ꜱᴏ ɪ ᴘʀᴏᴘᴏꜱᴇ, ɪᴛ'ꜱ ʟᴏɴɢ ᴏᴠᴇʀᴅᴜᴇ
SYNOPSIS: You've been "secretly" making out with Lara. She finally asks you out.
CONTENT: Lara Raj x 7th Member Fem Reader
TAGS: Fluff, Mutual Pining, "Secret" Relationship, Angst coming soon(happy ending though trust!)
WC: 2.2k
A/N: happy pride month! hope you enjoy this part! this one lowkey needs the context of the previous part to make sense.
also pov change cause i don't rlly like writing how i did in the previous parts anymore. (i wrote the last two almost a year ago😭)
Post-kissing Lara, everything changed. But at the same time somehow nothing changed at all.
You still sat beside her during vocal lessons. She still stole bites of your food whenever she thought you weren't looking. You still found yourself gravitating toward her during every break, every lunch, every spare moment between evaluations and practice.
But now every little thing felt different...
The brush of her shoulder against yours, the way her hand stayed a second too long when she passed you a microphone, the way she'd look at you from across the studio mirrors and immediately smile.
Everything felt heavier, brighter. More dangerous even. If you were being honest to yourself, you were enjoying every second of it.
That was probably how Sophia ended up cornering you in the kitchen four days later. The dorm was unusually quiet for six in the morning, most of the girls were still asleep.
You were standing at the counter waiting for coffee to brew after another sleepless night when a familiar voice spoke behind you.
"You've been avoiding me."
You nearly launched your mug across the room. You knew Sophia had been the one to see you and Lara, and yeah. Maybe you were hiding from her a little.
Sophia immediately turned her detective face on. "You literally turned around and walked into a closet yesterday."
"You stayed in there for fifteen minutes."
You sighed dramatically. "Maybe I've been avoiding you a tad bit."
Sophia smiled. The kind of smile that immediately made you nervous.
You were fidgeting with your thumbs now. "Why is that good?"
"Because you admitted it and we need to talk."
Every survival instinct you possessed immediately activated.
She reached into her hoodie pocket. Your stomach dropped.
She pulled out her phone. You immediately knew what she was about to show you.
Sophia turned the phone around.
Your soul left your body. There, displayed proudly on her screen, was a blurry photograph. It was terrible quality, the lighting sucked, the angle was awful. Yet by some miracle it was still painfully obvious.
The exact moment from four days ago, the moment you’d spent your days trying not to think about. The exact reason you'd suddenly developed an intense fear of Sophia Laforteza.
You pointed accusingly. "YOU TOOK A PICTURE?"
"I didn't know what else to do! I guess maybe I needed proof."
"What kind of response is that?"
Meanwhile, you were considering moving back to Vancouver. Maybe changing your name.
"Then why is it still on your phone?"
"I deleted it from my camera roll."
"I forgot recently deleted existed."
"SOPHIA. This is serious, we don't want anyone knowing!"
She doubled over laughing, you wanted to launch your coffee at her. Eventually she calmed down enough to wipe tears from her eyes. Then, surprisingly, her expression softened.
"I haven't shown anyone."
For the first time that morning, she sounded completely serious.
The knot in your stomach loosened slightly.
A brief silence settled between you.
"You literally have photographic evidence."
"You've been dating for weeks."
"You think this is private?"
"You look at Lara like she’s the only person you can see and she practically might be."
Heat immediately rushed to your face.
You hated that she was probably right. Sophia noticed. Of course she noticed.
Her grin only grew wider. Before you could argue, the kitchen door opened. You turned instinctively and immediately forgot what you were about to say.
Marquise had walked into the room and you just glared at Sophia to shut up.
The next few weeks passed in a blur of rehearsals, evaluations, sore muscles, and Lara. Honestly it was mostly Lara.
At some point, people had stopped asking where one of you was and started asking where both of you were. Not that any of you noticed, and if you did, you just didn’t care.
“Break ends in five minutes” Nikky’s piercing voice echoed through the dance studio. A collective groan filled the room. You dropped dramatically onto the floor.
“I think I’m dying. I can’t do anymoreeee.” Your limbs were sprawled out on the cold dance floor.
A shadow appeared above you. You didn’t even have to look up to know it was Lara, her scent gave it away.
“You literally have five minutes before break ends.”
“I’ll spend all of my minutes recovering thank you!”
The word slipped out before Lara could think about what she was saying. Your heart nearly stopped. Lara’s eyes widened, and for a moment neither of you moved.
Almost comedically, Sophia appeared out of nowhere. She wasn’t even supposed to be in this studio.
“I heardddd that.” She pointed at you aggressively.
You jumped higher than you ever had before
"You two are unbelievable."
Sophia looked far too pleased with herself. Around the room, a few girls looked up from their water bottles.
Marquise raised an eyebrow. Ezrela looked between the two of you suspiciously. Manon smirked.
You wanted the floor to open up and swallow you whole. Lara looked equally mortified.
"You're being dramatic," Lara muttered.
"You called her baby." The room immediately burst into laughter.
Even you couldn't stop yourself from laughing. Your face burned, but somehow the embarrassment felt lighter when Lara was laughing too.
Everyone immediately straightened up.
The moment was over. Just like that.
Or at least you thought it was.
Because while you were returning to your positions and trying not to think about the way Lara had accidentally called you baby- Other people were paying attention.
Little comments. Questions left unasked. The rumors hadn't started yet, but the first seeds had already been planted.
Far above the practice rooms, behind tinted glass and closed doors, conversations were happening that neither you nor Lara would hear for months.
Conversations about image. About marketability. About risk assessment. About what happened when feelings got involved.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, neither you nor Lara had ever been particularly good at following rules.
Things only got worse from there...
Now that you and Lara knew you liked each other… well let’s just say it made it significantly harder for you to behave like normal humans. Not that either of you were trying particularly hard. You weren’t complaining though. It was one of the best parts about this place.
One afternoon, the two of you were reviewing choreography in an empty practice room. Pretending to.
You were supposed to be helping each other with footwork. Instead, Lara was drawing smiley faces in your notebook.
"You are literally useless."
Lara looked offended. "I am an excellent practice partner.”
"You just drew like a million smiley faces on the choreography notes."
"They looked sad and I heard putting things that make you happy on sad things makes them happier!”
Lara smiled. “And you know, I’m not good enough at drawing to draw you…”
And suddenly neither of you were looking at the notebook anymore.
The room felt quieter. Your heartbeat sped up. Lara glanced toward the door. Then back at you. You knew that look.
"You are a terrible influence."
Unfortunately, she was right.
A second later she leaned forward. The kiss was quick, barely a few seconds. But it was enough to make your stomach do backflips.
When she pulled away, both of you were smiling.
"Definitely a terrible influence."
The stolen moments became your favorite part of every day.
A hand finding yours under the lunch table, shoulders touching during movie nights.
Lara sneaking snacks into your bag because she knew you'd forget to eat.
Little things. Tiny things.
Things nobody else noticed.
At least that's what you thought.
The vocal room had quickly become your favorite hiding spot. It wasn’t really special or comfortable, but it was one of the few places you and Lara could be alone. Or at least mostly alone.
The two of you had originally come in here to practice harmonies. Somewhere between singing the same verse six times and Lara making fun of your pronunciation, the lesson had been completely abandoned.
Now you were sitting beside her on the small couch pushed against the wall.
Far too close to be considered normal.
Lara was laughing about something, her hand absentmindedly playing with the sleeve of your hoodie.
You weren't even paying attention to what she was saying anymore. You were too busy staring at her.
"You've got that look again."
"The one where you're staring at me."
You immediately lost the argument.
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
Before you could come up with a response, Lara leaned forward. The kiss was soft and familiar.
Nothing like the uncertainty of the first one. By now, kissing Lara felt natural, like something you'd been doing forever.
Your hand found hers automatically.
The two of you pulled apart briefly, laughing at absolutely nothing. Then somehow ended up kissing again.
Neither of you seemed particularly interested in stopping.
The outside world faded away.
Which was exactly why neither of you noticed the door opening.
The vocal room door opened in the middle of your makeout session.
You and Lara jumped apart so quickly you nearly gave yourselves permanent neck damage.
Sophia stood in the doorway saying nothing.
Lara stood up and moved about 3 feet away from you.
Sophia pointed between the two of you.
"You know, I actually thought you guys would get better at hiding it, but you somehow got worse"
She grinned, then she backed out of the room. Before closing the door, she stuck her head back inside.
"Just so we're clear, if you get caught, I was never here."
You could hear her laughing all the way down the hallway.
Running away together to kiss had practically become routine. Which was why it wasn’t that surprising when Lara texted you:
You stared at the message.
That wasn't an answer. Five minutes later, you found her waiting outside the dorm.
"You couldn't tell me where we were going?"
"Because then it wouldn't be a surprise."
Lara just grabbed your hand and started walking.
The city was quiet at night.
Eventually, she led you to a small playground tucked between apartment buildings.
"You brought me to a playground."
Lara laughed. The sound made your chest feel warm. You sat beside each other on the swings. For a while, all you could hear were crickets.
The chains creaked softly in the night air.
Everything felt peaceful. It was just you and Lara.
Then she cleared her throat. You immediately looked over. Lara looked nervous. Truly nervous. She never looked nervous.
"Why do you look like you're about to throw up?"
For a moment, she just looked at you. Really looked at you.
Her expression softened. "We've been doing this for a while."
She gestured vaguely between the two of you.
"Yeah." A nervous laugh escaped her.
"We spend every day together."
"We're basically dating."
A smile tugged at your lips.
Then she reached for your hand.
"I don't want basically."
The words came out quietly. She’d been holding them in for weeks.
For the first time since you'd met her, she looked genuinely unsure of herself.
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
You stared and immediately started laughing.
"We're trainees. I don't exactly have the most free time on my hands."
Still smiling, you leaned forward and kissed her. When you finally pulled away, Lara blinked.
"Obviously. What else would it be?"
The smile that spread across her face was brighter than any stage light you'd ever seen. The future suddenly didn't feel so terrifying anymore. Because whatever happened next, you and Lara would face it together.
Neither of you knew just how much that promise would be tested.
A/N: err so be prepared for hella angst in the next couple parts!!
TAGLIST: @urwavvy @whatmabel @thefangirlsarah7 @aoeiurgnmddk
