It’s just another day of work for Nayeon.

She’s got the end of the pistol pressed up against the temple of the girl in the car seat beside her, her glare steady on her. The girl’s face is wide-eyed, focused on the front window, her hands gripping at the wheel. Nayeon’s gaze narrows as she swallows hard, pulling back the safety lock.

I wonder if she’s doing anything after this, Nayeon thinks, glancing out the window before lightly pressing the muzzle further into the skin. You’ve done enough tiptoeing, Im. Just ask her out.

“Great work,” the director says as the buzzer blares across the set. “Stay put.”

Nayeon lets out a sigh of relief, dropping the gun from her coworker’s temple. “Great job, Tzuyu.” She offers a smile, probably wider than she’d normally allow people who are essentially strangers.

“Thanks,” Tzuyu says, turning her head toward her as she relaxes against the seat. “You too.” Her version of a smile comes in the form of the slightest upward quirk of her lips, but Nayeon’s ready to take whatever she can get at this point.

They’ve been filming this action movie—Nayeon is a bad-guy-gone-good and Tzuyu is the second half to a duo of well-intentioned protagonists who fell into a mess faster than they can climb out, but the details don’t matter—for about a month and a half already, and Nayeon has been itching to get to know her costar. More specifically, she wants to take her out to dinner—maybe sushi—or a movie, but Nayeon is choosing to focus on short-term goals first, like simply speaking coherently to Tzuyu for more than a minute outside of their script.

“You look good,” she suddenly spits out, proceeding to softly bite her tongue by the side of her teeth. God, why—

Tzuyu’s smile stretches slightly. “The team does a good job.”

“Well, yeah, of course, I—” She stops herself. Of ing course, duh. Why did I say that? Now she’s going to think I won’t like her natural look. Idiot. I bet her natural look is great. I’ll be lucky if I ever get to see—

Then, by the grace of the universe, Tzuyu chuckles. It’s soft and light, and it reminds Nayeon of clouds. Or maybe that’s just because the sound of Tzuyu’s laugh has her head high up among them.

“You’re a great actress, Nayeon.”

“Oh?” Nayeon can’t help the slight downward tug at the corners. “I wasn’t acting. I mean it. I just, you know, I meant—outside of the whole cosmetic team thing. Like, your face? Makeup or not, the sculpting of that is just” – she clicks her tongue, lifting her hand and making a small “O” with her index finger and thumb – “great. You were in a magazine once, if I remember right. Right?”

She waits for a response, but as the seconds—which are beginning to feel like minutes—tick by, she can feel the overwhelming embarrassment blanket over her, warming her face in a blush as she watches Tzuyu’s simple, amused stare bore through her. This level of eye contact is horrifying, I hate being an actress.

“Talking too much?” Nayeon asks.

Tzuyu nods, her eyes crinkling a bit. “Just a little. Jihyo said you wanted to go out to eat sometime?”

“Um,” Nayeon clenches her jaw, syllables drawling, “yes, I did tell her that.” Her grip on the fake gun on her lap tightens. In ing confidence!

“Do you want to tell me that?” Tzuyu asks, looking back at the wheel. Nayeon assumes that it’s best not to look into it, but she’ll lean into it instead.

“I do! I want to go out to eat sometime, maybe dinner. With you, specifically—Jihyo can’t come. Jihyo may be your partner in the movie but not for this.”

Tzuyu raises an eyebrow. “So, you want me to be your partner now, but for maybe-dinner.”

Heat tickles at Nayeon’s neck like a choker.  “Not in so many words, but yeah.”

The buzzer blares throughout the set again, the director calling for the girls to get back into character. Nayeon clears , lifting the gun back up to Tzuyu’s temple as Tzuyu straightens herself on the seat, hands back at their positions on the wheel, knuckles white.

“I’d like that,” Tzuyu whispers, right before donning her earlier expression.

Nayeon suppresses a grin, collecting herself as she narrows her gaze at her entirely too-beautiful costar. I’m still going to kill Jihyo, though.

“Action!”