raises her eyebrows at Nayoung, grinning, before disappearing too.

Nayoung looks back at Sejeong, eyes smiling. “So, where were we?”

Sejeong smiles, eyes on Nayoung’s lips. “I think our tongues were having their first date.”