At the exact strike of 7am, a door slowly pushed its way open as a pair of blue fuzzy slippers shuffled out onto the corridor and headed to the kitchen. A monstrous yawn announced to the otherwise quiet dorm that Lee Yubin had officially awakened and had begun her first mission – secure breakfast and procure caffeine.

Yubin inhaled deeply, taking in the rich scent of the freshly brewed coffee as she reached for her mug and slowly poured the liquid into it slowly, savouring her morning ritual. She then blindly reached for the sugar bowl, successfully dumped two spoonfuls into her mug, and following a brisk stir, lifted the mug to her lips, almost dropping it on to the counter when Gahyeon and Siyeon came rushing into the kitchen from near the living room.

"Yoobs! Come quick!"

"Aish, Unnie!" Yubin cursed as the hot liquid sloshed over the rim of the mug and landed on her hand. "You know better than to sneak up on me, until I've had my first cup of coffee. My senses are not at full capacity."

Siyeon tried to look apologetic, it lasted all of 3 milliseconds as she shared a contrite look with Gahyeon (her sister from another mister) but her excitement simply wouldn't let her be and her signature smirk appeared.

“You got to see this, Yoobs. It’s a classic moment. And we need you to see it before JiU comes back and Dongie wakes up.”

“Unnie, do I really have to?” Dami really wanted to just enjoy coffee, grab a book and have a calm day.

Today was one of their rare days off for most of the members; the day before they had a schedule and after they all went for barbeque. Yubin was exhausted and opted to come home after with JiU and the two enjoyed a movie before getting an early night; their leader had an early morning schedule. Based on Gahyeon’s social media the rest went for drinks and karaoke until early. Yoohyeon oddly enough being the last to arrive home way after their leader had left for her morning plans.

"Sorry but hell yes!" Gahyeon started but quickly alluded to the reason why she'd raced into the room, “We wouldn’t normally harass you, but this is important! Very important. And we need a voice of reason for SuA unnie."

"For? What's so important that I can't have a cup of coffee first?" Yubin grumbled around the rim of her mug, ignoring the burning sensation around the base of her thumb in her quest to get her first taste of caffeine.

She closed her eyes and temporarily blocked out Gaheyon's next words (roughly registering their lead vocalists name) as she savoured the previous black elixir, but the moment she'd drunk her last sip, her brain came alive.

"What did you say?" asked Yubin as she placed her empty mug on the counter and turned her attention to her friend. Gahyeon gestured toward the door and repeated her news.

"Yoohyeon's passed out in the living room. And we need the most rational person to stop SuA unnie taking a picture that might make its way onto social media."

Yubin's eyes grew large. "What?" She quickly placed her mug back onto the side, “Why didn't you say something?" Dashing past her friend, she was out the door before Siyeon or Gahyeon could blink.

"I thought I had." Muttered Gahyeon, following on Yubin's heels. The three Lee’s arrived in the living room moments later, Siyeon and Gahyeon seconds behind Yoobs.

Yubin was greeted with SuA holding her cell-phone and posing with a peace sign next to a passed out Yoohyeon. SuA shook her head, clearly not liking the outcome of that photo and attempted another pose.

“Unnie! Really?”

Upon hearing Yubin’s voice, SuA lowered her phone and pouted.

“You got Dami? Guys, really? I wasn’t going to put it on SNS… just our groupchat. Yoobs, let me just get one good pic in, I swear it’ll be hilar -”

“Unnie.”

“Yoobs, just let me take one? Do it for the LOLs! Singnie? Gahyeonnie? It’d be funny right?”

Gahyeon just gave a shrug and Siyeon kicked at the floor, suddenly finding the laminate flooring the most interesting thing in the world.

“Unnie, jebal.”

SuA gave a sigh. She knew that Yubin’s tone said more than words would.

Yoohyeon obviously drank a little too much the night before and was worse for wear right now. If it was her in that situation, they wouldn’t let the others do it – no matter how funny it might be.

“Fine. Let it be known I was betrayed by my own girlfriend and daughter… Dead to me, Lee Siyeon. My bed is off-limits to you for a week!”

Siyeon’s eyes widened in shock and she rushed to her girlfriend, instantly using every tactic she knew to get into her good books.

Amidst all the noise and hubbub, Handong slowly walked from the bedrooms towards the living room and so far she had gone unnoticed.

Handong watched the scene with barely concealed amusement. She shared a look with Yubin before joining the rapper beside the lead vocalist.

“Yubin… what’s going on?”

“Don’t ask me. I just came for coffee and those three stooges grabbed me telling me Yooh was passed out.”

Handong nodded, understanding that Yubin would take the next steps to check on their group member currently out to the world. A second later, she decided to kneel beside Yubin, ready to help out in case they had to move or help Yooh.

"Yooh, wake up." Yubin gently patted her friends face. Nothing worked so she sighed before repeating it. This time, there was a small grimace given but nothing else. Yubin seemed happy with some sort of reaction. Their lead vocalist seemed okay if not a little worse for wear.

Yubin looked back down to her friend, who was currently not in the world of the sober. The fleeting through crossed her mind about what their leader would do to her if she were to hit Yooh a little harder to try to wake her up fully.

Messing up visuals the day before filming? Nah, she didn’t wanna be responsible for that. Not for this drunken mess.

Choosing not to test her theory, she moved to turn Yooh onto her back, her eyes immediately tracking to the stark white bandage peeking out from underneath Yoohyeon's hip-hugger jeans.

But it was Handong who vocalised her thoughts out loud.

"What in the fresh hell is that?"

"What is it?" SuA, Siyeon and Gahyeon had taken position on the other side of the two kneeling on the floor; Handong’s position shielded the other three from seeing what had caught their attention. SuA tried to lean over Yooh's body.

“I can’t see, Unnie, let me see!” No-one responded to Gaheyon as they were entranced by the bandage with some bloody spots on it covering Yooh’s lower abdomen.

"I think she's been injured." Yubin replied quietly, noting the end of the bandage had come loose; she eased it slowly back to discover the nature of Yooh's injury.

Four sets of eyes widened but it was SuA who spoke out loud.

"Holy ! Hahahahaha!"

Not able to stand being left in the dark, Gahyeon quickly moved beside her friend. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she zoomed in on the raw-looking skin. "Is that what I think it is?"

"If you think it's a tattoo, then yes." Nodded Siyeon, leaning closer to get a better look. She tilted her head and squinted until the image slowly came into focus. "Oh my God."

"What?" Gahyeon almost butted heads with her friend as she tried to get a better vantage point. "Omo!" She then moved her gaze to the words etched below the brightly colored, jeweled crown. "Oh! My! ing! God!"

"You got that right," said Handong, deciding to help Yubin in her attempt to awaken Yoohyeon.

Siyeon cleared before speaking next, trying hard not to smile at the story she had in her head – damn, she was actually glad for Yoohyeon that JiU wasn’t there at that moment.

"Let's worry about the tat later. We need to get her to bed and sobered up before JiU gets back. Yooh’s so lucky Minji had an early appointment at the salon and didn’t see this wreck.”

"Good idea." Gahyeon nodded in agreement.

She retook her earlier spot as she and Sua lifted Yoohyeon into a seated position. "Now what?"

"Kim Yoohyeon, get up from the floor this instant!" Yelled SuA in the best imitation of Yoohyeon’s mother she could possibly muster.

The result was immediate.

Yoohyeon jumped to her feet and looked around wildly.

"Umma! Mianhae! I'm up, I'm up!" Yubin and Siyeon quickly flanked Yoohyeon on both sides and steadied her swaying body. Her words were slurred but she didn’t seem to be in any worse shape than incredibly intoxicated.

"C'mon, you wreck; let's get you to bed. I better get my room-mate to her bed so she can regret her life choices there." SuA started forward, and Yoohyeon blindly followed her to the bedroom, the other members slowly trailing behind in case they were needed.

Yoohyeon briefly wondered where her mother was, but the pounding in her head and the burning sensation on her hip kept her attention focused on the pain.

After a very scary moment on the step of the bunkbed, Yooh was finally dumped on her bed, where she promptly fell back into unconsciousness.

Siyeon blew out a breath and looked down at her slipper-less feet before turning to her girlfriend, who was sitting on her own bed, exhausted from the early morning exertion.

"I thought we were goners when she started to fall backward." The main vocalist said, referring to the loss of her first slipper. She'd turned to grab hold of their lead vocalist and had almost lost her own footing, but thankfully, her foot had slipped out of the slipper and her bare foot’s grip on the floor saved Yoohyeon from any further damage. The second loss was much less dramatic as she'd just walked out of the slipper when stepping down from the ladder of the bunkbed.

"No kidding," said Handong with a grunt as she lifted Yooh's booted feet on the top bunk but gave up after a second. "What do we do now?"

Yubin gestured toward the door. "You go down to the kitchen and get some coffee – strong and black. That coffee is for me by the way." She looked at the top bunk. "I'll try to wrestle her boots off."

Glancing at their dead to the world friend, Handong realized she had the better of the two jobs. "One strong coffee coming up." She turned and quickly left the room, leaving the rapper ready for her struggle with Yoohyeon’s footwear.

Grabbing hold of the right boot while Gahyeon grabbed hold of the left, soon the maknae line were giving valiant efforts to ensure their fellow youngest member would be comfortable before they properly awoke.

SuA turned to Siyeon.

"She is going to owe us big for this one, SingSing."

Siyeon grinned.

"She really will. Right after she explains why she’s got a jewelled crown on her hip with the words 'Pink Princess' scrawled underneath."

A few hours later, a freshly showered Yoohyeon sat at the kitchen table, her third cup of coffee in one hand and her aching head cradled in the other. Dami and Handong stood with their backs against the counter, waiting patiently for her to recap the previous night's activities while SuA, Siyeon and Gahyeon sat at the table ready to hear all the tea about last night.

"After you guys left, I went to a PC Bang. I met up with some other idols… I guess I must've had one too many beers." Yoohyeon closed her eyes and gently rubbed her forehead.

"Ya think?" asked SuA with a touch of sarcasm coloring her tone. "What happened next?"

Yooh narrowed her brow in thought. Things were still a bit fuzzy after they'd left the PC bang.

"My friend Seungyeon – from CLC, you girls remember her – suggested we all go get a tat after our fourth bottle of soju. She showed us one she'd recently had done to proclaim her love for her girlfriend." She laughed at the memory of her friend's tat. "I don't imagine her girlfriend was too pleased with the results though."

Siyeon leaned closer. "What was it?"

"A thumb pressing down on a heart with the caption, 'You've got me under your thumb.' It didn't help that the heart seemed to be bleeding."

"That's not romantic; sounds kind of Poe-like to me," said Yubin, trying to picture the tat that had just been described, but an image of the tell-tale heart kept filling her mind.

Gahyeon, on the other hand, kept her focus on something much more important.

"So why is it that the tattoo you chose makes a reference to JiU unnie?"

Gone was Yubin's wild imagination of believing she had actually heard the beating of the heart trapped beneath the thumb as it grew and grew in intensity, replaced with her amazing knack of knowing when to very carefully listen to outside stimuli and form her own conclusion from the source.

"You and JiU? Are you guys together? Finally, that is."

Five heads whipped from Dami to Yoohyeon; eagerly awaiting the official response. All five in their hearts knowing an answer but wanting confirmation. Gahyeon and Handong looked absolutely shocked at the JiYoo ship finally becoming a reality after almost five years in the making.

Everyone waited with bated breath, their own heartrates increasing, the pounding in their ears overpowering any other noise from registering. This was further proven by the fact that front door opened and closed without anyone paying it any mind.

SuA scooted closer, her voice louder than ever with excitement.

“Well?! You and JiU?”

"Who and me?" asked JiU, strolling into the kitchen, her arms laden down with gift bags with a popular brand’s logo plastered all over it.

Minji swung them on the table's surface and looked around at six stunned expressions, none attributed to the fact that it appeared that JiU had brought back more gifts than normal from any schedule she previously had or that she was back from her schedule hours earlier than expected.

Just her mere presence rendered her groupmates speechless; Minji gave a little smirk, thinking to herself she still had her charismatic impact intact.

Handong and Gahyeon were still wearing the same shocked expression from contemplating a relationship between their two friends being real, while Yoohyeon's expression was new.

JiU was going to kill her for getting a tattoo, even if it was in a drunken attempt to express her love in a more permanent way. Despite not being in top form, she attempted to swing the conversation to safer ground.

“Me and Jiu… Are going to do a special dance video in a couple of weeks," supplied Yoohyeon. Her reply causing a chain reaction of heads whipping in her direction. She dug an even deeper hole. "The girls hadn’t realised we were planning one for our next concert separately."

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

“What?”

“What?”

“What?”

Six voices chimed in perfect harmony. As expected, of course.

“Great song, I love it too. Thanks for looking after me guys, I should get more rest.”

Yoohyeon went to stand but could see a devilish glint in SuA’s eyes. Everyone noticed the wheels turning in the dancer’s but unfortunately for the lead vocalist she was just a second too late as she attempted to jump over to the older member and cover with her hand.

"SUA!"

Yoohyeon was easily swatted away by the eerie strength of Kim Bora.

"JiU-unnie! Yoohyeon got drunk and got another tattoo." SuA crossed her arms over her chest and gave the biggest -eating grin she could muster.

"Yeah," Siyeon piped up, "and you play a starring role." She eased closer to her girlfriend and mirrored SuA's stance, projecting a united front against Yoohyeon's lame excuse of a dance video.

JiU stood stock still for a moment as her friends' words slowly worked their way into her mind and caught hold. Yoohyeon could tell the exact second her lover had put it all together. She'd had that particular look directed at her more times than she cared to remember.

"You got another tattoo? After what I – I mean, after what your mother said?" JiU somehow managed to project enough iciness in her tone that every member of the group actually felt a chill in the air. "Where is it, Yoohyeon?"

"On her hip," informed Gahyeon, ready to divulge more, but the swift kick to her shin redirected her thoughts. "Ow, Dongie, what did ya do that for?"

Dongie just shook her head for her friend to keep quiet. As the unofficial savage of the group, she could tell when someone was done for. Her and Yubin both began eyeing the door, planning their escape, and if Gahyeon behaved, she'd try to save her, too.

As for the other two… well, she knew SuA could handle JiU and would protect Siyeon. When it came to Minji’s wrath it was a matter of survival of the fittest.

"I asked you a question, Kim Yoohyeon." The leader inched closer and closer to the table, while the tallest member tried to get smaller and smaller, her hand instinctively sliding beneath her t-shirt and underneath the elastic waistband of her sweatpants to feel the roughness of the tattoo.

If she was still breathing after JiU finished with her, she was going to find Seungyeon and knock her on her .

"Well, you see, unnie, it's really kind of funny if you think about it…" Yoohyeon started, a weak chuckle following her lead-in, but judging from the look on her lover's face, she was fairly certain that for once JiU wouldn’t be seeing the humour in this situation any time soon.

They'd actually discussed tattoos before, and JiU had been quite vocal with her view on respecting her mother’s wishes and not getting any more body art. he knew Minji always personally felt responsible for any of their parents view on them while in the group. It was the burden of being leader.

Her argument had been that she'd never forgive herself if she upset her mother. Yoohyeon had argued she already had one, so what is another?

"Puppy. To my room. Now," demanded JiU, accentuating her words by gesturing pointedly at the door. "And when we get there, there'd better not be any tattoos hiding underneath your clothing."

The lead vocalist swallowed hard and slowly pushed to her feet. She spared a glance at her bandmates, but the girls could only offer a shrug of support.

Everyone in the room was perfectly aware that the tattoo wouldn't mysteriously disappear on the journey up the stairs. With a heavy sigh, Yooh headed towards the bedroom as directed, glad that her sweatpants and long t-shirt hid any evidence of her wrongdoing.

Kim Minji watched her lover step into the room, before turning on her heel and following close behind, her eyes peeled on the hip Yooh seemed to be favoring.

Handong waited several beats to make certain that the two weren't lurking outside the door. "Yooh's in deep ."

SuA nodded.

"No kidding, JiU's going to murder her. Or sleep with her. Either way there will be passion and physical contact."

A few moments of silence followed the statement, before Gahyeon asked the question that had been burning in both their minds ever since JiU had stepped into the room and taken control in true leader style.

"So, how long do you think they've been together?"

Minji entered the room behind her lover and reached back to close and lock the door. When she turned around her girlfriend was standing near the window, looking at the pine tree just outside.

Yoohyeon hadn't climbed down the tree in years, but the risk was sounding better and better the closer she got to JiU’s wrath.

"Please tell me those two idiots were pulling my leg," Minji moved further into the room, keeping her distance even though she was dying to walk over and tear the sweats from her lover's body. She'd actually ripped a pair or two of the other girl's sweats in the past but for a completely different reason.

Yoohyeon turned to face the music. "Babe, I was drunk. You know I'd never do anything so stupid if I had my full faculties about me. And to top it off, Seungyeon had to go and call me a chicken." Her expression turned serious. "You know how I hate being called a chicken."

"Yes, I'm perfectly aware of that, but this is permanent, Yeonnie. This isn't some stupid stunt you've pulled in the past for a variety or a show." Minji stepped closer, her fingers still itching to remove the barrier that was keeping her from seeing the end result of this inked up drunken decision.

"I know, I can't believe I was so stupid, but Seungyeon just kept going on and on and on, until finally, I marched into the tattoo parlour and dropped my jeans."

"You didn't bare all to some big biker guy covered in macho skull designs with a huge tattoo of 'Mom' encased around his heart, did you?"

"Oh God no! No, it was a woman." Yoohyeon began, hoping that would appease her girlfriend.

The result was the opposite; watching Minji tilt her head and raise an eyebrow. Perhaps admitting to dropping her drawers in front of a woman wasn't such a good idea. She tried for the save.

"She's married, with her ears and lip pierced, and she's covered in a variety of tattoos from a dreamcatcher, great taste, to a skeleton clawing through her skin holding a tattoo machine." Yoohyeon gave a million-megawatt smile. "She wasn't my type."

"Oh, and what exactly is your type?" asked Minji, temporarily putting off her desire to see what had been tattooed on her girlfriend’s hip. They'd never actually discussed what attracted them to each other or people in general. One day, they had just been holding hands while watching a movie when the next thing Minji knew she had the other girl’s lips over hers. And that, as they say, was that.

"You." Yoohyeon didn't hesitate in her answer, drawing a smile from her leader. She'd spoken with such sincerity there was no doubt in Jiu's mind that it had been the absolute truth. With every passing word she gave, Yoohyeon could see Jiu slowly ease up on her anger and frustration.

"Okay, enough stalling, let me see." Jiu closed the distance between them and placed her hands on the band of the taller girl’s sweats. Placing her own hands over her lover's, Yooh eased the material over her hips as she turned and lifted her shirt. Minji was surprised to find the tattoo staring right at her, she'd had no idea that her girlfriend wasn't wearing any underwear beneath her pants. Her eyes swept past the reddened skin and zeroed in on the ink.

There it was, a crown fit for royalty, the colourful jewels adorning the golden diadem and standing out against the background of the other girl’s skin. Minji slowly reached out and traced the pattern, her touch eliciting an uncontrollable shiver from her lover.

"Did it hurt?" Minji eased her finger lower and gently followed the pattern of the word underneath, tracing each letter of 'Pink Princess' in an almost reverent motion.

"I don't really remember," Yooh answered truthfully, she'd been way beyond caring or feeling when she'd flopped down on the tattoo artist's table. She did remember waking to a stinging sensation but kept that tid-bit to herself.

“I can’t believe you would do this.”

“… Are you mad at me, unnie?”

JiU exhaled deeply before running a hand through her hair.

“I’m mad, frustrated, annoyed, angry. A little touched. But mainly the former. I would like to know why, even after all of our talks would you go and get another one of these. Any why get that design?"

“I don’t know.”

“If you want a happy girlfriend, then at least give a sincere effort. You still might get lucky if it flatters me enough.”

Yoohyeon could see Minji’s anger deflate, her previously iciness slowly being replaced with genuine worry and concern. Minji deserved better than a cop-out answer and the tall puppy knew that.

Yoohyeon looked down at the floor, squinting hard as she gave her hungover riddled mind a push to think properly.

“Okay… I got it because I care about you. You mean so much to me, Minji.”

She felt a soft hand cup her face. She looked up and saw that JiU was staring at her with love in her eyes.

“You mean so much to me too Yooh. You’re everything. But…”

Yooh prepared herself.

“… But why that garish design? Tell me, and I’ll reward your bravery.”

The flirtatious tone was not lost on Yoohyeon and her hormones kicked into her mind to work overtime and deliver the truth to the stunning woman in front of her.

After a few seconds, the taller girl began wracking her brain with all her might to recall what had possessed her to ask for a crown in the first place.

She remembered loving the nickname 'Pink Princess' that Minji gave herself. She mentioned it about a thousand times during the course of the evening and then Seungyeon saying something to the tattoo artist about a design fit for a princess after giving her one helluva knowing smirk.

Everything was a blur after that.

"Um," She began, knowing Minji wouldn't leave her alone until she'd given a reason. Her conversation with the others concerning Seungyeon's tattoo made its way front and centre.

"I just had to have you under my skin, babe." Yoohyeon winced at the excuse and was extremely grateful she had her back to her lover.

Minji traced over the tattoo again, smiling at the goose bumps left behind.

"I think you mean that I get under your skin. The tattoo is on top of your skin though. Yoohyeon, pabo."

Minji gave a small chuckle as she eased her hand across a rounded globe. The leader watched with a pleased expression at her small gesture resulting in her puppy-like girlfriend shivering with arousal.

"Perhaps I am a pabo, but I am your pabo." Yooh said as she turned and pulled Minji close, "Buuuuut, I've got you under my skin, too."

"My, aren’t we smooth? For once?" Minji moved her hands to the other girl's waist and smiled.

"Still mad at me?" asked the taller girl, using her toes to push off the sweats that had pooled at her feet.

"Depends, does that crown mean that you rule me? Or do I rule you?"

"You rule me. Wholly. 100%." Whispered Yoohyeon.

She might be a pabo but no-one had ever accused her of being a complete fool.

"Good answer, puppy."

Closing the distance, Minji pressed her lips against her lover's and eased her hand back to the tattoo. She liked the idea of knowing there was a permanent reminder of her domain, but for now, she planned to exercise her authority over Yoohyeon for the remainder of the morning.