“I hate this,” Sana states for the hundredth time in the last hour, pacing back and forth in their shared room. “Don’t you hate this? I hate this.”

“Sana, just because you’ve said that a bunch of times doesn’t mean that anything will change,” Dahyun says without even looking up from her phone. She’s managed to get a message from her brother some time after the MV dropped, telling her how much he supports her and loves her. She smiles as she rereads the message again, wanting to memorize the words that have rid her of the anxiety she’s been dealing with for the past couple days.

Sana stops, a pout on her face at Dahyun’s blunt response. Then she gets an idea. “You know what I find funny, though?” she asks, and there’s a mischievous glint in her eyes but Dahyun hasn’t noticed it yet.

“What?”

“They left us alone.” Sana points between herself and Dahyun. “Alone. Maybe this isn’t so bad as I thought it was…”

Dahyun sighs, grabbing the spray bottle from her bedside table and holding it menacingly, if it’s even possible to look menacing with a spray bottle. “Don’t make me use this again.”

Sana looks between Dahyun and the spray bottle in Dahyun’s hand, wondering if it’s worth it. Of course she can’t keep quiet when she’s got such a good comeback to that. “Ah, you’re eager to get me wet, Dubu? How naughty~”

Dahyun groans, hitting the spray bottle lightly against her head in her frustration. “Remember when you were shy over me for like a minute a couple nights ago?” Dahyun slams the spray bottle back on the bedside table, knowing it has no power anymore against Sana’s constant flirtations. “I remember that. I miss that.”
 

“Do you?” Sana says in a soft voice, and if she hadn’t just made an indecent joke a couple seconds ago, maybe Dahyun would have found herself blushing over how cute Sana had become all of a sudden. “A bit of roleplay never hurt anyone, right?”

And she ruined it immediately, which is pretty on-brand for Sana. Dahyun sighs, whatever rush of feelings she had gotten a moment ago starting to diminish. “Anyway, do you have the schedule?”

Sana’s flirtiness disappears at the mention of their schedule. Sana scowls, taking the folded piece of paper from her pocket and unfolding it, looking at it like it has somehow insulted her and her entire family. “You mean Twice’s schedule? The girl group we’re a part of?” Sana glares at the paper, trying to burn a hole through it. “The group we’re being ignored from?”

Dahyun takes the paper out of Sana’s hand, reading through it and finding the piece of information she wanted. “Ah, our members will be live soon, so chill.”

“I don’t want to chill,” Sana protested. “I want to talk about how gay we are.”

They’re well past this, but Dahyun instinctively says: “How gay you are.”

Sana pouts, tilting her head a bit. She hits her hand on her chest. “Damn, Dubu. That hurt.”

Dahyun grabs the TV remote and turns it on, flipping through channels until she comes by the right one. It’s about five minutes until Twice’s live music show performance forTake My Hand.

“Do you kiss your friends?” Sana asks all of a sudden, sitting down next to Dahyun on Dahyun’s bed, perhaps a little too close for comfort but at this point Dahyun doesn’t really mind it.

“I don’t really kiss people that often?” Dahyun raises her eyebrows, not getting Sana’s point. “Remember when I told you that you were my first kiss? That hasn’t really changed.”

Sana smiles, and there’s no mischief hiding in her happiness this time, but she decides to not comment on why she’s smiling. “Well, that means that you don’t usually act this way. Does that mean that I’m the exception?”

Dahyun looks at her for a moment, trying to figure out if Sana’s pulling a trick on her again. Finally, Dahyun sighs. “I guess you are.”

Sana puts a hand underneath Dahyun’s chin, lifting her face so that they’re looking right at each other. There’s almost no space between them. “Good answer,” Sana murmurs, her breath touching Dahyun’s lips, quickly kissing her and pulling back when she hears the cheers from the TV screen as Twice’s performance starts.

“It’s starting…” Dahyun says quietly.

She wasn’t prepared for Sana’s kiss, but now she wanted to be closer with the older girl. Dahyun raises her hand to touch her own lips, missing the contact.

The distance between them feels heavy with tension.

Sana just looks at the TV, watching Momo sing her lines. Momo and Sana’s lines go one after the other, so Momo seems to be out of breath by the time Jihyo sings the next part of the first verse.

“Momo’s doing really well with your lines,” Dahyun says just to say anything.

“Yeah,” Sana agreed quietly. “Yeah, she is.”

Dahyun, noticing the way Sana’s acting now, decides to look over the schedule in the paper again to look at what full group performances they’ll have. She smiles when she notices one in a couple days, the only one so far that confirms they can be a complete team again. “Don’t worry, we’ll perform all together soon.”

Sana stays quiet.

They watch their members perform the infectious song, Dahyun quietly singing along when the chorus starts.

After some time, the bridge is supposed to play, but without the two central figures there to sing and dance their specific duo choreography for it, nothing really happens. The Twice members line themselves to the side of the stage while a video behind them plays the clip from their MV where Sana and Dahyun dance after finding each other in the middle of the maze. The clip cuts out before Dahyun lets go of Sana, and Twice start dancing on the stage again though there’s a noticeable lack of energy. It’s obvious where Sana and Dahyun are supposed to be dancing with them, the spots left vacant and empty.

“Seriously though, are gay exceptions really a thing?” Sana interrupts, taking the TV remote and muting it.

“Tons of people have girl crushes,” Dahyun argues, “So it’s an actual thing.”

Sana raises an eyebrow. “So you admit that you have a crush on me?”

Dahyun blushes. “I didn’t say that…” But she meant it.

Sana looks momentarily at the TV. “We can watch this later,” she says and turns it off, turning her body completely towards Dahyun.

Dahyun looks between Sana and the TV, feeling like the temperature of the room is unusually high right now. “Maybe we should-”

And Sana’s kissing her again, softly and so full of emotion that Dahyun can’t help but melt at the feeling. Dahyun leans in to Sana’s touch, closing her eyes. She can’t help but love how this feels, wanting more, wanting to explore just how far this feeling can go. Dahyun moves closer, practically laying on top of Sana’s lap. She swipes her tongue on Sana’s lips, and the intensity of the kiss is leaving her dizzy.

Sana smiles into the kiss, but then she’s pulling back.

Dahyun tries to follow her, not wanting to disconnect their lips. She opens her eyes slowly. “W-why did you stop…?” Dahyun asks, confusion evident in her features.

Sana looks away, and she seems so uncharacteristically sad despite the smile on her face. “Because… Because I think it’s starting to mean more to me than it means to you.”

~

“You’re gay for her,” Sana says all of a sudden to Jihyo when breakfast is finished and Mina’s left with their dirty dishes.

Jihyo’s interrupted from staring adoringly at Mina. “What?” Jihyo stares at her as if Sana’s starting to lose her mind. “No, I’m not? We’re just good friends, Sana. Not everyone is gay.”

Mina comes back from the kitchen. “I got a text from the manager saying that I’m doing an individual promotion, so I’m gonna head out now.” Mina grabs her phone from the table.

“Okay, babe,” Jihyo says without missing a beat, kissing Mina’s cheek. “See you soon!”

Then Mina leaves, and everything’s quiet.

“Huh,” Jihyo says after a moment.

“Yup,” Sana answers.

“...I kinda see it now.”

“Told ya.”

“Just a little bit, you know? Not… Not like you and Dahyun-ah,” Jihyo says, going through a sudden epiphany about herself that she was very much not prepared for.

“If you say so, unnie,” Sana says with a little laugh. “If you say so.”

“Maybe…” Jihyo’s voice shakes, her brain being so overwhelmed with new information that it’s taking her a moment to process it all. “Maybe I am… gay…”

“You used to date boys, right?” Dahyun asks, wanting to add to the conversation. “So maybe you’re bi?”

“Yeah…” Jihyo says slowly, still struggling to catch up with reality. “My head hurts.”

“Happens to the best of us,” Sana tells Jihyo, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

~

It’s the only performance they’ll have as a full group in a music show for this comeback.

As always, their choreography is straightforward and cheerful, not really all that different from their usual comebacks though this time each members has put their personal touch on it, being just a bit flirty with each other with obvious pairings in some occasions. As the bridge nears, it becomes more intricate, everyone moving in sync around each other.

Chaeyoung misses a step and accidentally gets too close to Tzuyu when Tzuyu is in the middle of singing her line, too close in this case meaning that they almost kiss. Tzuyu smiles shyly but continues singing her line. Chaeyoung winks at her, catching up quickly with what part of the choreo she’s supposed to be doing right now, and Tzuyu almost messes up the pronunciation of her lyric because of it.

When the bridge starts, all the members are lined up to the side while Sana and Dahyun take the center. The stage lights focus on them, creating a halo upon them as they dance together. They’ve practiced this part of the choreography dozens of time, both the MV version and the performance version, the difference being that this time they stay together. There’s louder cheers coming from the crowd when their fans realize that Dahyun isn’t letting go this time.

Dahyun smiles at the attention, surprised at the unconditional love Once continues to give them. She holds Sana close, though with a space between them so as to not make the dance uncomfortable the more energetic their movements get.

“These feelings are growing, tell me it’s love~” Sana sings cutely to Dahyun, spinning her with a bright smile on her face.

Due to the visuals in the MV, the bridge had originally felt like it gave off a sense of intense longing for love. But now, with Sana and Dahyun dancing together and not letting go, smiling as the crowd cheers out their names, the song gives off a sense of having love instead.