Move in day is finally upon four young girls.

As Seungwan makes her way down familar trainee hallways towards a familiar room, she starts to think back to the week that had just passed.

--

 “Unnie, you can go to her,” Yerim says casually as she plops down onto the bed next to her, the third one vacant for the moment.

Seungwan lifted her focus from her phone to the younger girl, appalled. “Yerim I wouldn't do that! It's one of our last nights in this room together,” she argues, but Yerim just smiles knowingly.

“Unnie, we can be roommates again in just seven months for probably years to come if you want to that badly, and I'm sure I'll be over your dorm all the time. It's okay. Go to Joohyun unnie, I can't help you with the worries you have right now, but she can.”

As Seungwan hugged her goodbye for the night, Yerim leaves her with some parting words.

“I may be a kid, but I'm not blind unnie.” Seungwan can't even begin to imagine what it is the young girl could be conjuring up in her cute little head as she walked down the hall, pondering Yerim's words. She decides that she must be having too much fun with Sooyoung and their fun game of fantasies.

--

As she opens the door, for what she wistfully thinks will probably be the last time as a roommate, she finds Sooyoung packing up her last few things, with Yerim laughing loudly on her bed, her belongings still surrounding her like everyday.  Her own stuff was already at the new dorm (or room, she should say), having been taking taken over by their new managers. She sat down on the youngers bed and watched the two for a moment, before Yerim turned to her and jokingly rolled her eyes. "Unnie, don't look so down," she joked, bumping her shoulder with Seungwan's, and the other two in the room chucked. Looking around the room, Seungwan let out a small sigh.

"Won't you be a little lonely for a couple months? I know I would be. It's not too late to get a roommate you kn-"

"No!" Yerim cut her off, jumping onto her knees with wide eyes, making the bed shake in response. "You don't think I'll love being by myself for a couple months, after rooming with you two for over a year? And having to live with all four of you for years and years? I will take this peace and quiet unnie, thank you," she said dramatically, flopping backwards onto the bed. 

From the other side of the room, Sooyoung let out a barking laugh as she finished closing the last zipper.

"Yerim, you were most of the reason there was no peace and quiet."

Yerim just shrugged, before pushing herself onto her elbows, looking at the two girls in front of her.

"I will miss you guys for a couple months," she admitted finally, her voice a little low.

Seungwan and Sooyoung appropriately began to attack Yerim with hugs and kisses, making her groan and take back her statements.

The three enjoy their finale few minuets with each other, before the older two are summoned to come to the van, where Seulgi and Joohyun were already waiting. With final goodbyes, Seungwan helped Sooyoung carry her stuff down, Yerim saying she's said enough tearful goodbyes', and that she'll come visit that weekend.

When they finally reach the black van, already loaded with Seulgi and Joohyun's stuff, she catches sight of the older girls chatting through the window of the van. She tries not to be overly emotional, was always told that was a weak point in her personality, but she felt excitment begin to bubble inside her as she walked further from the trainee dorms.

 The driver steps out and takes Sooyoung's stuff from her, directing her to the van door after exchanging bows. Sooyoung climbs in first, and when Seungwan follows she finds herself tripping over her own feet a little.

"Ah Seungwan-ah, are you falling for me?" Joohyun asks in with a silly giggle, matching Seulgi's. Seungwan feels warmth spread to her cheeks as she opens and closes , trying to find the words to say how ridiculous tha is.

"Yah, unnie," she finally says with a whine, huffing as she climbs into the seat next to Joohyun, with Sooyoung and Seulgi in the back. 

"I can't believe I have to share a room with the both of you," Sooyoung groans as her head falls agaisnt the headrest.

Turning around in the bench seating, Seungwan glares at Sooyoung. "You have to share a room with Seulgi too!" she argues.

Sooyoung frowns back at her for a moment and goes to open , but then their driver steps in and they all snap their attention forwards at Joohyun's quick command.

As they all guessed, Joohyun was appointed their leader. Bae Joohyun, leader of Red Velvet. Or, Irene, Seungwan reminds herself. Irene, leader of Red Velvet.

//

"Easy, I'll just be Wendy," Seungwans says easily, relaxing into the booth at the SM Cafe.

Joohyun huffs, "Well of course its easy for you, you had an English name when you lived in Canada," she pouted at her, setting her drink down with slight frustration.

"I'm gonna be Joy," Sooyoung says after only a moment of silence.

There was a chorus of "That's perfect for you Sooyoung," and "Aww"'s from the others, and even though Joohyun agreed that it fit her well, she was still annoyed that she was yet to find the perfect name for herself.

Sooyoung looked at Joohyun and seemed to sense this, because she stuck her tongue out at her.

'Whatever, Seulgi, Yerim, and I are still figuring it out," she says indigently, but Yerim quickly speaks up.

"I'm just going with Yeri, short and sweet," she says, taking a sip of her smoothie.

"Aw, just like you," Sooyoung smiles.

The two bicker for a moment, before Seulgi sheepishly turns to Joohyun.

"And actually unnie, I've spoken with the managers on just keeping Seulgi for my name. They offered me the name Rowoon because they said Seulgi might be a little hard for international fans, but I don't want to change mine," she explains, with an apolgetic tone in her voice. Joohyun lets out a huff, scooting further into the booth and glaring down at her drink like she was waiting for it to come alive and give her an answer.

The girls throw out names, trying to help her. Grace. Rose. Vannah. Joo Joo. She glares at Yerim for that one.

Every offer has her shaking her head. She knows if she wanted to keep Joohyun they would probably let her. Its not hard to pronounce, and easy to remember. But Joohyun decided long ago that she wanted to use being an idol as a chance to show a different side of her, a side less shy and quiet, and she wanted a new name to go with it.

The sound of a text from one of their phones finally brings them to notice the time, and they decide they should head back to their rooms.

"You guys go ahead," Joohyun starts with a sigh, "I'm going to clean up our stuff and think a little more," she says as the rest begin to stand up. They all give her a hug goodnight, and Seulgi tells her not to come back too late, which she agrees to.

As they all start walking away, she begins to gather their almost empty cups together, taking the napkins and wiping off the table, lost in thought.

"Unnie?" 

She looks up instantly at the sound of Seungwan's voice, who was sitting across from her now. She notices the other three in the distance, heading up the elevators and laughing. Before she could say anything or tell her to go get sleep, Seungwan is talking.

"You know what was one of my favorite things to learn about in school?" she asked.

Joohyun really has no idea where this is going or why Seungwan is bringing it up, but the sound of the youngers voice has always made her feel a little calmer, so she shakes her head, waiting for her to continue.

"Greek mythology," she says, with a pretty smile on her lips. "I was always fascinated by the stories of the legends, I would stay up at night reading books about it. And there was this one goddess, the goddess of peace, who I enjoyed reading about so much that I even found a way to write about her for my finale paper in Social Studies," she says with a laugh. Joohyuns laughs too, still totally unaware of where this is going, but still not caring. "The goddess of peace, her name was Irene," she finally finishes, and it clicks in Joohyun's head. Joohyun is quiet for a moment, when Seungwan picks up her ringing phone.

"Yes Sooyoung I'm coming back, calm down. Yeah, I'm with unnie," she pauses, listening. "Okay okay, bye," she says, setting the phone down on the table and looking back at Joohyun.

"Thank you Seungwan-ah," Joohyun says quietly, and Seungwan smiles that pretty smiles and gives her another hug before going to bed.

The next day, at the meeting with the managers, Joohyun announces she will go by Irene. Three of her other members murmur to themselves about how pretty the name, how it fits her, and the fourth member just quietly meets her eyes, matching the smile on her face.

//

When the van slows to a stop in front of a building not too far from the SM company building, the four girls are jittery with excitement. 

They file out of the van quickly, all repeatedly bowing and thanking the driver, before pulling their suitcases and backpacks through the door, and up the elevators that they will soon become familiar with taking. Seungwan follows the others out of the doors when it reaches their floor, her eyes looking at every little thing they can. Not that there's all that much to look at, but she takes everything in regardless. She's a little busy wondering to herself what the inside will look like, when she suddenly bumps into Seulgi's back, who;s obviously stopoped in front of their door, and she just giggles and grabs Seungwan's hand. Joohyun has the key for the new place, and Seungwan holds her breath as she unlocks it. She tries not to be too much of a sentimental person, but she knows this will be a moment she remembers forever.

The maroon door swings open, and the light switch is flicked on by Joohyun, making the area visisble to them.

Right in front of them is a small couch with a television placed in front of them, to the right is a bar counter with a simple kitchen behind it, and there's two closed doors on the furthest wall, one being a bathroom, and the other is one bedroom with two sets of bunks inside. They knew it wouldn't be much, and they were all too excited at the thought of having their own group dorm to care what it looked like. They choose beds oldest to youngest, and Joohyun instantly picks the lower bunk on the left, saying she will never sleep six feet off the ground. Then Seulgi chooses the upper bunk of the opposing bed, because she wants to give Joohyun a break from her snoring, even if that break is just five feet further away. Seungwan sees Sooyoung keep looking at the upper bunk above Joohyun, so she chooses the bed below Seulgi, and just like that they're all settled in.

That evening, Sooyoung declares they should have a movie night to break in the new place, but since they don't have any sort of streaming service they just settle for the first movie thats somewhere near the beginning. 

"We need to grocery shop tomorrow," Joohyun says with a laugh as they order dinner from the takeout place that sits a couple doors down from their apartment complex.

The couch is really only made for three people, but the four of them still squish into it. Seungwan on the far left, then Joohyun, Seulgi, and Sooyung. They pass around the food that they decide tastes pretty good, and follow along with the cheesy romance movie that plays in front of them.

At least Seungwan tries to follow along. She really does. But her brain drifts and drifts, too distracted. She tries to lie to herself, saying that she can't understand some parts of the movie, but she understands every word. She knows whats really got her mind floating off to places shes always stayed away from.

See, Seungwan has known for a long time that she is gay. She never found herself daydreaming about guys, never put up posters of famous male idols on her bedroom, and when her friends in Canada were squealing over their first kiss with a boy, she was left feeling like something was a little wrong with her. Then for Christmas her older sister gave her the Sims game for her computer, she learned how to make two girls kiss, and the rest sort of fell into place. She almost instantly told her older sister, who was completely supportive, and two years later she tearfully came out to her parents, who hugged her and gave her nothing but love in return. She eagerly wanted to tell people in her school, wanted to date girls and catch up on all she missed out on, and maybe join some clubs or something, who knows. But then the international SM audition came around, she was accepted in, shipped off to Korea, and thrown back into the closet. Sure, she was a little disappointed, but she knew it wouldn't really matter anyway. She had a lot to catch up on compared to these girls that had been there for years, and yeah, there were some really pretty girls, but like she said, she had a lot to focus on, so it was easy to forget. When her members talked about boys, she never had any stories to share, but she knew too well how to sound like her interest in boys was genuine. She knew she would have to tell them someday, and she sort of felt like she was burrowing herself deeper and deeper into a little lie, but it never felt like the right time. It still never seemed important enough. There wasn't a girl that had given her those feelings that she wanted to share with her members.

Until this exact moment on the couch, and Seungwan could almost laugh at the situation.

She always found Joohyun pretty. Who didn't? She also found Seulgi pretty, and Sooyoung, and even young Yerim, and tons of girls. Never meant anything more.

And Joohyun always calmed her worries, made her feel safe and like everything would be okay. But the others did too. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

And well, maybe Seungwan has never found herself quite in this position she did right now, with her body squished tightly against Joohyun's. And well, maybe she never would have realized, if she never found herself in this position. Maybe it could have been avoided for much longer, something to worry about when they weren't about to be a new group, judged by millions of people. At a time when she had less to worry about. But that's not what happened. It happened right here, right now, with the whole right side of her body feeling like it was on fire and thoughts of how soft Joohyun's skin is and how unfairly gorgeous she is and what a kind heart she has and-

She can do nothing but accept it. And keep it from Joohyun.

Seungwan is the first to retire to her new bed, faking a yawn and telling them goodnight. She hugs each of them, admittedly rushing through Joohyun's hug just a tad, and heads off to her bed. She is only laying in her bunk for what she thinks of five minuets (its been a half an hour), staring at the ceiling, when Seulgi comes in.

"Wan-ah? What are you still doing up?" 

"Seulgi how do you feel about gay people?"

The question comes out too quickly, stumbling over her words. She didn't mean to blurt it out. But its out.

Seulgi stands still in her steps for a moment, turning her head from the phone in her hands to her best friend, before tossing it into the upper bunk and climbing into the lower one. The bed is too small to sit up in, so Seulgi settles next to her, laying down and facing the wooden slats above her, holding up the upper bunk. The silence in her actions begins to freak Seungwan out, her brain eagerly supplying her reasons why, the fact that Seulgi must hate her now being the top competitor.

"I don't think anything different about them than I do about straight people," she says simply, her voice even, with no hint of a lie in it.

Seungwan hums. Seulgi stays quiet.

"Why do you ask?" Seulgi says carefully into the air. Testing the waters. She won't make Seungwan say something she doesn't want to.

Seungwan turns her head to face her best friend, Seulgi turns hers as well. 

"Oh you know, just curious," she answers quietly, with a smile. She doesn't have to say it. Seulgi knows. Seulgi won't make her say it.

"I love you Seungwannie," Seulgi says, sweetly cuddling close to her friends side, making her laugh for the first time in a couple hours.

"I love you too Seulgi. Thank you."