((a/n lmao surprise never mind, here's the next chapter))

Irene was a girl on a mission. She yanked open the doors to the auditorium and stomped her way down the aisle towards the stage. “My Tony. My Tony,” she grumbled. “We’ll see who my Tony is.” There were two of them, after all. She marched past a very surprised Drama Club council seated in the audience, and up the stairs, onto the stage where she quickly spied her quarry.

“O-oh, hey, Iren- yah!” Wendy yelped as Irene took her firmly by the wrist and began walking her straight back down those stairs. “Is everything okay?” Wendy asked worriedly as she tried to keep up with Irene’s purposeful pace.

“Everything’s just fine,” Irene answered curtly.

“S-so where are we going?” Wendy was a little nervous about Irene’s serious expression and advanced gait.

“To rehearse,” she replied as she led Wendy out of the auditorium and around the corner of the empty hall.

“But rehearsal’s going to start soon-” She couldn’t finish her sentence as Irene suddenly pushed her up against the wall and kissed her.

It wasn’t the brief, accidental kiss between two overenthusiastic costars. It was a deliberate, calculated search for an answer, though Irene was beginning to forget the question as she felt Wendy’s warm, soft sigh against her lips. Irene carefully took Wendy’s face in her hands as they paused, far too close to appreciate the way Wendy’s eyes fluttered open hazily.

“Can’t… can’t say I haven’t wanted to do that,” the ever-loquacious Wendy managed to breath out, and Irene couldn’t help a smirk at the way the shorter girl’s lips brushed against hers. “B-but why?”

“Fair’s fair,” Irene replied, trying desperately to think of a reason why she shouldn’t kiss Wendy again.

There was something in the back of Wendy’s mind trying to tell her that Irene hadn’t really answered her question, but she found herself unable to care about anything other than the painfully gentle way Irene let their noses brush as she pressed in for another kiss.

+++

“Fix your hair,” Joy grumbled as Wendy unsteadily crossed the stage over to the redhead. “Where were you, anyway? You’re never late.” She reached out and fluffed Wendy’s bangs with a seriousness that the situation didn’t exactly warrant.

“I was... “ and Wendy lost her train of thought while she let Joy straighten her hair. “Rehearsing.”

Joy raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “Uh huh… then why do you look like you were just-”

“Okay, I want to try something,” Yoona spoke up from her usual seat a few rows back in the audience. “Let’s get an idea of what the rooftop dance scene’s going to look like. Moonbyul? Yongsun? You guys are up. All of the extras can you line up on your respective sides, please? Joy, can you help them?” The club president thought for a moment then added, “And Seulgi could you come down here for a second?”

Seulgi jogged down the steps and up to Yoona with a bounce in her step, perhaps a little too eager to put some distance between herself and Joy. Yoona was mildly amused to note how Seulgi seemed to treat her more like a coach than a director, but the obedience was certainly a breath of fresh air compared to the way the rest of the club regarded her.

“One, two… three!” Moonbyul was calling out on the stage while the large group began to slowly learn the choreography.

“Seulgi?” Yoona asked, noticing the Dance Team Captain was suddenly distracted by the rehearsal.

“Yes? Sorry,” Seulgi said sheepishly, giving Yoona her full attention.

Yoona smiled. “Actually that’s kind of why I wanted to talk to you.” She nodded back up at the stage where Moonbyul was rushing around trying to help the rest of the cast with formation and timing.

“She usually has to do it all on her own whenever we do musicals, but this play has a lot of group choreo,” the president went on. “Do you think you could help her out a bit? I know you’re not in some of these scenes, but that might be even better, so that Moonbyul can take a break and focus on practicing, too.”

Seulgi beamed at her. “Yeah, definitely!” Now this was something she had confidence in.

Yeri noticed their conversation and got up out of her seat to join them. “Wait wait, extra duties? For Seulgi?” she asked incredulously. “That was not part of the contract.”

“Contra-?!” Yoona sputtered.

Seulgi frowned lightly. “What’s wrong with a little extra?”

“What’s wrong with a little-? You’re already running yourself ragged with the Dance Team, and do I have to remind you what grade you got on your last history test?” Yeri turned her attention to Yoona, who was a good half-head taller than her. “Listen, she won’t say no to literally anything you ask her - trust me, I have experience with this - so do you think you could ask someone else?”

Yoona looked over the top of Yeri’s head to Seulgi, who was pouting but otherwise didn’t seem like she was going to make a move to protest. It was like Yeri really was her agent… “Well? Do you think you can ask one of your teammates, then? You’re their captain, after all. We could use the help.”

Seulgi still looked a little disappointed, but she thought for a moment. Yeri wasn’t wrong, if she was being honest with herself, and there were lots of talented girls on her team. Struck with a sudden thought, she brightened. “Oh! Actually I think I know just who to ask!”

+++

The next day after the Dance Team’s practice, Seulgi approached the two girls she had in mind.

“You want me to come help choreograph the dance sequences in your play?” Yooa asked incredulously.

“Both of you, actually,” Seulgi corrected, looking between the two taller girls.

“After saving you from the Amazon?” Eunae asked as well.

“Amazon? You two are like the same height!” Seulgi protested. “And besides, that’s why I want you two to do it. After you work with them, maybe you’ll see that they’re not as bad as you think.”

Eunae wasn’t convinced, but she had never been very good at saying no to her team’s captain. Seulgi knew this, though perhaps she didn’t quite suspect why. It was Yooa who gave it some serious consideration, with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“I suppose it would look good on a college application…” she mused.

Seulgi nodded her head enthusiastically and started listing the benefits, counting on her fingers. “It’s volunteer work, it’s another extracurricular activity, it’s choreographing experience, leadership, coaching-”

“Alright, alright! We’ll do it,” Yooa laughed as she batted Seulgi’s hand away. Eunae nodded her agreement.

“Great! Thanks guys! I knew I could come to you.”

“Any time,” Eunae muttered after her, as Seulgi turned to head into the locker room. Yooa put a supportive hand on the taller girl’s shoulder.

+++

Yeri was coming out of the student support center just as Wendy was entering, and they waved amiably at each other in passing. Was Wendy in need of tutoring too? Yeri was there to work out a schedule for some poor student to help Seulgi catch up on some of her homework, as the Dance Team Captain steadily fell further and further behind because of her demanding workload. But Wendy always seemed like she did well in her classes, from what she could gather about her.

And oh, Yeri had certainly been compiling information on the petite girl after all of the events of the past couple weeks.

But as she turned to head towards the gym to pick up Seulgi, a hand stretched out in front of her, blocking her path and threatening to clothesline her.

“What- Joy?” the blonde asked suspiciously as she looked up at the looming redhead.

Joy waited another beat until the door to the student support center closed and turned her pensive gaze down on the shorter girl.

“I think we need to talk.”

Yeri pulled herself up to her full height and gave her head a light toss. “About what, exactly?” They had never exchanged more than wary glares at each other across the stage before this, but Yeri still somehow thought she could guess what this might be about.

Joy sighed. “About Wendy. And Slug- Seulgi.” It wasn’t easy for her to talk about this, especially with someone whose loyalties were clearly aligned against her own, but perhaps she could persuade Yeri to work towards a resolution to their mutual benefit. “Wendy’s… a little starstruck I think,” Joy began. “And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she has this tendency to bend over backwards for anyone who asks her to.”

That sounded familiar to Yeri, but she nodded along neutrally, waiting for Joy to come to her point.

“And Seulgi, well she’s already got the lead, and as much as I hate to admit it, with her as Tony, we’ll probably have our biggest turnout for this play that the Drama Club’s ever seen. Wendy’s a much better actor,” Joy added unnecessarily, making Yeri glower a bit, “but Seulgi’s got all of those fangirls hanging off her every word. It’s going to bring in quite a crowd opening night.”

“So what are you saying?” Yeri asked slowly.

“I’m saying we need to keep them away from each other... for the good of the club. You’ve seen how Seulgi and Irene have that... “ Joy waved her hand looking for the word, “chemistry, but Seulgi’s also just so nice,” Joy ground out between her teeth, “and Wendy’s… susceptible.” She had never seen her friend get mixed up in so much drama before, and she was afraid of where it may be heading - and who might get left behind.

“How am I supposed to keep them away from each other? Wendy’s her understudy,” Yeri asked skeptically. It was a little worrisome that Joy had also noticed this development between the three lead girls, and she was frankly all ears about a plan to rectify the situation before it could get any more complicated. Perhaps Yeri read too many novels, but she could easily see this whole thing blowing up in their faces.

Joy looked up and down the hall, making sure she wouldn’t be overheard. “Just… hear me out: What if we set Seulgi up with Irene?”

“What-?!”

“Shh! I really don’t think it’d be that hard! I mean look at Irene. Anyone would be stupid not to fall for her.”

And the unspoken fact that Irene had kissed Seulgi so spontaneously in her bedroom hung between them.

Yeri pursed her lips in thought. Was it riskier to try and set Seulgi up with Irene, or to let things continue to unravel themselves unchecked? After watching Seulgi moan about being rejected by Wendy that night at the restaurant, she could no longer only consider her own personal goals in the matter. She wanted to make sure she was also doing what was right by Seulgi.

Or at least, that’s what she was trying to tell herself she was doing, as she glanced up to catch the mischievous glint in Joy’s eye.

It was like meeting the gaze of a kindred spirit, and Yeri found herself holding out her hand to the taller girl.

“Alright. I’m in.”