Seulgi wasn’t sure what she was expecting when she arrived at the school the next morning. She knew it could be unexpectedly cold while the sun was still rising over the tops of the buildings, setting the eerily quiet cityscape in silhouette, but somehow getting up an extra hour earlier like Irene had demanded made that much more of a difference in temperature. Seulgi regretted not opting for a pair of sweatpants while she stretched against the gated entrance to the schoolyard.

Irene, however, was very pleased with Seulgi’s choice in attire. She tried to dispel a smirk creeping across her face as she watched Seulgi bend in that small, black pair of running shorts and a thin white t-shirt. Yes, this was an excellent idea, and well worth the three alarms she had set last night.

“Kang Seulgi,” she announced as she approached, and Seulgi paused in her stretching long enough to beam at her through chattering teeth.

“Are you warmed up?” Seulgi asked.

“Warmed up?”

Seulgi smiled. She had noticed Irene’s rather faded purple track jacket, so she had made some assumptions about her exercise habits. “You don’t work out a lot?” she asked, nodding at Irene’s outfit.

Irene the fraying cuff of her sleeve as she glanced down at herself and shrugged. “Oh, no. I borrowed this from a friend once and just… never returned it, I guess.” She looked up and down the street. “I don’t really work out if I can help it.” That would require leaving the house.

Seulgi was impressed, in a way. “But you decided it was worth waking up at 5 am to come running with me?”

“Don’t read too much into it, alright?” Irene said quickly. “Where are we going to run, anyway?”

Seulgi shrugged. “The streets are so dead this early, we can pretty much go wherever we want,” she said, then made a small circular gesture with her finger, “but I usually just make a couple big laps around the school.”

Irene nodded with a serious expression - far too serious for the crack of dawn and Seulgi’s caffeine-deprived brain. “How far is that? Should we time it?”

Seulgi laughed. “It’s not a race… we’re just running for our health, right?”

Irene frowned. “Fine, but don’t let me slow you down.”

If yesterday had been any indication, Seulgi was fairly certain Irene was more likely to push herself too hard than slow her down. She’d have to try to be mindful of Irene’s condition as they ran. “Alright, alright, let’s get going. It’s freezing!”

+++

Seulgi couldn’t remember a morning where she felt so invigorated and refreshed. She finished dressing alone and combed out her wet hair. Irene had already showered and left the locker room ahead of her, claiming she wanted to grab some tea before classes started. Just as well; after half an hour of watching Irene sweat in her jacket and leggings, Seulgi was grateful for a moment to herself before the bell rang.

Her respite was short-lived, however, as she exited the locker room and saw Yooa waiting for her in the hall.

“Uh, hey-” Seulgi started innocently, but was cut off.

“What was that?” Yooa asked with a raised brow.

“What?”

“I just saw Miss ‘Maria’ come out of the showers. What were you two doing in there?”

“... Showering?” Seulgi said, wondering what else they would be doing in the showers, but Yooa’s wide-eyes hinted at something a little more scandalous. “Not together! I mean, I guess it was together, but not like that! We went on a run this morning!”

“Uh huh,” Yooa nodded slowly, unconvinced.

“Stop, I’m not some kind of ert,” Seulgi grumbled, still brushing out her drying hair with her fingers.

Yooa laughed, knowing peeping was out of Seulgi’s wheelhouse. “Okay, okay, so how was the run, then?” She fell into step as Seulgi began heading towards their first class.

“It was… really good actually. I think Irene feels the same way - she was already talking about doing it again tomorrow.” Despite a bit of a rough start, but Yooa didn’t need to know about how Irene collapsed on all fours on the sidewalk, coughing up a lung after only ten minutes.

“I’m impressed. I thought she’d give it up after today. It was freezing out this morning!”

Seulgi nodded. “I dunno, but 5 o’clock is no joke. I hope she’ll realize we don’t need to get up so early after this…”

Yooa paused thoughtfully. “She could just go running by herself. You don’t have to go with her. You could say no, you know.”

“Say no? To Bae Irene? You’ve seen her…?” Seulgi scoffed.

Yooa smiled. “I have, and I think you like spending time with her. Look at you. You always seem like you’re ready for a nap during math, but today you’re like… glowing. It’s kind of annoying actually.”

Seulgi couldn’t help smiling. For someone who wasn’t a morning person, she did feel oddly energetic. “We’re just doing it to get in shape,” Seulgi stated. “It’s for the play.” Though she supposed it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Irene maybe enjoyed spending time with her as well…

+++

Wendy’s ears perked up when she heard the hum of a familiar tune enter the bathroom as she washed her hands. She glanced up in the mirror and confirmed her suspicions: it was Irene waltzing in with a rather pleased expression on her face. Normally when Irene looked pleased, it meant she was leaving the scene of a crime, so naturally, Wendy was concerned.

“You seem happy,” she remarked, suspicion evident in her tone as she turned to face the club Arbiter.

Irene’s eyebrow raised slightly as she smiled at Wendy. “Do I?”

Oh, that wasn’t fair. Wendy was suddenly overcome with the memory of being shoved up against the wall by the petite woman.

“W-well…”

Irene’s smile widened, but she tilted her head. “I went on a run today. I guess it’s true what they say about exercising, extra dopamine and all that.” She walked up to the sink next to Wendy, looking in the mirror. Did she look especially happy? It had to be the sudden exercise. She poked her cheek, willing her smile into a slight frown. It was either the dopamine, or that dope...

Wendy wasn’t sure what Irene meant, but she found herself wondering what it must be like to wake up and look at a face like that every morning. In the mirror. Wake up and look at a face like that every morning in the mirror, she mentally corrected.

“You should come, too,” Irene said, giving herself one last look in the mirror before turning back to Wendy.

Wendy wasn’t ready to be addressed so directly and blinked. “Me? Come…?”

“Running. It’s for the play, after all.”

“The play, right,” Wendy said, buying herself some time to mentally compose herself. “Sure, I’ll come. Where do you run?”

“Here at the school, every morning with Seulgi.”

Oh. Wendy pushed through her mental pause, “I’ve been meaning to start doing something to get into shape. What time?”

“Five.” Irene was a little relieved that Wendy was so ready to take her up on the offer. Both to put some mental distance between herself and that jock, and for the opportunity to see Wendy in her workout clothes.

“Five?” Wendy sputtered.

Irene eyed her up and down with a smirk before disappearing into one of the stalls. “See you then~!”

+++

The next morning began in a similar vein, but with one small difference.

“What’s she doing here?”

“What’s she doing here?!”

Yeri and Wendy were pointing at each other incredulously, and Seulgi stepped in between them, forcing them to lower their arms with a white-clouded sigh. There were no less than seven girls gathered in front of their high school’s entrance this morning.

“I… may have mentioned our run yesterday to Wendy,” Irene confessed. “But I don’t know why Joy is here…”

“I simply have an interest in getting fit,” Joy offered loftily, though she and Yeri exchanged a brief look before Yeri spoke up for herself.

“And I’m here-” Yeri began.

“-Because you’re my agent?” Seulgi finished dryly.

“Exactly!” Yeri said with a finger raised. “I’ll time you guys.”

“Okay, but then what about those two?” Joy went on, gesturing at Moonbyul, who was practically carrying a half-asleep Yongsun.

“Bernardo is in almost every dance number. I could use the exercise,” Moonbyul said, as she shifted her hold on Yongsun, looping one of ‘Anita’s’ arms around her shoulders.

“F-fine!” Irene stuttered in the cold, inching closer to Wendy until she was pressed up against her. The smaller girl wasn’t fairing much better, unfortunately, in her track pants and t-shirt. She thought exercising would more than make up for her inadequate outfit, but as they all huddled together in front of the gates to the school, she couldn’t help leaning into Irene to share in the warmth. Fall had nearly given way to winter and the lawns of the school were completely grey with frost.

“Let’s just get this over with. I’m freezing!” Yeri said irritably.

Seulgi blinked at her debating whether or not she should point out that she wasn’t even intending to run, but she was distracted by how cute Wendy and Irene were being, even through their shivering, with Irene in her high ponytail and Wendy trying to smile through it all. “Okay, let’s start with three laps, go go go!”

“THREE-?!” Joy began, as everyone else jogged off into the misty morning. Joy shot a dark look at Yeri before trotting after them, hoping that the shortening days would soon put an end to these morning runs.

Once Yongsun finally got her feet under her, Moonbyul was temporarily free to try and catch up to Seulgi. “So,” the blue-haired girl huffed. “Wendy?”

Seulgi wasn’t sure what Moonbyul was getting at, but was mildly concerned that that was all she seemed to be capable of so soon into their run. She glanced back at the girl in question, already nearly half a block behind them. “Wendy?”

“Yeah,” Moonbyul tried again. “After… that night... “

Seulgi waited patiently.

“You know. Painting… whew, can you slow down a bit?”

They were here to build some endurance, not gossip, but Seulgi acquiesced. “You mean the backdrop?”

“Yes!” Moonbyul gasped, pointing a finger at Seulgi. “Painting the backdrop. Anyway… did you try… to ask her out… again?”

That’s what Moonbyul was literally dying to know? “No, nothing happened. I tried that already, remember?”

“Yeah, but,” Moonbyul insisted, still struggling even with Seulgi’s reduced pace. “I mean she couldn’t stop staring.”

“Staring?”

Moonbyul reached out and tickled Seulgi’s stomach through her thin shirt.

“ACK!”

“She wants... a piece of you!”

“She does?” Seulgi had a hard time believing her after everything that had happened, but she risked another glance behind them and saw Wendy and Irene jogging together side by side. She almost tripped over her own feet as they both looked up at her, and she felt that Moonbyul should have saved her breath instead of putting these crazy ideas in her head.

“Just sayin’. She’s been a fan… for a long time…”

Seulgi grumbled and raced on ahead.

+++

Yoona looked around the theater, the uncharacteristic quiet piquing her suspicion. “Not that I don’t appreciate everyone getting straight to work-”

“-for once,” added Krystal.

“... but can we try to liven it up a bit? You look exhausted. Remember, we’re entertainers.”

Three days in a row of waking up in the hush of predawn to go running was taking its toll on the troupe. Yooa and Eunae were doing their best to count the Sharks through their rooftop dance sequence, but the ‘gang leader’ was dead in the water.

“Come on, Moonbyul, you’re supposed to be leading- and Joy, why are you sitting down? The script says you’re supposed to be over here on this little X!”

“It’s called a ‘mark’, you uncultured-”

“Irene,” Yoona called up from her place in the audience. “Can I see you for a sec?” She had a feeling this had to do with the club Arbiter and the other leads.

Predictably, Irene came down from the stage the picture of innocence - that is, if innocence could look a little sleep-deprived and sore.

“Was there something you needed?” she asked, though the dark theater was making it difficult to hold back a yawn.

Yoona narrowed her eyes shrewdly. “What’s going on? We only have a handful of weeks left before opening night and we still have so much left to do.” If they continued at this pace, Yoona might have to begin making cuts to certain scenes altogether.

“We’ve been going on runs in the morning,” Irene explained.

“Runs?” Yoona asked flatly. “What, all of you?”

Irene looked back up at the stage and all of the zombified actors. “Just about.” Her gaze lingered on Seulgi as she and Eunae had their heads together looking over the script.

Yoona sighed, bringing Irene’s attention back to the conversation. “I guess I can’t complain, but are you sure you’re not over-extending yourselves? I mean yeah the play is important, but you also have your grades and your health to think about.”

“Grades,” Irene scoffed. “What are grades when there’s the stage,” she effused with a grand gesture. “And besides, that’s what Wendy’s for.”

“THAT’S NOT WHAT WENDY’S FOR,” Yoona exclaimed miserably as she buried her face in the script.

“What am I for?” Wendy called down from the stage.

“You’re my tutor,” Irene said simply.

“Wait, whose tutor?” Wendy asked again in a small, shocked voice.

"My tutor."

"You need a tutor?" Wendy asked again, in disbelief.

“I need a tutor,” Irene admitted.

“You tutor?” Seulgi asked hopefully.

“Cool your jets, Don Juan,” Joy muttered, putting a heavy hand on Seulgi’s shoulder.

“Don Juan? I thought I was playing Tony?” And while Joy was impressed with the simultaneous depths of Seulgi’s literary knowledge and her stupidity, Yoona was just happy that the Drama Club members were finally springing to life.

Now if only she could get them to focus on the play...