Misun sat back and stretched her arms above her head, looking around the table at the fabric clippings and loose threads. It was day two of costume construction and both she and Fae seemed to be making good time. They didn’t talk much except to discuss design questions and stitch choices. Misun liked the older girl because of this. She didn’t feel pressed to make conversation and the silence was comfortable.

For the fifth time in the past hour, though, Fae squeaked. She had pricked practically all of her fingers while sewing buttons onto Mrs. Potts’ dress. She pulled her fingers away from the fabric and examined them.

“Are you bleeding?” Misun asked politely.

“No, I’m fine.” The girl looked up, a little embarrassed. “I only have three more buttons left, then I’ll be done.”

“Alright.” Misun didn’t know what else to tell her, so she left it at that. Instead, she stood up and grabbed Belle’s ball gown and Beast’s jacket. After taking her work home the previous night, she had the basic layers done and wanted to make sure they both fit correctly. “I have to go see Sooyeon and Daehyun. I’ll be back.” She told the older girl in a flat voice.

Fae noticed her tone and frowned slightly before nodding in acknowledgement. “Good luck.”

With the clothes draped over one arm, Misun walked out of the clubroom and down the hall. Several groups had broken off to practice elsewhere and she knew that Sooyeon had taken some of her friends and Daehyun to practice in an empty classroom. The door was open and Misun peered inside.

“No, Daehyun, you have to put your hands on my waist. Like this.” Sooyeon was directing the boy as they practiced the dance scene. His face was rather apathetic as the girl pressed closer to him.

As she watched, Misun felt a tightness in her chest. She held onto the clothes tighter and took a deep breath. Be professional, be professional… She steeled herself and knocked on the doorframe.

“Misun!!” Daehyun’s face lit up as he made eye contact with his friend. He quickly slipped out of Sooyeon’s grasp and bounded over, gathering up the younger girl in a tight hug. “I’ve missed you~”

“I just saw you an hour ago, Daehyun-ssi.” Misun told him flatly, though she could feel the nervousness in her chest slowly fade away. She hugged him back with her free arm a little tighter than she normally would.

“I know, but it seems like so long ago.” He pulled away and his smile made Misun grin. She just couldn’t help it; his smile was contagious. He looked down and noticed the fabric in her grasp. “What do you have here?”

She looked down and separated the two pieces of material. “This is your jacket. I need you to try it on and make sure it’s comfortable.” Misun handed over the jacket to her friend a little apprehensively. She wasn’t sure if he would like it or not.

“Waaaah~ So cool!” His reaction melted away that concern as well and she sighed in relief.

“Sooyeon-ssi.” Misun took a deep breath and addressed the girl. “This is what I have for the dress so far. It is not done, obviously. I just need you to try it on and make sure it fits.”

Without saying a word, Sooyeon walked over and took the dress before brushing past Misun. Along with her friends, she walked down the hall and went into the bathroom to change.

Meanwhile, Daehyun was excitedly showing off his jacket to Youngjae and the rest of the boys left in the room. Misun smiled and walked over to him. “Face me, please.” She said, wanting to make sure everything was straight. Daehyun turned and stood at attention for her. Misun pressed her lips together to keep from laughing out loud. She fussed with the lapels and sleeves, making sure there was adequate room for movement.

“Misun, it’s perfect. Don’t worry so much.” Daehyun said bringing a hand up to pat the girl on the head. He sneakily ruffled her hair and she stepped back.

“Yah! That’s not nice.” She tried to admonish him, but she couldn’t keep the smile off of her face as she fixed her hair.

There was a commotion in the hallway as the bathroom door opened and Sooyeon walked out. She came in and spun around, ending with her back turned to the group in the room. Misun’s eyes widened as she saw a giant rip in the back of the dress. It was definitely not there ten minutes ago. “Are you trying to be funny?” Sooyeon asked. “How am I supposed to wear something like this?”

After getting over her initial shock Misun came over and inspected the rip. It was a clean cut that started just a few inches above the back of Sooyeon’s knee. She sighed and stood up as Sooyeon turned around and faced her. Silently, Misun checked out the rest of the dress, making sure that the hemlines sat as they should and that everything fit.

“Well?” Sooyeon demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

“It’s not that bad.” Misun looked back at Daehyun then to Sooyeon again. “Alright, thank you for trying them on, I’ll take them back and finish them up.”

“What do you mean, ‘it’s not that bad’?! There’s a giant rip!” Nahyun, Sooyeon’s friend, exclaimed.

“Hey, you guys, I’m sure Misun can fix it-” Daehyun started to defend her immediately.

“I’m not blind. I saw the cut.” Misun looked at the two girls coldly. “This is just the bottom layer. I’ll stitch up the cut and then there’s going to be several layers on top of this. No one will be able to see it anyway. Now go take it off.”

“Fine.” Sooyeon turned around and left to take the dress off.

Daehyun handed his jacket back to Misun and put his hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Misun told him, giving him a small smile. “I’m glad you liked your jacket. That makes me happy.”

Daehyun still looked concerned, but seemed a little more content with her answer. He pulled her into a hug, which she returned easily. As she got used to Daehyun’s touch, she enjoyed it more. It was reassuring and comforting for her.

Sooyeon came back and returned the dress to Misun just in time for club to be dismissed. Misun put the clothes back into a box in the club room. Fae had already cleaned everything else up, which made it easier for Misun to leave quickly with Daehyun and Youngjae by her side.

“Zelo and Jongup are excited to see you again, Misun.” Youngjae told her as they stepped outside.

“I’m excited to see them, too. I had fun watching them play video games last week.” Misun replied with a small smile. They walked down the sidewalk toward her apartment. As they fell into comfortable silence, Misun thought about how she wanted to pose her question. “I have a kind of stupid question.” She said, getting the boys’ attention.

“It can’t be any stupider than some of Daehyun’s questions.” Youngjae said, lightening the mood as Daehyun glared at him in astonishment.

“You should be nicer to your hyung, idiot.” He said, his annoyed expression falling into a smile as he finished his sentence.

Youngjae stuck his tongue out at his best friend and laughed. “Anyway, what’s your question, Misun?”

She took a deep breath and stopped walking. “Do you guys want to be my friends?” They both stopped and looked at her curiously.

“Aren’t we already friends?” Youngjae asked with a chuckle.

“I’ll be your friend, Misun!!” Daehyun practically yelled and threw both of his hands up into the air before coming over and giving her a giant hug. Misun was at a loss for words so she hugged him back with both arms tightly.

As they pulled away from each other, the smiles on their faces made Youngjae laugh again. “I guess I’ll be your friend, too, Misun. But you have to stop adding -ssi to the end of our names.” Youngjae came over and hugged the girl, too, making her smile.

“Alright, I’ll try. Youngjae oppa, Daehyun oppa.” She blushed furiously as she tried these words and both boys grinned at her taking this step forward.

Daehyun felt his own face heat up as he heard her call him oppa for the second time. “Alright, let’s get back to your apartment. The others will be there soon and then we can all eat dinner!” Daehyun linked arms with Misun and the three began to walk again.

She smiled up at him and nodded. She was going to follow Sera’s advice. While she already trusted Himchan to a certain degree, she was going to try to trust someone enough to let them heal her.

★☆★☆★☆

Minna-san~ Konnichiwa~
So in case you can't tell, DaeJae is my favorite ship. I'm really feeling it right now, so suffer with me.

Your lines are always y, tho

I think Daehyun is really good at expressing his emotions out loud. Whereas Youngjae (like me OTL) doesn't express them well..

Anyway, thank you for reading!