Work Text:
“Hey!! Yuzu, there you are! Can you come back in? We want to run the next...”
Yuya trailed off when he finally noted the middle finger Selena pointed in his direction.
“Sorry, Selena!” he said. “She’s wearing a ponytail for the role so uh...I didn’t know you’d be here...sorry!!”
He ducked back through the door, leaving Selena alone in the greenroom once more. She hadn’t even looked up, her eyes fixed on her phone. She fiddled with it, flipping through a few tweets. Everyone was talking about some anime she didn’t watch, so she closed the app and switched over to the music. She popped her earbuds in and turned the volume up loud. This was her new CD, and she hadn’t gotten a chance to finish listening to it. Her usual spot, behind the school, was currently taken over by Kurosaki and Yuto, which was normally fine because they never tried to talk to her, they were smoking today, and she hated the smell of weed.
If she tried to go out to the empty bleachers or run around the track, she’d get pestered by Gongenzaka or one of the other sports captains to join one of their clubs. Anywhere else in the school she’d get found and busted for loitering. Like, fuck, didn’t principal Akaba have anything better to do than scour the hallways for kids just sitting and listening to music? Didn’t he need to go home sometime? Probably not, it would make it harder for Reiji to have daddy issues in that case.
At home, dad would want to hear about her day, and when she didn’t have anything to say except “I survived” he’d get all worried, and ask her if she’d joined any clubs or made any friends, probably accidentally dropping something about how ‘prolific’ Yuzu was, and she’d never hear the end of it. So the only place to go and not be bothered was hiding in the greenroom while Yuzu finished rehearsal. Usually, that worked, except in the case of when Yuya walked in.
She debated, for a moment, whether she could sneak onto the catwalk and hang out up there for a while. Nah, she decided. She’d have to listen to the musical practice, and after the last time, Reiji had told her in no uncertain terms that he would find a way to get her detention if he found her up there again. Here would have to do.
The door opened again, and she tilted her head back to the ceiling, trying to disappear into her music and hope no one would try to talk to her.
“Yuzu! I didn’t know you were back here...oh!”
Selena bit back a groan and tried very hard to act like she hadn’t heard. Too late. Grace had appeared leaning over her, eyes alight.
“You know, your resemblance is uncanny,” she said, speaking at a perfect volume for Selena to hear her even through her music. “You’d make a great understudy, don’t you think? You should join theater with us!”
“I’m not Yuzu’s fucking understudy,” Selena snapped in spite of herself, in spite of her decision to try and ignore her. “Leave me the fuck alone.”
“Darling, no need to be so crude,” Grace tutted.
But she did lean away, and move over to the costume rack, rifling through to grab hers. She paused before she flounced through the door, sending Selena a bright, but absolutely conniving grin.
“It’s for the best, though, I suppose. Your singing is awful.”
Selena almost stood, face burning — Grace, it seemed, hadn’t forgotten Selena’s one attempt to try out for theater along with Yuzu in freshman year — but Grace was already gone. Selena sank back in her chair, fuming.
Selena restarted the song — she hadn’t gotten a chance to really listen to it. She leaned over the counter this time, staring at herself in one of the mirrors. Did she and Yuzu really look that alike? Ugh.
Sometimes, being a twin sucked . Like. Yuzu didn’t suck. Selena couldn’t bring herself to resent her sister — after all, Yuzu was always there for her, and she was pretty much the only one who didn’t try to force her to do things. They had different taste in music, but they always swapped CDs and listened to each other’s stuff so they could talk about it.
It wasn’t Yuzu’s fault that everyone else saw her and her overachieverness, her student council spot, her leads in the school plays, her straight-As and community service, and then looked at Selena and compared them. Wasn’t Yuzu’s fault that everyone else thought Selena was a pointless redundancy since she didn’t “apply herself” the way Yuzu did. Wasn’t anyone’s fault but Selena’s that all she was good for was to be mistaken for Yuzu — to be Yuzu’s understudy.
Ughhh. She still wasn’t listening to the music because she was moping. This sucked .
Sending a silent apology to the song for not giving it its proper attention, she just moved to the next one. A fresh beat to sink into. She closed her eyes, leaning back with her hands on the counter. She started to tap out the rhythm, letting the music flow into her and down her arms, beginning to tap with her feet.
The chair was no good. She had to stand up. She stuffed her phone into her pocket and started to rock back and forth with the music. A beat rang in her head. One-two, one-two. She raised her arms over her head and felt out the rhythm. She spun on one foot, sliding on her heels, twisting and turning. The moves came out naturally, and the heat in her brain began to cool from the music and the movement and the release of just going .
She didn’t realize she had an audience until she spun to land the last beat of the song, and saw the girl standing in the doorway. She flubbed the last step, tripped over her shoe, and went sprawling onto the floor.
The next song started to play, but Selena just yanked her earbuds off, face burning as she shot up to her knees.
“Hey, don’t sneak up on people!” she snapped.
The girl raised an eyebrow. Selena recognized her now — didn’t remember her name, but she was in a few of Selena’s classes, and she made props and sets with the stage crew. Yuzu must have said her name once or twice.
“Don’t use other people’s spaces as a dance studio if you don’t want anyone to see you,” she said. But there was an appraising tone to her voice, considering. She looked Selena up and down.
“What?” Selena snapped. “You want to say something else?”
“Did you improv that?” the girl asked. “Because it was good. Professional level good. Do you take lessons?”
Selena’s lips parted. She slowly shook her head. Then she nodded. Then she shook her head again, confused by herself.
“Ugh — no! No I don’t take lessons, but yes I did just...improvise that. Is there a problem?”
“No. I just thought that that’s the first I’ve seen you smiling.”
Selena blinked. Her lips parted.
“Are you...making fun of me?” she asked, as heat rose to her cheeks.
The girl smirked, tossing her black hair back over her shoulder.
“If I were making fun of you, you would know,” she said. “I’m not subtle. Now would you please move over so I can get to that hairspray?”
Selena hesitated, and then stepped to the side. The girl reached past her and grabbed the hairspray on the counter. She didn’t leave, however. She only turned to Selena and looked at her for a minute.
“You know,” she said, “the stage crew loft is pretty clear at the moment. No one goes in and out up there because we’re all in the garage. You could dance there, if you wanted.”
Selena blinked at her. Her mouth half opened.
“Really, are you making fun of me?” she demanded.
The girl rolled her eyes.
“No,” she said. “I liked your dance. And you seem to be getting frustrated with people interrupting you — I can resonate with that. Do you want a private place or not, Selena?”
Selena considered her for a moment, eyes narrow. She wasn’t good with...friends. She wasn’t sure if this was what the girl was after, either.
“You know my name,” Selena said after a beat.
“Of course I know your name. We’re in classes together. You come and see every single show your sister is in. You’re notorious.”
“You didn’t mistake me for Yuzu.”
“That’s because Yuzu has a sweet face. You don’t.”
Selena scowled, but the girl grinned.
“Now that was me making fun of you. Anyway. The crew loft is open. You can get to it from the door around the hall. I won’t say anything if you want to go up there.”
She turned back towards the door, but before she walked through, she stopped, and looked back. She quirked another smile at her.
“That really was the first time I’ve actually seen you smile,” she said. “It looks good on you.”
“Makes me look more sweet, like Yuzu?” Selena said dryly. “Makes me more like perfect Yuzu?”
The girl rolled her eyes.
“No,” she said. “It makes you look more like yourself.”
And she disappeared, before the words could truly sink in, and Selena felt the heat in her cheeks explode through her as a very undefinable feeling rushed through her veins.
“Masumi,” she blurted out loud to herself then. “Fuck. That’s your name.”
She stood there for a moment longer, earbuds dangling from her fingers, so loud that she could feel them buzzing through her hand. She waited two more minutes. Then she paused her music, and walked out the door towards the hall with the door to the stage crew loft.