Wonyoung wakes up to quiet sniffling in a dimly-lit room. Confused, she sits up, trying to discern the source of the sound. She leans over the railing of her bed, checking on the girl on the bottom bunk of their bed. It's empty. Wonyoung quickly checks the time: 8 in the morning. That makes sense then, she thinks, Sakura must be having breakfast with Chaeyeon outside. The bed across from Sakura's is usually inhabited by a sleeping Yuri, but Wonyoung recalls that Yuri snuck off last night to, in Yuri's words, "hang out" with Yena in the other dorm, although Wonyoung knows exactly what she means by "hanging out". Thank goodness they've decided to spend their couple time in the other dorm; Wonyoung has lost count of how many times she's walked into the sickly-sweet couple making out, or even worse, cuddling while saying stupidly cheesy things to each other, lost in their own world.

Wonyoung shivers at the memory.

That leaves the girl across from her: all-time small bean, Yabuki Nako. Where the girl should be Wonyoung only sees a blanket burrito. No, she thinks, burritos are long -- this is round and tiny. This is a blanket dumpling if she's ever seen one. Wonyoung watches as the figure hidden under the blanket shifts around, pausing only to throw out a crumpled tissue.

"Nako?" Wonyoung tries. The blanketed figure freezes. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," the girl squeaks out. She must be trying really hard not to show she's been crying, Wonyoung realises. She doesn't usually do this, not even when Chaeyeon or Eunbi come to rouse her for school, but sometimes, some people were worth getting out of a warm bed for. She climbs out, and stretching her long legs, easily steps over to the ladder on the other bed. Clinging onto Nako's bed, she pokes the blanket. It squirms away from her.

"Nako, what's wrong?" Wonyoung asks. She tries to tug the blanket away from Nako, but the smaller girl has a death grip, refusing to let anyone look at her.

"Nothing," Nako replies, sniffling. "Go away, Wonyo."

Wonyoung draws her face into a pout. "If you're not going to tell me, I'm going to tell everyone else that you're crying."

She counts down from ten as Nako contemplates the mortification that would follow such an event. At five, Nako's head pokes out. Wonyoung can feel her heart tremble at the sight of red-rimmed, teary eyes and messy bed hair. Reaching out, she wipes away the tear rolling down Nako's cheek. "Do you want me to get you more tissues?"

Nako nods. Wonyoung jumps down and grabs their box of tissue from the dresser, then leaves it on Nako's bed. "Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

Nako sighs, rubbing her eyes. "It's nothing. Just me being silly, really."

Wonyoung crosses her arms and looks up at Nako. "I'll be the judge of that."

Nako sighs again. "Have you seen the news?"

"Um." Wonyoung scratches her head. "I just woke up, so... nope."

"Then-"

"Nako!" A giant ball of energy bursts through their door and beelines for Nako's bed. Wonyoung immediately moves to block her best friend from attacking her roommate. "Have you seen the news?" Yujin pants as she attempts to climb over Wonyoung.

Nako goes back to hiding under her blanket. Wonyoung shoots Yujin a dirty look. You life-ruiner, the look says. Yujin quickly adapts her apologetic puppy face. "She has, but I haven't. What's up?"

Yujin whips out her phone and shoves it into Wonyoung's face. Wonyoung scans the headline of the top news article. "Twice's Jihyo and Kang Daniel are dating, have been meeting since early this year."

Oh.

She exchanges glances with Yujin; they are both feeling a mixture of pity and bemusement. Communicating with their eyes, they both try to figure out how to broach this subject. 

You go first, Yujin's gaze says.

You're older. You go first, Wonyoung's eyes say in retaliation.

A staring battle ensues until the bedroom door bursts open yet again. "Nako!" Yena's overly-cheerful voice chirps as she caroms in. Both young giants turn to glare at the intruder.

"Read the room, Yena," Wonyoung snaps.

"Get out, Yena," Yujin orders.

"Oh, Yena." Yuri grabs her girlfriend by the wrist and pulls her out before any damage can be done.

Once they're in the clear, Yujin turns back to the older girl still in hiding. "She's gone, Nako, you can come out now." Wonyoung pulls a face at the uncharacteristically gentle voice that Yujin is using. Her expression turns into a sulk when Nako allows Yujin to pull the covers off her. Not fair.

"Do you want a hug?" Wonyoung offers before Yujin could jump in. Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, Nako nods timidly. Wonyoung leaps into Nako's bed and wraps her arms around the small girl, holding her tightly as they sway together. Over Nako's head, Wonyoung throws a triumphant smile at Yujin.

"Excuse you, pups are better during sad times," Yujin insists, clambering into the bed as well and snuggling up to Nako. She lays her head on Nako's lap, staring up at Nako's face with eyes as wide as she can make them and her most disarming smile. It works like a charm; Nako pats Yujin's head before leaning down to give her a quick peck on her forehead.

"Gross," Wonyoung whines. Nako turns to kiss the youngest on her cheek. Wonyoung breaks into the biggest, silliest grin she's ever had on her face.

"Hypocrite," Yujin mumbles. Wonyoung slaps her on the shoulder as light pink dusts her cheeks. Nako giggles at their antics, and they turn to focus on her.

"Feeling better?" they ask simultaneously.

Nako nods. "All thanks to you two."

"Nako." Yujin rolls around onto her stomach and takes one of Nako's hands in hers. She looks at Nako dead in the eye, trying to be as serious as she possibly can. "I know Wonyo and I are still young, and we aren't anything like the one and only God Jihyo."

Wonyoung knows where Yujin is headed, and holds Nako's other hand in hers too. "But we could try to be, for you. Because we love you."

Fighting back a shy grin, Nako glances down at their intertwined hands. Both Wonyoung's and Yujin's hands are much bigger than Nako's, befitting of their size difference. She can't help but feel bad at how she, the oldest one among the three of them, seems to always be taken care of by the two youngest members of their team, knowing full well that it really should be the other way round. She feels guilt, but also gratitude; and above all, an overwhelming feeling of love for her two giants.

"Hm?" Yujin reaches up to wipe away at Nako's tears. "You're crying again. Did we do something wrong?"

"No, not at all." Nako gives them a brilliant smile. "I just can't believe that I have people as amazing and beautiful as the both of you in my life. You two don't need to change. I love you two just the way you are."

Wonyoung can feel tears welling up in her eyes at Nako's words. She quickly looks away so no one can catch her watery eyes. Yujin points at her, laughing. "Are you crying?" she teases through her own tears.

"Shut up, loser! You're crying too!" Wonyoung smacks Yujin's accusing finger away, and the two of them start to wrestle. Everything's just so silly, Nako thinks -- her unnecessary crying over her idol dating, and now these two were fake fighting because of her -- everything's so silly, and yet just right.

Peals of laughter echo throughout the room. Wonyoung and Yujin brighten up at the sound of Nako's lighthearted laugh, the very same one that they fell in love with all the way since filming Produce. Grinning, they disengage from each other and tackle her back down onto the mattress. They curl up so Nako fits perfectly between them, breathing heavily as they laugh, laughs that dissolve into slow, quiet breaths as they fall asleep.

Eunbi checks on them a while later to wake them up for their schedule. She smiles at the way their legs are tangled together, and notes that Yujin and Wonyoung have fallen asleep with each of them holding one of Nako's hands. Even noisy devils can turn into peaceful angels when left alone with someone they love, she thinks.

Leaving the room, she shakes her head at an expectant Chaeyeon. "Let's leave them to sleep for just a while longer, shall we?"