first practice!au

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aaaayeeeee

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pi

p@

rip

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"is everyone here?" joowon nodded at her unni, who let out a "whew" of relief. "i'll bring in the chicken then!"

the band members were holding their first official meeting in joowonie's basement, because their band room at the school was set directly beside the chemistry club's lab. they had barely lived through the "unofficial" meeting when they assigned roles within the group to each band member (youngmi was a vocalist AND a rapper, jae had found out, and the newfound knowledge practically had her on her knees for the girl; not to mention her willingness to take up the electric bass to make way for jae and soojin to play guitar) for a reason. it would be hella hard to play instruments effectively and emotionally when random explosions caused them to jump every ten seconds...

jae had kindly bought chicken for all of them to share. she brought it down the steps leading to the basement, joowon following behind her with a joyful skip, and set the box which had cost her the last of her allowance for the month on the table. the steaming contents quickly made the girls sitting on the furniture surrounding the table feel their mouths water. "hyunjae-unni..." haewon warbled, her throat tightening in a hungry gulp. "i love you so much!!" her feet shifted on the smaller couch she was sharing with the seemingly uncomfortable soojin. the auburn haired girl stopped nudging the brunette who was impeding on her personal space as soon as the chicken arrived, though.

jae proudly plopped onto the other couch beside briana and showed off her teeth in a satisfied smile. "well, dig in then! it's my treat!!"

the girls hurriedly grabbed utensils such as plates and napkins off the coffee table joowon had set, and the host meanwhile hungrily opened up the package. the inside seemed to glow once it was exposed to the outside world, and the band members' chins were quickly stained with drool. "uwaaaah~" and their hands forced themselves beside each other as they reached for the chicken all at once, their fingers accidentally entwined with others', hushed "sorry"s and shivers ensuing. jae found herself following the flick of youngmi's tongue with her eyes as the girl finally grasped her first piece of chicken. hyunjae may not have been successful yet in grasping a morsel of alluring meat, but witnessing one mere moment of youngmi's darting tongue filled her stomach with butterflies. it was almost enough to quell her hunger.

so she scooted closer to the happily chewing girl and cheekily asked, "hey girl... you ever count shoulders before?"

"no..." youngmi looked confused -- her eyebrows creased together and everything. hyunjae thought the way her eyebrows creased together when she was in the zone was kinda hot.

"lemme teach you then." jae happily scooted closer to the bassist, causing the couch to creak and groan out from the shift in position. joowon (who was sitting on the other end of the couch) squeaked as her cushion rose where jae's body had just been settled and she nearly fell into the crease that resulted from the loss of balancing weight on the plushy material. the blonde hadn't noticed the problem, and she continued her sleazy act. she began to count and press her fingers to her shoulders. "one... two..." and then her grin was growing into a huge leer which frankly scared briana a bit, and her fingers were tapping the silver-haired girl's shoulder and going round her back to "three, four!~" and she was hugging the shocked youngmi closer to herself and grinning like crazy because FINALLY something byronè had sent her was bringing her good...

until briana was shaking her arm away with an uncomfortable chuckle, that is.

Dang it, jae thought to herself. I was this close to getting my girl...

but then youngmi was happily leaning forward to grab another piece of chicken and thanking jae for bringing them a meal with her full cheeks raised in a happy, pink smile. and jae's mood immediately lifted once again as she nodded in bliss and grabbed a piece for herself, and she chewed on it, thoroughly pleased, while watching youngmi eat with a smile.

once there was no more chicken left to take, the silver-haired girl stood up and placed a satisfied pat on her stomach. after stretching her arms over her head, exposing a bit of her stomach along the way (jae licked her lips, but it was simply to get that chicken on her lips off, yes, of course), briana turned to joowon. "sorry, i have to go wash my face."

"don't get water on the floor, please!" joowonie yelled out while dabbing at the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

"it's not like i'm going to splash my face with water or anything, wonnie!" youngmi laughed out and stood up. "uh... where's the bathroom, though?"

jae immediately sprang up and burst out, "i can take you there!"

"ah... thank you!" youngmi followed the blond girl out of the room and they headed in the direction of the washroom. jae's pulse skipped at the rate of her footsteps, and she felt the Badum-Badum clearly shake her maraca heart til its rattling was loud enough for her throat to let out a cough to hide the excited squeal it so badly wanted to release. "you alright?"

"mm?" hyunjae turned to the younger girl in confusion, then "ah"ed in realization. "oh!! uh, yes; yeah, i'm okay bro!"

"bro?" youngmi's eyebrows creased and she let out an amused chuckle.

"i call everyone bro... no time to discriminate," jae squeaked out, then cleared her throat and quickened her pace once she caught sight of the door. the following mumble echoed around the hall and made briana giggle in amusement: "sis sounds too much like cisgender but bro just rolls off the tongue. just like 'briana'..."

"makes sense i guess."

jae opened the door to the bathroom and gestured inside. "here it is!"

"thanks!" youngmi stepped in with a wide smile. "oh! there's two sinks in here... wanna come in and wash up too?"

the blonde jumped into the bathroom, barely remembering to not close the door so she wouldn't make everything awkward. "sure~" she slunk up to the sink beside briana's and rinsed her hands with some water before lathering them with soap. and then it was time for her face.

jae stared at the soap for a few seconds before looking up at the mirror. in the reflection, a certain silver-haired girl was carefully cleaning her face with a wash cloth, making sure the water and soap dripping down from it hit the basin of the sink rather than allowing it to slide down the front of her wife beater. jae gulped and turned back to her own sink. she gathered a small amount of soap in her hands and spread it over her chin and cheeks. and then she did what she usually did — she tucked a towel into the front of her blouse, closed her eyes, and violently splashed water onto her face. a loud gasp issued from beside her, and the blonde's eyes flew open in shock. soap streamed into them and she began to yell in pain, rubbing at them while the sink continued to gush out a violent stream of water.

youngmi ignored the stains from jae's face-chicken on her white wife beater and hastily grabbed a clean towel from the small stack conveniently standing beside the two sinks. she quickly turned jae to face her and, after wetting the towel a bit and turning off the tap, began to carefully dab at the girl's eyes. "hyunjae-unni... why did you splash your face like that? who taught you how to wash your face?!"

the girl who was gripping onto briana's dark, ripped-knee jean loops choked out, "my dad," and gulped in some air now that youngmi had wiped away the soap and water and chicken blocking her lips.

"well, i'll teach you how to do it the right way." jae nodded with her eyes still squeezed shut, and she felt briana's gentle fingers with the rough callouses wipe away the remaining soap around her eyebrow. "there. now open your eyes so i can show you how to do it right."

hyunjae's heart leapt a bit and she slowly blinked her eyes open, taking in the bright light bit by bit. and then she let briana teach her how to wash her face after an oily meal, and she nearly swooned at the feeling of the younger girl's fingertips on her skin every time she did something wrong.

*

once they were all cleaned up and refreshed, the two girls returned to the meeting spot, where their instruments had been all set up by the other three girls. "let's play, everyone!" haewon burst out happily, already spreading her excitable fingers over the plain keyboard joowon had snuck out of the school for her. soojin was busily strumming at her personal acoustic guitar, and joowon was tapping at her cajon. the youngest girl wasn't going to let the fact that she got caught by their principal when she tried to sneak the school drum set out of the band room upset her.

jae and briana giddily joined them behind the couch area and soon they were trying to find a song that all of them knew.

*

by the end of the day, the band members had chosen a number of songs they had to get the notes for, or at least the chord sheets (rhythm sheets or lead sheets would probably be more useful in joowon's case, though). the practice hadn't gone badly, and all of them were too busy happily picking up on their instrument skills to fight over their occasional lack of melody or harmony.

and now, hyunjae and youngmi we're taking the bus together, the instruments they borrowed from the band room carefully hanging from their backs as they swayed from side to side, because apparently, they lived in the same neighborhood now.

When did fate get on my side? jae thought to herself, shuffling her fingers over the strap of her guitar case while her other hand hovered around the bar to her left. she turned to look at the girl beside her, catching her already looking her way. the smile that followed jabbed jae straight in the heart and she gulped, pulling her hand away from the post to rifle it through her hair with a chuckle. "pretty cool we live in the same neighborhood now," she laughed out, and then the bus was skidding to a halt, and jae was yelping in shock and plummeting into briana's arms. the bassist caught her with one arm, her reflexes being quite quick. "do you... work out?" hyunjae breathed out, her hand resting on youngmi's toned upper arm.

briana chuckled. "yeah."

"that's so hot," jae instinctively whispered, and then the bus was moving again, and she was stumbling while briana gripped her tighter to keep her in place. "ah, thanks..."

briana's hum eased jae a little, and her arm stayed protectively wrapped around the older girl's waist. "no problem."

so they rode home on the swaying, rattling bus, youngmi's arm softly gripping hyunjae's waist and jae's hands resting on the bassist's arms, their hushed conversation lingering like the smiles on their faces.

***

BLESS BYRON AND HIS NEW VIDEO