Joy is bored. Oh so incredibly bored. 

It’s absolutely dreadful. She doesn’t know what to do with herself. Part of her says she should go to the mall and do some shopping, but that required preparation and she didn’t really feel like putting in the effort into looking presentable to the public. That and the fact that even if she did somehow manage to summon the energy needed to dress appropriately for a shopping spree, there was no doubt that her presence alone would attract a LOT of attention and, maybe, cause half of the mall to shut down.

All in all, the whole thing sounded like a pain so she scraps that idea and sighs while staring blankly at the wall in front of her, as if doing so would miraculously create a solution to her problem.

Spoiler alert: it didn't. 

What do I do now?

Joy wracks her brain for more ideas. She could catch a plane and take a spontaneous trip somewhere far away, but she has multiple schedules lined up for tomorrow and there’s no way she could bail on them (even if she really didn’t feel like going.) Not showing up to a photo shoot, interview, and the like wouldn’t do her, nor Red Velvet as a whole, any favors in long run. They were professionals and were expected to act as such.

Plus she likes getting paid. It never hurt to have more money in her bank account.

Joy makes a mental note to schedule a trip outside the country the next time she has a rest period. Maybe go back to the states and visit multiple cities from coast to coast. She’s been to Los Angeles countless times, sure, but after reading an article on it, she felt the urge to go back and explore some more.

But she wouldn’t want to go alone. No. While there was a certain appeal to traveling alone, it just wasn’t the same as sharing the experience with someone close to you along the way.

She wonders if her partner-in-crime would be interested in going with her. Yeri had been mentioning about wanting to go back to the happiest place on earth again. Maybe they could travel to all the different Disney parks around the world and eat all the overpriced tasty treats each one had to offer together?

Privately.

No cameras. No paparazzi. Just the two of them, free to do whatever they wanted. It would be a chance for them to be themselves and take a break from the hustle and bustle of idol life. A chance to be just Sooyoung and Yerim. Two girls with big dreams and, thanks to years of their blood, sweat, and numerous tears, were finally able to make their dreams come true.

The possibilities were endless.

Speaking of the little devil, Joy wonders what she’s doing. Maybe Yeri was just as, if not more, bored and needed a breath of fresh air. And by a "breath of fresh air" she means gracing the other girl with her presence and bringing some much needed joy into her life.

Joy decides she might as well visit her fellow Satan and see what sorts of mischief she was up to. Maybe even save the maknae from suffering from her own battle with boredom. It's the least she could do as Yeri's bestest best friend in the whole wide world. 

It doesn’t take long for her to reach the younger girl’s room; their rooms were literally right next to each other after all. But while Joy’s door was blank as the day they first moved in, Yeri’s door was vibrantly decorated with numerous pictures of Ariana Grande and unicorn stickers of various sizes.

There hanging in the middle of the door, written in bold black letters is a yellow sign that said “KEEP OUT” and has a picture of an angry face emoji in all its terrifying cartoonish glory that glares down upon all who dare look at it. It even has a fist drawn; implying that whoever disregarded the warning would get punched (or worse.)

It's ironic honestly. For someone who wanted others to stay out of her room, she always barged into the other members’ rooms without invitation, sometimes loudly announcing her presence. Sometimes not. It depended on how she felt that day.

It also led to some encounters that sounded like something from a comedy.

Joy can't help but snort when she remembers the time Irene accidentally threw an iron at Yeri in surprise when the younger girl barged into the leader's room without any sort of warning. Thankfully the iron itself wasn't on, and Irene was apparently just looking at it since it was new and fresh out of the box, but to have one almost hit you in the face....must have been quite the experience.

Yeri stopped going into Irene’s room after that. Only Irene's.

She figures Yeri can’t get mad at her for doing something that she herself does regularly so she opens the door without hesitation, pushing it to the side with a bit too much strength than she originally intended, causing the door to hit the wall a bit too hard.

Yeri's head immediately snaps up from her laptop at the sound and she glares at the intruder. "Gee ever heard of a thing called knocking?" she asks with undisguised annoyance. From the looks of it, Yeri is in her multitasking mode with her laptop on her lap, and cell phone right next to her. 

But that’s not the main thing that immediately catches Joy’s attention. Nor is it the incredibly adorable pink Snoopy t-shirt she just so happened to be wearing or the matching red shorts that showed off a good amount of her legs. Those were just unexpected bonuses.

Yeri’s lips look....different. 

A good kind of different. It's not like they suddenly morphed into another shape overnight or disappeared altogether; they were still plump albeit considerably redder than usual. Even from where she's standing in the doorway, she can tell the difference in appearance.

And honestly Joy loves it. Yeri’s official color in Red Velvet may have been purple, but red suited her just as well.

If the former maknae was honest, she wouldn’t mind having some of that red on her own lips (and neck if she was lucky enough for such a thing to happen in her lifetime.)

She could already imagine it.

In fact, Joy has had plenty of dreams where similar things happened between them. The situation varied from dream to dream, but the most common one happened backstage at one of their performances where they were sore, sweaty, yet satisfied for giving yet another fantastic show to their fans. 

“You looked good out there,” Joy would say while wiping the sweat off her face with a wet towel. The towel itself would be cool to the touch, but it did nothing to extinguish the burning desire she felt for the other girl. “Too good.”

Yeri would look at her with a smug grin on her face that made Joy feel like giving into temptation. The younger girl somehow knew just how strongly her actions affected the other and made sure to kick it up a notch during certain moments during their performance just to see Joy squirm, trying to contain herself and remain professional on stage while all eyes of the public were on her, watching and scrutinizing every single move she made.

“Can’t help it. It just comes automatic~,” she’d respond with the right amount of sass while tapping the taller girl on the nose for no real reason other than to bug her. “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.”

“Shut up.”

Yeri would tilt her head to the side, eyes narrowing dangerously, challenging the other girl to do something about it. “Make me.”

Joy would push her up against the wall in their dressing room and—

”Why are you staring at me like that?” Yeri’s words knock Joy out of her momentary lapse into fantasyland and brings her back to the present. She should know better than to let something like that happen outside of the safe confines of her room, especially when said person she fantasized about just happened to be right in front of her. "I know I’m gorgeous and all, but it’s rude to stare you know." Yeri pauses before making a knocking motion with her free hand. "And barge into people’s rooms without knocking.”

Oh right. Joy ”forgot” to knock. That was the standard protocol one did before entering someone else's room.

One that she blatantly chose to ignore.

“But I missed you so, so much that I couldn't bear to be apart from you any longer!" she says while dramatically placing a hand on her chest and wiping away an imaginary tear. “It’s been years since we last saw each other, my dear Yerim!”

Actually the last time they saw each other couldn't have been more than a few hours ago, but "extra" was Joy's middle name. 

Yeri takes a moment to pause from typing on her laptop to visibly cringe at the overtly sweet words that spilled from the older girl's mouth. "Ew."

Joy ignores the insult, letting it roll off her and fade into the air, as she takes a seat next to the younger girl on the bed who immediately moves her phone so that it wouldn't get sat on. "Don't smash my phone with your giant please."

"Would you rather me sit on your lap instead? Because that can be arranged."

"My legs would cease to exist if you did that."

Joy snorts. "At least you'd be able to say it was all due to a stunning beauty like me." She makes herself more comfortable by leaning her head on Yeri’s shoulder for no real reason. Just because.

She smells sweet like cotton candy. It's not overwhelming like some scents were, but was subtle enough to pique her interest.

It's stupid and nonsensical, but the stray thought of biting Yeri on the shoulder to see if she tasted like cotton candy passes through her mind. But doing that would surely earn her a punch or two. That along with accusations of being some sort of zombie in disguise.

Yeri mentioned a few days ago that she wanted to try out a new type of body wash that smelled like the soft, fluffy treat. It seems like she decided to finally try it out sometime during the day.

"You smell good," she says, voice lower than usual. "Really good."

“Did you just come in here to smell me like some kind of ert?" asks Yeri who continues to type on her laptop, not sparing a glance at Joy. It looks like she's on some sort of news website, but there's English words everywhere so Joy can’t exactly tell what. Maybe Yeri was reading articles? She did love to read after all. Granted, sometimes she overdid it a little by reading too much until her eyes started hurting but she was a voracious reader by nature. 

"No."

"Then what are you doing?"

“Admiring your beauty,” she replies without missing a beat. She expects a playful punch or another cringe in response, but instead sees a small smile on the shorter girl’s face threatening to become bigger.

Yeri's fighting against the urge to smile more. Joy can tell. They've known each other for years after all. 

She’s definitely going to make sure that smile grows. 

"Nice lipstick you got there." She even runs a lone finger up the side of Yeri's face, stopping before reaching the other girls lips and poking the bottom lip gently. It's soft.

Joy wonders what they would feel like against her own lips. It was something she had thought about (even dreamt about) numerous times, but had yet to actually have a chance to do.

She half expects Yeri to swat her hand away or something to that effect, but instead earns a little laugh that makes her internally do a fist pump in the air at the accomplishment. “Thanks,” Yeri replies with a grin and points to her ruby red lips with a finger. They looked nice. Inviting. Kissable. But even without the lipstick Joy would still stare at them; at least this way she has a legitimate reason to look at them. “My favorite person made it.”

"Oh? Really?" Joy pretends to be shocked, even gives a surprised gasp to add some more authenticity to the act.

“Yeah. Do you know YR?” asks Yeri in the same tone she used when she asked a stranger if they knew Red Velvet while filming an episode on their reality show way back when.

Joy can't help but play along. “You mean THE YR? The famous singer, songwriter, trendsetter, gaming master, and part time model?”

The smile on Yeri’s face becomes even wider at the praise. ”Yeah her.” She takes a moment to look around, as if she was checking to see if the coast was clear. "Don't tell anyone but...." She leans closer to Joy and whispers into her ear, hot breath tickling her neck that makes her feel all warm and tingly. It felt so....intimate. “I heard she’s planning on becoming a YouTuber too.”

Obviously Joy knows Yeri was referring to herself. She didn't live under a rock. The younger girl landed a deal with a certain company and was able to release her own line of lipstick through them. It was a first for anyone in the group. They’ve endorsed beauty products, sure, but they didn’t get a chance to come up with their own colors of lipstick and got to name them; that was something Yeri managed to do on her own.

The maknae was always a go getter; fighting for her own opportunities instead of passively waiting for them to fall into her lap. 

It was inspiring, really. 

Whenever the day comes that Yeri decides to put the idol life behind her and move onto other endeavors, Joy has no doubt in her mind that she would be an amazing businesswoman. Maybe own her own line of cosmetics or other luxury goods someday. She certainly had the ambition for it; there was no doubt about that. The connections she’s bee