Irene was afraid of many things.

She had an irrational fear towards fluffy animals that rush at her when they saw her and she reacted (way too) strongly towards loud noises and jerky movements, often jumping about a foot into the air, heart racing and eyes widened at the offending person or item. In fact, the amount of things that didn’t scare her was probably a lot shorter than the list that did and this made her life very difficult in a dorm where Satan and its spawn currently resided.

She eyed said Satan in distrust as Joy continued to giggle while clambering down the ladder (which they did not own, where did she get that?), the younger girl’s eyes shining with mirth and playfulness. Spotting Irene, the girl hopped towards the leader with an excitement not seen before and Irene shrank back slightly, a sudden sense of foreboding running down her spine.

It turned out that her premonition was right when Joy smacked her cheeks with her lips, Irene clasping at her face with wide eyes, Joy still giggling like a loon.

“W-what- What was that?!”

Joy’s smirk widened.

“A kiss, unnie.”

Rolling her eyes heavenward, Irene answered exasperatedly, rubbing at her cheek furiously to get the Satan spit off.

“I know- What I meant was, why in the world did you just kiss me?”

Joy’s eyes narrowed and she pointed upwards, Irene following the gesture and groaning loudly when she saw the red object hanging from their ceiling.

(This was what the ladder was for?!)

“Mistletoe, really, SooYoung? What are we? Twelve?”

Joy shrugged, turning around and almost slapping Irene in the face with her hair.

“Get into the Christmas spirit, unnie!”

Mumbling under her breath about stuffing the Christmas spirit down Joy’s throat like a turkey, Irene went to get the ladder, ignoring her irrational fear of heights to remove the mistletoe.

Falling from a ladder was nothing compared to how the rest of the members would be reacting towards the mistletoe.

(With her tendency to daydream, she would be the victim of all mistletoe happenings in the dorm.)

*

It wasn’t as though she had anything against mistletoe.

She just really disliked what it represented.

And it wasn’t as though her dislike was irrational either.

She remembered distinctly how the boys in her school had found out about this ancient “American” tradition to take advantage of her obliviousness to sneak kisses from her. If it weren’t for her friends, Irene probably would’ve lost her first kisses to a bunch of random, teenagers who hung mistletoe all over the classroom and over their heads.

And when Wendy suddenly kissed her on the lips just as she exited the bathroom, she suddenly found more reasons to dislike (like?)  the mistletoe.

The younger brunette grinned and pointed towards the partition, Irene looking up and scowling at the red object flittering slightly in the wind.

“Mistletoe, unnie!”

Irene stood there flabbergasted, one hand over and the other limp against her side as Wendy giggled and flitted past her easily, the door to the bathroom closing with a soft click. Shaking her head, she made her way back to her room and went under her covers, aware that her neck and ears were burning like an inferno.

She stayed there until Seulgi called her for dinner, still dazed, still replaying how soft Wendy’s lips were against hers.

*

The thing was that Bae JooHyun might have a slight crush on Son SeungWan.

(The thing was that Bae JooHyun did not know that the entire world knew about her crush on Son SeungWan but that’s beside the point.)

So when Son SeungWan kissed her the second time, hours after the first kiss and just before bedtime, Bae JooHyun could feel her brain short circuiting, her face flushing as Wendy’s fingers slid away from her chin slowly, the younger girl grinning at her. Wendy bit her lip and shrugged one shoulder up, her eyes roaming Irene’s face as she pointed up towards the ceiling, Irene knowing instinctively that there was another mistletoe there without even looking up. She swallowed with difficulty and nodded, her hands in tight fists by her side.

(Lest she do something stupid like grab Wendy’s collar and shove her tongue down the brunette’s throat.)

There was a twinkle in her group mate’s eyes that Irene did not really understand but that went away as quickly when Wendy looked over her shoulder and exclaimed loudly.

“Oh hey, Seul!”

The mention of her best friend’s name had her bolting into the room, not wanting to find out if Seulgi was also participating in this ridiculous thing that Joy had started, the older girl diving into her bed and burying her face into her pillow, her position just like how it was after the first kiss. Seulgi and Wendy’s laughters were loud, the both of them coming into the room and shutting the door.

Irene had to endure the giggles throughout the night.

*

Their third kiss, if Irene didn't imagine it, happened just as she was stumbling into the kitchen with her eyes half closed and her fingers reaching out to the refrigerator. Wendy stepped in front of her, one hand giving her the glass of juice she had every morning to replace the coffee everyone in the house had already taken to sipping like a lifeline and the other cupping her neck firmly, Irene’s lower lip into it. Irene had taken three seconds to respond, her eyes snapping open when Wendy it firmly before releasing her, the younger girl grinning.

Yeri coughed pointedly but there was a huge smirk on her face, the younger girl resting her chin on her palm and shaking her head.

“Unnie, you should really pay attention to your surroundings.”

Irene held onto her glass of juice blankly and looked around, spying the mistletoe just at the refrigerator’s corner, diagonally above her head. She coughed and glared at both Wendy and Yeri, the two brunettes smiling widely at her. Taking a huge gulp of her juice, Irene slid past Wendy and sniffed, pressing the cold glass against her heated face.

(God damn it, Joy.)

A hand grabbed her wrist and she whipped around, opening to reprimand whoever it was that was manhandling her when she got another mouthful of SeungWan, Wendy cupping her face gently and kissing her slowly, her grip on the cup tightening as Wendy pulled away with soft pecks, the brunette’s eyes smiling like the stars.

“Really, you should pay attention, unnie.”

Confused, she looked towards Yeri who looked like she was about to squeal, the youngest pointing to a random corner of the kitchen.

Irene looked up and tossed her hands into the air, the juice in the glass shaking precariously.

“Seriously! Are they everywhere?!”

Loud laughter came from the bedroom, Joy cackling away without even making an appearance and Irene dumped the rest of the contents in the glass into the sink, shooting Yeri a glare before stomping out of the kitchen.

(She missed the glance exchanged between Wendy and Yeri, not noticing the same red painting Wendy’s neck.)

She’d have to look for that ladder that Joy had mysteriously vanished into thin air to take all the mistletoe down.

This had to stop before things escalated further.

(She ignored her shaking hands and flushed body, arousal pooling at the base of her stomach and the image of Wendy’s hair fanned out against her bed, lips swollen from kisses she could never give.)

*

Unfortunately for Irene, she could not find the ladder.

And without that, she could not reach most of the red objects as Joy made sure to put them in tough to reach places, even for the taller girl herself.

And because Irene was oblivious most of the time, she often walked right into it, her neck intimately familiar with the way Wendy’s fingers would curl into it just before their lips molded together. She knew how Wendy’s body would mold into hers, the younger girl stepping up her game and pushing Irene up against any flat surface nearby and holding her in place. She knew the taste on Wendy’s tongue, the little gasp right before she pulled away and how her lips would linger just so after the kiss.

She knew all these after kiss number seventeen, right outside Joy and Yeri’s bedroom door, Wendy’s right arm bracketing her against the wall and her left palm warm against her neck.

But she still didn’t know why Wendy kept playing along with this.

(Nor does she understand the light in Wendy’s eyes after their kisses.)

*

By kiss twenty-five, JooHyun had all but given up resisting, practically making out with SeungWan under the mistletoe until someone disturbed them.

Joy, Yeri and Seulgi would giv