keep this secret (with me) - a heathizzy fic

tell me all your sweet sweet little lies

Waiting with both A-Troupe and B-Troupe to find out what Miss Emily's news, was beyond nerve-wracking, Izzy thought. She wrung her hands together, rubbing at her thumb. It was a bad habit of hers, since it often caused her skin to peel.

Shaking her head to distract herself, she looked around the room. A-Troupers and B-Troupers alike were all standing around, waiting nervously for Miss Emily's announcement. Miss Emily had sent an email out the previous night, and everyone was confused about what she meant by it.

Were they no longer going to Nationals or A-Troupe's dance tour with Michelle? Was there going to be another DanceMania? What the heck was going on?

On the other side of the room, Heath stood with the A-Troupe boys. Izzy bit down on her lip as she looked at him. He wasn't in his usual dance attire, instead he was wearing a white t-shirt and a black flannel, paired with grey joggers and sneakers.

She wouldn't say it out loud, but he looked good. Like making her feel flustered and all warm and fuzzy inside good.

Maya who always seemed to be able to read Izzy's mind- no matter how embarrassing her thoughts were, spoke up. "Yo Heathcliff! Better watch out, or you'll be causing people to drop like flies with the hotness." Izzy felt her face turn bright red, but thankfully no one was looking in her direction.

Heath started to splutter and before he could completely embarrass himself, Miss Emily and Nick walked into Studio A. "Alright everyone!" Miss Emily clapped her hands together, getting everyone's attention.

"I know you've been busy working on Nationals and the upcoming dance tour, but we have some exciting news for you!" Everyone quieted down at this, eager to find out what she was going to talk about. Emily smiled at all of them before continuing.

"Usually here at TNS, we only do one competition a year, with maybe a few extra classes, but we've decided to do two competitions, so that both A-Troupe and B-Troupe get the opportunities they deserve." The A-Troupe boys all nudged each other, grins on their faces, and Izzy smiled as Maya grinned as well.

Miss Emily continued. "This second competition is in 4 months, so there will be less time to prepare compared to Nationals which is 9 months away or the dance tour which will be starting in January of next year."

Everyone nodded, understanding what she was saying: Don't screw this up. Emily smiled at all of them. "There will be 2 solos for both the girls and boys, one from two A-Troupers and one from two B-Troupers. That way it's fair. I've also decided to give Maya and Izzy a duet since they've been asking for one all year. The song will be Like A Girl by Lizzo. We'll also be doing a group dance with everyone on both teams to Non-Stop from Hamilton, and it will be hip hop fused with Musical Theatre."

Everyone started talking amongst themselves, excitement bubbling up. Heath said something to Kingston, before he looked at Izzy, and she could feel her heart pounding. He winked at her and she looked away, her cheeks burning.

"I want to get started on Maya and Izzy's duet first. Anyone who would also like a duet, please stick around. Otherwise you are excused to either go do your homework or work on some skills and technique. Come back here at 6 for the group dance since we'll be starting the spacing then."

Everyone nodded, and Izzy and Maya walked over to the middle, both of them starting to stretch out so they could get ready to dance.

Heath walked over to Izzy, quickly hugging her and whispering into her ear. "You're going to do great baby." Izzy nodded, a smile forming on her face as he let go of her before walking away.

Surprisingly, going over their dance went fairly fast, as Miss Emily wanted them to take over a lot of the choreography, so they could learn what worked and didn't work for both of them. It was always so much fun dancing with Maya.

After working on their duet for around one hour and thirty minutes, Miss Emily decided that it was time to bring everyone back in for the group dance. Izzy grabbed her water bottle from the side of the wall, panting and covered in sweat.

She could see the boys walking in through the corner of her eye, and she knew that Heath was probably going to come over and try to hug her. With how sweaty and gross she was at the moment, plus Ozzy standing not that far away from them, she had no plans on allowing that. Heath walked over to her, his arms already opened, and she put her water bottle down, shaking her head.

"Two things. My brother, and I'm super sweaty." Heath pouted and Izzy rolled her eyes. "I'll hug you later when Ozzy's changing or something. C'mon, we gotta work on the group dance." Heath nodded, still clearly disappointed. They both walked over to the middle, leaving a good amount of space between them.

From her peripheral vision, Izzy could see the other couples in the studio embracing and sharing quick kisses. She wished that Heath and her could do that. It sucked having to keep this all a secret. It sucked so much.

Before she could wallow in self pity, Miss Emily spoke up again. "Alright everyone! For the start spacing, I just want Finn and Heath. You two will be our starting Burr and Hamilton and also our ending Burr and Hamilton." Izzy stepped off to the side, watching as Emily started to instruct everyone on what position to take.

She wasn't called until around twenty minutes later, and she was nudged by Maya who knew she had zoned out. "Winnie and Izzy come to centre stage, then look towards Heath and Marcus."

Izzy followed Winnie, her eyes meeting Heath's as she stood in front of him. He smiled at her as Emily instructed them to move around in the formation that would make up their duet section of the dance. She smiled back.

After a few moments of standing there awkwardly looking at each other, the others also were added to the formation, so that Heath - who was playing Hamilton, was at the centre of the room, with everyone else either angled towards or away from him, and Izzy and Richelle standing closest to him as Eliza and Angelica respectively.

They ended with all of the boys pretending to shoot upwards as if throwing away their shots, while the girls looked away. Even though they were just walking through the formations and how things would look before they put in the actual choreography, Izzy felt exhausted.

As soon as Miss Emily said it was ok, she ran over to the side and grabbed her water bottle, chugging the rest of it as quickly as she could as she sat down, her feet outstretched in front of her.

After a long moment, she stood back up leaving her water bottle on the ground, fixing her shorts. Heath walked over to her, and before she could remind him that her brother was still in the room, he enveloped himself around her.

"Heath. C'mon you're heavy and sweaty, get off of me." He shook his head. "Not until you hug me back." Izzy rolled her eyes before wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest.

"Happy?" She grumbled looking up at him, and he grinned down at her. "Very." He let go of her and she squirmed, still able to feel the pressure of his arms around her. Ozzy was giving them a weird look, but Izzy refused to think too hard about it.

They continued to dance for the next 40 minutes, before Miss Emily finally decided that rehearsals had gone on long enough. Izzy let out a sigh of relief as class was dismissed. She grabbed her stuff and went to go wait in the front lobby, when Heath stopped her in the hallway, pulling her into one of the extra practice rooms.

"Has Ozzy been giving you weird looks for the last little bit or am I going crazy?" He asked and Izzy nodded. "Yeah. He's been staring at us since we hugged, which is why I told you that we couldn't be super affectionate in public." Heath rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Oh god... Do you think he knows?" Izzy shook her head. "I don't think so. I'll talk to him tonight and tell him that we're just friends." Heath nodded. He stepped closer, interlocking their fingers. "I wish we didn't have to keep this a secret." He said and Izzy looked down at her sneakers before looking back at him. "Me too. But it's what has to happen." Heath nodded again before leaning down and kissing her on the lips softly. Izzy kissed him back, rising up onto her tiptoes.

They pulled apart, both of them a little bit sad. They both walked out of the practice room, doing their best to make sure it wasn't obvious what they had just been doing.

Keeping their relationship a secret was getting harder and harder, especially with their anniversary coming up soon. How on Earth were they going to do this? Especially when they were working together.