TITLE: The Replacement
SUMMARY: S.O.T meets TROIS for the first time. Nia has mixed feelings about Jin.
PAIRING: Mentioned Nia x Johnny
GENRE: Uhhhh not sure? Like... Maybe mild drama?
WORD COUNT: 1.7k
WARNINGS: Swearing
A/N: hehe trying a different font for post banners. lemme know if it actually works or if it’s ugly. i can’t really tell.
Yerin smoothed her hair down one more time, trying to settle the jolts of anxiety that rattled her chest. What was she so nervous about? On paper, there was nothing for her to be anxious over.
Except if you squint and read between the lines, there absolutely was something to worry about. Yerin took the time to read up on her newest members before meeting them backstage at Music Bank after their debut showcase. All three girls seemed to be promising enough, but there was one member that the leader couldn’t stop thinking about.
Min Soojin was not only the leader of the subunit, but she was the main vocalist and center. All positions that Nia held when she debuted. She was designated to the color red, just like Nia. She had short black hair and bangs, not unlike Yerin’s own signature debut look. Even Soojin’s vocal tone sounded similar to Nia’s. As far as Yerin was aware, this Min Soojin was not just a new member. She was Yerin’s replacement.
Maybe the word ‘replacement’ was a little dramatic. But the uncanny parallels were enough to make Nia raise her eyebrow in skepticism. Plus the way HBH was marketing Soojin left Yerin no choice but to come to the conclusion that Jin was, without a doubt, meant to be the next ‘Nia’. And that was a hard pill for the leader to swallow.
Sitting with Micha and Eunha on a backstage sofa, she bounced her leg absentmindedly as she surveyed the live footage of the performance on the television in front of her. Her eyes were particularly fixated on Jin. Her vocals were strong, but her dancing was clearly not as strong as the other two. A wave of relief passed over Nia when she noticed the flaw in the new girl, followed abruptly by a pang of guilt. Jin wasn’t meant to be competition, she was her team mate. Yerin had to snap out of it.
“They’re good, huh?” Zim bopped her head along to the music, enjoying the performance. “Hyo has a nice flow and Ame’s stage presence is really charming.”
“Yeah, Ame’s gonna be popular, I can tell.” Yen smiled proudly, as if she had a hand in the other girl’s performance. “Jin’s even better live than on recording. I heard she was offered a solo contract.”
“No way,” Zim raised her eyebrows. “I wonder if that’s true.”
Nia huffed. “There’s no way. HBH didn’t have any solo debuts planned. I was there for the scheduling meeting.”
Eunha and Micha noticed the icy tone in their leader’s voice.
“It was just a rumor.” Yen muttered under her breath.
“Rumors in a small company like ours never end well.” Nia responded a little sharper than she intended.
Yen rolled her eyes before focusing back on the screen, clapping along with the audience as the song ended. The lights on stage went dark, signaling the end of their debut showcase.
In a few minutes, the three sweaty and flushed members of Trois entered the dressing room. Hyo’s eyes widened when she noticed S.O.T sitting down and bowed hastily. Ame and Jin did the same, rushing out greetings to their senior members. An awkward air settled over the six girls, realizing that they have never been in a room together before today.
Nia figured it was time for her leadership skills to shine. She gestured to the couches.
“You should sit down.” Nia suggested. The three girls instantly sat themselves, not hesitating in the slightest. Yerin couldn’t tell if they were just very obedient or very comfortable.
“Here, we’ll go get you guys some food and some water,” Yen offered.
“Oh, you don’t have to-” Jin started. Eunha raised a hand to stop her new teammate.
“Let us do this, we didn’t have any seniors to pamper us during our debut. Let us give you what we wish we had.” Eunha grinned before walking off with Yen in her wake towards the buffet table.
Nia cleared her throat, uneasy about being alone with the newbies. What should she say to them?
“Do you feel accomplished?” Nia asked the first thing that came to her head. She only realized how passive-aggressive the comment sounded after it left her lips. The smiles on the girls faces melted into nervous grimaces.
“Well, we practiced a lot,” Jin looked between her two members. “And we’ve been preparing for this for a long time. We haven’t looked at the footage from the stage yet, but I’m confident that we did a good job.”
Nia nodded. “You guys were good. I was impressed.”
The three girls looked between each other with excited glances.
“Thank you, Nia.” Jin smiled brightly. “You actually were the one we wanted to get the approval of the most.”
“We were afraid you’d hate it and then kick us to the curb.” Hyo spoke up with a smirk on her lips. Jin shushed her friend through laughs, nudging Hyo with her elbows playfully. Hyo fought back, pushing her shoulder into Jin with a giggle. Nia’s eyebrows raised ever so slightly. She’s never had her members play around with her like that. It made her wonder what type of leader-member dynamic Jin had set up with her group mates.
“We didn’t think that seriously, of course-” Ame tried to save her friends.
“Uh, I did.” Hyo arched her eyebrows. She gave Nia a sympathetic look. “No offense, but you can be really intimidating.”
Nia chuckled, shaking her head. “Don’t worry, I promise I’m not as bad as I may seem.”
“That’s a lie.” Yen appeared behind them, carrying plates of food. “She’s horrible the week before a comeback.”
“Oh my god, before Pose dropped, Yerin was like a dictator.” Eunha shared, handing out drinks to everyone. This launched a retelling of all Nia’s strictest and meanest moments, which evoked a mixture of laughs and mortified chuckles from the three new members. The six girls ate their lunch together, swapping debut day stories, predebut memories and advice.
“Oh my god, wait till you guys go to ISAC.” Micha shook her head, pointing her chopsticks in Ame’s direction. “You are going to get so many male idols coming up to you and giving you their numbers, I just know it.”
“Oh,” Ame couldn’t say much more, her cheeks flushed bright red. Jin chuckled, giving Ame a nudge of encouragement.
“ISAC is fun, just don’t get lost.” Eunha shot a mischievous glance over at Nia, who tilted her head back to the ceiling and groaned. One of Nia’s worst memories was getting lost at their first ISAC event, which led to her walking around the gymnasium and avoiding bumping into other idols. There were videos of her awkwardly wandering all over the internet for weeks.
Jin covered her mouth as she chuckled, nodding her head. “Oh my god, Johnny told me about that! I felt so bad, that sounds so scary!”
Nia slowed her chewing down.
“You know Johnny?” She asked, her blood running cold.
Jin nodded, patting the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “Yeah, we met at this club a couple years ago. He’s one of my closest friends. He talks about you kind of a lot.”
“Oh.” Yerin blinked. “He’s never mentioned you.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. He probably didn’t want you getting the wrong idea.” Jin nodded in understanding. “Don’t tell him I said anything, but he seems to like you a lot.” Jin winked. Yerin fought off the urge to respond with ‘yeah, no shit’. Johnny has been her almost-boyfriend for nearly two months now. She wasn’t oblivious to his feelings towards her.
Instead she gave a small smile. The tension was tight for a moment until Hyo let out a loud cuss word, causing all the attention to shift to herself.
“Ah damn!” Hyo whined, pushing her chair back. She had spilled her banana milk all over the front of her stage outfit.
Staff members ran over quickly, handing Hyo a new shirt to change into so they could use stain remover on the blouse before it was too late. In the change of atmosphere, S.O.T’s manager, Hyunjung, rose from her spot at the manager’s table.
“Actually, we should get going,” Hyunjung straightened out her dress pants. “We still have some business to do back at the company.”
“It was nice meeting you!” Ame gushed as the six girls disposed of their food together.
“Next time I won’t spill milk all over myself.” Hyo winked. The S.O.T girls chuckled, said their goodbyes, and followed Hyunjung out of the dressing room.
As soon as they turned the corner, Hyunjung addressed Yerin.
“You could have been a little more subtle.” Hyunjung said severely.
Nia played dumb. “What do you mean?”
“I mean staring daggers at Soojin while you’re having a conversation doesn’t do you any favors.” Hyunjung criticized. “What are you gonna do when you have to start promoting with her? People are going to notice the stiffness between you two. I’d say sort it out, but it’s clearly a one-sided issue.”
Nia’s mouth was agape as she tried to formulate a response that made sense.
“She knows Johnny though. He’s never mentioned her to me. You can’t expect me to not be suspicious after knowing something like that?” Nia said defensively.
“I mean, I know Johnny too.” Yen shrugged. “I’ve hung out with him before when I went to Yuta’s that time.”
“Yeah but that’s different.” Nia insisted, rolling her eyes as the group stepped into the parking lot, heading towards their car. “You’re clearly just his friend and I know you. I don’t know Jin.”
“Just because someone knows your boyfriend doesn’t mean they’re romantically involved with him.” Hyunjung reminded Nia as they buckled their seat belts.
“Johnny’s not my boyfriend,” Yerin said firmly. “Well, at least not yet.”
Hyunjung glanced at Yerin through the rearview mirror.
“Then there's really nothing to be upset over, is there?” Hyunjung asked, a single eyebrow arched.
Yerin didn’t respond, knowing that the conversation was over. Eunha reached her hand across the space between their seats and laced fingers with Yerin comfortingly.
“Hey, you’re still my favorite leader.” Eunha smiled. “And nothing is going to change that.”
Yen leaned forward from her seat in the back. “You’re my favorite leader on the days we have off.” Yen smiled brightly. “And if I was Johnny I’d rather fuck you than Jin.”
“Thanks, guys.” Yerin huffed in amusement as their car pulled out of the parking lot and onto the freeway.
since the three of them had been through hell and back together, they're very close and reliant on each other.
they work together like a well-oiled machine, it's very very rare that these girls will be out of sync with each other.
they treat each other like family: which means that they are more than comfortable being confrontational with each other.
if a fight does occur, it usually dies down pretty quickly (or at least after some alone time). they don't purposely try to piss each other off, but they know what gets each other going.
in a massive group like triptych, the girls know that they can rely on each other and keep grounded within their group of three.
INNER-GROUP DYNAMICS:
nia + zim (NIM)
they've been the closest of friends since the start of their training together.
zim actually signed with hbh because she met nia. zim always thought nia was a strong person whom she wanted to be connected with.
since they are very different by nature (zim is more outgoing and chill, nia is more task-oriented and focused), they balance each other out very well. whatever one lacks, the other makes up for.
nia always confides with zim, especially when it comes to venting about other members of the group. being the leader of 18 and counting is very difficult.
overall, a supportive, sisterly relationship that both of them cherish.
zim + yen (YENHA)
the ultimate sibling relationship.
zim and yen are sometimes at each other's throats. not because they don't get along, but because they are always teasing each other for something.
but beyond the teasing there is a level of trust that these two have that is really hard to replace.
they rely on each other a lot for emotional support, especially because they are very in-tune to each other's emotional states.
zim is also one of the few people that can actually calm yen down when she gets all worked up. yen doesn’t open up to just anyone, but she trusts zim with just about anything.
yen + nia (YERYEN)
out of the three combinations, this one is probably the weakest, probably because they don't have a whole lot in common.
a lot of the time, yen feels like nia babies her and doesn't see her as an adult. nia thinks yen can be a little irresponsible.
this doesn't mean they aren't close, if anything, they understand each other on a deep level and know what gets under each other’s skin. because of this, they bicker the most out of anyone in S.O.T
they work better when they are in a professional setting. they both have goals they want to meet and they help each other reach those goals. sometimes yen turns into the second-in-command, despite being the youngest of S.O.T
