“Stage names are common.” Suga tucked his hands beneath his thighs and crossed his legs up onto one of the nearest black amps. Stagehands ran back and forth over the expansive wood stage, dragging huge metal boxes of equipment. The girl next to him merely nodded and continued untangling the cords for Jungkook's mic. She set one of the ropes aside to lean against the amp Suga reclined upon.

“That’s not really common in American boy groups, though some guys will go by their nicknames. Like… an ‘Oliver’ would be called ‘Ollie’, and a ‘William’ would be ‘Bill’.” The girl straightened her back so quiet little pops could be heard. She sighed and went back to untying the twists on the black cords. A chuckle left , “I have no idea how you get your stage names.”

A lamp from overhead swiveled causing a flood of white light to fall over the two. She immediately shielded her eyes from the strong source causing Suga to chirp angrily at the man fiddling over in the lighting booth. He didn’t even know why they needed the stage lights. Their show was going to be at three o’clock in the afternoon… outside, and there wasn’t even a trace of cloud in the sky. Suga’s eyes casually fell onto the girl and allowed them to slowly wander over her features. There was something special about her—for a foreigner, he thought, since they all kind of looked the same to him in the end. But somehow, when he would look at her, the lines of those definitive ideas began to blur. Actually, it was on a tour in America where they picked her up.

Her name was Alicia. She had pretty almond-shaped eyes that you couldn’t tell the actual color of until they met with natural light. Her nose was straight down the bridge until it came to a cute little bump at the end that made it look somewhat upturned. And her lips, when someone made her laugh, would immediately pull back into a goofy smile that exposed two rows of pearly teeth and a brief glimpse of pink gums.

A gummy smile.

It was an endearing habit that often made the apples of her cheeks glow bright red—and boy would they get red. Her fair skin was easily susceptible to very noticeable blushes. Something Suga himself was no stranger to.

Alicia’s lovely face was almost always framed in wavy curls that reached the line of her collarbone. It would have been a typical dusty brown color if it hadn’t gradually brightened from the sun exposure she had been getting. Suga remembered watching Jin help her squirt sliced lemons over the strands before a trip to Disneyland on their day off. She claimed it was a wives’ tale from America that if you put lemon juice in your hair for a day, it would give you natural highlights. So far, that tale wasn’t letting her down.

His gaze kept trailing down to see the baggy black tour shirt she wore. While it was loose fitting, it didn’t leave the imagination to wonder what was hidden beneath. The summer heat had caused her to tie the waist at the side and expose a sliver of her midriff. The white text was beginning to chip and the white three-quarter sleeves were rolled up her thin arms. And to top it off, she was the only crew member bold enough to wear jean shorts fit for the beach. They shamelessly flaunted her toned legs which the male crew members desperately tried to avoid looking at. Well, they at least attempted to hide their stares.

Just the thought of them thinking about her made him growl. The heat and act of stage-setting caused the fabric to cling to her skin and ride up the tops of her thighs. Calling those shorts “short” was an understatement. Hell, even the girls at the beach in didn’t wear shorts that tiny… or maybe it was just her proportions...

“What are you looking at?” Alicia peeped sheepishly. She kept glancing around her legs and over her shoulders for any odd behavior from the stage crew. When she didn’t see anything, she looked back at the blinking blonde who leaned forward with his elbows on his thighs with a narrowed gaze.

“You should probably change before the show. You look all grimy.” What better way to fix the staring problem than with nice verbal harassment, Suga thought. He smirked happily until Alicia’s glare knocked it right off his face.

“Why thank you, -face.” She flipped him the bird and chucked the unraveled cord onto a smaller amp to her right. This discrete action had drawn the attention of a certain dimpled vocalist who moseyed on over from his spot near the towel and water rack. “I’ll be sure to remember that comment while I set up your microphone.”

“What’s there to complain about?” Jimin interjected. He playfully tapped Alicia’s back with a teasing smirk cast in Suga’s direction which the girl didn’t catch. The vocalist’s fingers liberally massaged her shoulders, and the rapper's eye narrowed at him drastically. “She’s wearing the crew uniform and it’s only a hundred degrees out here. And look how hard she’s working for us. Of course, she’d be a little sweaty.”

Crew uniform? Suga didn’t see any of the male crew members running around in short shorts, nor did he necessarily care to. In fact, most of the guys on the crew were wearing black skinny jeans with their baggy tour shirts. The rapper glared at the gleeful vocalist. Of course, Jimin knew how he felt about Alicia. That bastard knew he couldn’t say any of this crap out loud or he’d look like an incredible jackass—a certified “-face”.

Alicia gave a small giggle at something Jimin whispered and swiveled out of his grasp so she could plug in one of the cords. Suga pouted and kicked his skinny legs off the amp so they dangled over the edge in front of Jimin's chest. He noticed how Jimin’s gaze wandered over the American girl’s backside as she bent down to grab a roll of masking tape—him and half the other crew paused their actions to catch a brief glimpse. Suga had the sudden desire to kick him across the stage to prove a point. But instead, the rubber sole of his Jordans met the stage floor and he walked over to the naïve girl who fiddled with the cords unexpectedly.

“We need to talk.”

Alicia froze at the sudden hand on the back of her neck. It was dry and firm on her moist skin as it sent a spark rocketing down her spine. Her back met with a warm surface and she saw a flash of the blonde flutter over her shoulder. She straightened in the steady grasp, but slowly reclined her head against the hand to have her gaze meet directly with the reddened cheek of BTS’s blonde rapper. Alicia shifted against his chest to try and free herself. Instead, her brushed between his hips causing his cheeks to flare red.

Son of a , Suga groaned tucked his chin to his chest. He glowered down at her and pushed her away within arm’s reach. He didn’t want her feeling the results of the accidental contact, nor draw anyone’s attention towards it, so his hand over the back of her neck retreated to her wrist to drag her off toward the back of the stage. She fought him nearly the entire way to the tall black trailer until she relented and threw herself into the cool cabin to save him and her sore wrist the trouble.

“God, what did you want to talk about?”

Alicia watched heatedly as Suga flung himself onto the nearest leather couch. He raked his slender fingers over his face and through his hair making sure to pull the strands enough to elicit a low pained hiss. The girl’s face scrunched as she watched the petite blonde mumble like a crazy person in swift, unintelligible Korean.