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Nicholas was, for all intents and purposes, a decent actor. A good actor, even. His friends thought so, his his high school theater teacher thought so (even his mother thought so, if it counts for anything). He was good- just never good enough. There was always someone better.
This someone better was no other than bright shining star of their high school theater club, Jesse Coste, blond and blue-eyed son of Broadway star and now producer Robert Coste, who, in an awkward twist of fate, also happened to be Nicholas’ estranged father. Yes, yes, hilarious turn of events, that Nicholas would end up at his secret half-brother’s shadow even in their stupid theater club. No, Jesse didn’t know Nicholas was his half-brother, and Robert probably didn’t either (most likely, never even heard of him), and in all honesty, Nicholas hadn’t expected to meet him in these circumstances.
Nicholas had managed to earn a spot in a school outside of his district after a petition of his mother- and made it into one of those fancy schools from Rich Neighborhoods, the kind that are so good parents of ridiculously rich kids would rather send them there than to private school, so Nicholas got to ride the bus at the crack of dawn every day to make it to a school where he stuck out like a sore thumb next to the posh, well-groomed kids of the district, and got to be Jesse-fucking-Coste’s eternal understudy. Yes, Nicholas was good- so, so good, almost good enough for the lead- but Jesse was always better.
If Jesse was the shining sun of their theater club, opposite to him sat his metaphorical moon- a Japanese boy named Seiji Katayama who was a massive jerk and talked to no one but Jesse, as if everyone else was beneath him. If Nicholas was doomed to be Jesse’s eternal understudy, Seiji was more like Jesse’s fated co-lead. And Seiji was- even if Nicholas hated to admit it- a ridiculously good actor. Better than Jesse, to Nicholas mind- because on-stage, Seiji embodied his character fully- he was full of charisma and emotion that Nicholas could not fathom where the hell was he conjuring it from, considering that, off-stage, he was just about the most unpleasant person Nicholas ever had the displeasure of encountering.
Jesse and Seiji had an astounding chemistry on-stage, and off-stage they were joined at the hip, so it only made sense. Wherever Jesse went, Seiji followed, which earned him the not-so-kind nickname of Jesse’s lapdog in whispered snickerings between other members of the theater club.
This was already the third play the group was producing that Nicholas had been relegated to understudy in and, frankly, even if he did like acting, being Jesse’s understudy usually meant much of nothing. The first time around he had prepared properly- learnt all his lines, ran lines with Seiji’s understudy, and eagerly prepared for Jesse to catch a stomach bug. Of course, none of that happened- Jesse didn’t even have the decency to get a sore throat.
The second time around, he had learnt most of the lines- practiced with Seiji’s understudy, ran over most of the script, only to end up mostly as a stage assistant and sitting around waiting for nothing.
And this time around, honestly- with exams coming up, taking odd jobs sometimes to help his mother with bills, and Jesse in seemingly perfect health, well- he learnt some lines, read the script once or twice. They were producing a very hip, gay retelling of Romeo and Juliet, whose name they had changed smartly to Julian, in which Jesse played starry-eyed Romeo and Seiji his fated Juliet. Nicholas mostly hung out with the stage aides and ran lines with Mercutio’s actor, Eugene, while Jesse was busy going over the ball scene and the balcony scene making puppy eyes at Seiji for the hundredth time, or whatever. Somehow, Nicholas almost got the impression that Jesse was being more annoying than usual, but he didn’t really have the energy to dwell on his brother for too long, so who can say.
And so, Nicholas was happily cruising through this productions helping make props and handle lights and half-heartedly running lines with Eugene when, out of nowhere, Jesse decided, very rudely and without proper warning, to fracture his ankle on a ski trip and get his leg in a cast.
Skiing, yes, seriously.
And so this is how Nicholas found himself with the script in his hand and half-heartedly learned lines only two weeks from the show, standing across a very irritated Seiji Katayama, who kept crossing his arms and scowling and tapping his foot every time Nicholas stumbled, stuttered, or had to check his script, squinting to find the line he got lost at.
“Do you even know what an understudy is supposed to do? Where you not made aware you’re supposed to be ready to play Romeo in case something exactly like this happens?” Seiji snapped at him when Nicholas bent down to his script for the seventh time that scene.
Nicholas only rolled his eyes. “How was I supposed to know he would get his leg on a cast!?”
“You’re supposed to be ready for an emergency!” Seiji spelled out to him as if he were five, which only pissed Nicholas off, even if Seiji was right.
“I know, okay? We have two weeks. I’ll get it.”
“Will you?” Seiji asked, arms crossed in front of his face and nose scrunched up in an unpleasant way.
“Yes, I will! I just need a few more rehearsals.” Nicholas scoffed. Surely, he could learn this entire script in two weeks, right?
Seiji gave him an evaluating look, and nodded sternly, only once. “You’re right. You will.”
It caught Nicholas off-guard, this sudden belief in him. Seiji proceeded to step in close to him—much closer than what Nicholas would consider appropriate respect for his personal space- and snatched his script off his hand. “Because until you get it— and I mean really get it—you and me are going to run this script top to bottom every. Single. Day.” He made a point to punctuate each word by smacking the script to Nicholas’ chest.
Nicholas would have pushed him, but he had never really seen Seiji this up-close before and it sort of threw him off. He had a really intense gaze.
And very long lashes.
Seiji all but threw the script at Nicholas again, and Nicholas barely caught it.
“Just read off the damn script today, you’re slowing everyone else down.”
Nicholas stared after Seiji as he walked off-stage in a huff, and immediately turned around to stare at Eugene, gaping, to check if he had also witnessed this immense bout of personal disrespect. Eugene only shrugged at him, as their teacher clapped nervously to get everyone’s attention and called for a small break before starting over.
Nicholas rehearsed without taking his eyes off the script for the rest of the day. Even if he didn’t have the lines down, he made for a pretty solid Romeo, (at least, Eugene thought so, and so did Bobby, one of the boys in charge of costumes). His Romeo wasn’t quite like Jesse’s- Jesse’s Romeo was a hopeless romantic, love-struck foolish; Nicholas’ Romeo was more brazen, a little aggressive, even- but full of passion. Unfortunately, that passion came forth mostly during altercation scenes.
His scenes with Seiji, however- well. Seiji, whose embodiment of Julien was often impeccable across from Jesse, seemed to still be pissed at him, and unwilling to put his whole effort into the rehearsal. In turn, Nicholas was also peeved at him, so their scenes sounded more like an argument than the serenade of teenage love fools.
Their teacher tried to give them a few corrections- Nicholas, maybe try that softer? Seiji, could you put a little more tender into that tone? But it seemed even she could sense there was not much she could do today. We’ll work on it! Was the note they ended on.
Another little detail about the play was- well, usually high schools would abridge the play, and in that abridging, a lot of the kisses would be taken off. More age-appropriate. Jesse had, however, advocated for leaving them as they are- this was a love story, after all, and he had no problem to go through with it, and neither did Seiji- right, Seiji? He doesn’t mind. And so, the teacher, very content with her very gay and very transgressive retelling of Shakespeare, had left all the kisses on.
Which meant that Nicholas was looking forward to not one, not two, but five on-stage kisses with his co-star.
Of course, they did not rehearse stage kisses- much less taking into account that they might punch each other in the face if either of them stepped a little too close as it was. When their lines ended in a kiss, the teacher would simply direct “and kiss, and-” and they’d move forward. Nicholas would awkwardly avoid Seiji’s gaze, and Seiji- well, he wouldn’t know, as he wasn’t looking.
The teacher gave some notes at the end of the rehearsals- she didn’t scold Nicholas for not having learned his lines, but she did strongly encourage him to practice as much as possible. The club would be meeting a few more times over the week than usual- smaller rehearsals every other day, to reinforce the main rehearsals that would happen every friday. After this one, there would only be three more full rehearsals before the show, counting the one the day right before it, so—yeah.
Nicholas’d better bring it.
He spent the weekend glued to the script, going over and over his lines. He slept late, which meant he woke up tired, and sort of absently cruised through his classes the next day. He ran some lines with Eugene during recess, which, since he had ran lines with him before, where the ones he knew the best. He may have napped during math. The teacher did not wake him. He made it to the end of the day without any major incidents, planning to go over the script on the bus home, chatting with Eugene and Bobby- who very kindly offered to run Julian’s lines with him during recess, too-, when he almost ran straight into someone.
Who else but Katayama, really. Nicholas would have jumped, if he weren’t to proud for it. Seiji stood right in front of him with his arms crossed and glaring down at him with his whole one and a half inch of advantage, even if it felt like he was taller. Maybe it was his posture. Or maybe he wore heeled shoes.
“Dude!” Nicholas protested, frowning and taking a step back.
Seiji waved a stack of papers to his eye level.
His script.
Nicholas blinked at him.
“What the-”
“Lines,” Seiji facilitated to him, as if he were slow.
“You were serious?” Nicholas’ brows furrowed.
Seiji only raised one sharp, pristine black eyebrow at him, rolled his eyes, and then started walking without further ado. Nicholas followed him with his gaze, confused. A few steps further, Seiji looked back with the same expression of impatience, and nodded with his head towards the theater club room, as if asking So? Are you coming?
Nicholas shared a dumbfounded look with Eugene and Bobby, who only shrugged at him. Seiji crossed his arms. Nicholas straightened his back and took a deep breath as if preparing for an adventurous fight, and followed him with renewed bravado.
“You have the keys?” Nicholas asked, dumbfounded, when Seiji approached the theater classroom and pulled out it’s key, unlocking the door. Nicholas didn’t even know students could have classroom keys like that.
“They let us use the room when it’s empty,” Seiji answered. “You just have to ask.”
“’Us’ as in you and Jesse?” Nicholas taunted.
Seiji frowned in a way Nicholas did not expect and gave him a nasty side-eye before just rolling his eyes. “’Us’ as in anyone from the club who asks.”
Seiji pushed the door open and walked inside, and Nicholas briefly wondered what was that all about. He shrugged it off, and followed.
The room was dark and empty, and Seiji turned the lights on after patting the wall a couple times. It was odd, being there alone. The stage seemed so big when it wasn’t bustling with kids setting up stage decoration or running lines. Seiji approached the empty stage and, instead of going up the steps, he hoisted himself up with his arms and climbed atop. The stage was fairly tall, so- well, it was pretty impressive, even if Nicholas wouldn’t be caught dead saying it out loud. He sat at the edge, and looked at Nicholas expectantly.
Not one to be outdone, Nicholas approached the stage by the center, threw his backpack over, and planted his hands atop it. He attempted to simply lift himself up, but that didn’t work. So, he tried a small jump- which got him halfway there.
He heard Seiji snort, which made him scowl instinctively.
“Need a hand?”
“Shut up.”
With a bigger jump, Nicholas raised himself above the stage and managed to- albeit much less gracefully than Seiji- clamber atop, even if he had to drag himself a little. With his pride (mostly) intact, he quickly sat up straight, making the gesture of straightening his shirt.
Seiji only blinked at him, and Nicholas was sure he could tell a shadow of amusement in his blank expression.
“Are you done?”
“Yes.”
“You could’ve just used the steps.”
“Are we here to chat or are we here to rehearse?” Nicholas deflected, trying his best to not outright pout.
“Do you have your script?”
“Yes, I have my script.” Nicholas reached for his bag, and pulled it out (the script, of course).
“So… should we start, like- at the ball? Scene 5?” He asked, looking for the page on his script. Seiji only raised an eyebrow at him.
“That’s not your first scene.”
“Well, no, but- it’s our first scene,” He said, like it’s obvious. Seiji was still looking at him like he’s dull-headed. “You mean to start from- oh, come on,”
“I told you. Top to bottom.” Seiji punctuated, opening his script measly around the second page.
“You’re not even in these scenes!”
“I’ll read off the script. Don’t worry too much about the action for now. Lines first.”
“Okay- can we start on the second scene at least? I’ve got the first one down.” Nicholas pleaded.
“Do you, now?”
“Yes! I’ve been running lines with Gene.”
“Okay,” Seiji said. “Then it shouldn’t be too hard for you.”
Nicholas groaned and, to prove a point, he left his script face down. Thankfully, even if they had not removed a single kiss off the play, their teacher had removed a good chunk of the ancient English poetic rambling- which was good for him particularly, because Romeo sure liked to talk. Seiji took the role of Benevolio, his cousin, and, even for someone who was reading off the script in front of him, he did a pretty good job, as he probed him about his broken heart and Rosaline, who, even if Juliet had been changed to Julian, remained Rosaline. Bisexual king, this Romeo. At least Nicholas could relate to him there.
When Nicholas managed to spit out Romeo’s rambling without stuttering, Seiji seemed to be vaguely pleased with him. They found a rhythm quickly, which, at some point, made Nicholas notice that-
“You’re not reading the script,”
Seiji blinked at him, seemingly peeved to be broken out of character so suddenly.
“Sorry?”
“You’re like, spitting out Benevolio’s lines without reading.”
“I am reading.”
“You’re glancing at best. Do you know his lines? Do you know all the lines?” Nicholas asked, squinting at him.
“I don’t know all the lines” Seiji huffed, rolling his eyes. “I just- I helped Jesse run his.” He shrugged.
“And you learnt them?”
“I have a good memory.”
“You’ve got to be kidding-”
“Look, Cox—”
“Nicholas,” Nicholas corrected.
“Nicholas—”
“Nick, for friends,”
“Nicholas,” Seiji punctuated. “Are we gonna run lines or are you gonna interrupt me all day?”
“Well, to be fair—”
“Tell me,” Seiji cut him off, adopting Benevolio’s demeanor again. “In sadness, who is it that you love?”
Nicholas rolled his eyes with an amused half-smile, and started reciting Romeo’s lovelorn speech once again.
Seiji drilled him intensely, and, after he finally gave up and let Nicholas off the hook so he could catch the bus and get home before sun fall, Nicholas found he didn’t hate him as profusely as he expected to. He had expected to leave this forceful rehearsal huffing and puffing about his insufferable asshole of a co-star, but actually- well, yeah, he was intense and demanding, and rude, but Nicholas did not suffer him too much. Somehow, when he managed to remember the entire first scene without looking at his script once, and Seiji had looked mildly surprised or pleased or whatever that less-tight expression was on his face, Nicholas had found it quite rewarding.
They didn’t enact actions, just went over the script. Seiji would stop him when he tripped up and made him start over, which was unbearably annoying, but somewhere between his high cheekbones and long lashes Nicholas forgot to be mad awfully quickly.
Seiji did not startle him the next day. In fact, as Nicholas walked towards the doors, he was already glancing around the halls looking for dark hair and pinched expression. He spotted him right as he was finishing stuffing his locker with books, and figured fair was fair- so he, giving barely a hand signal and a snicker to his friends as he walked away, snuck up and stood behind him silently.
Much to his disappointment, Seiji closed his locker and turned around with a blank expression, instead of running straight into him or at least having the decency to startle.
“I have a mirror inside it.” He declared, with his unimpressed look. Nicholas raised an eyebrow.
“Didn’t paint you for such a vain guy,” He teased. Seiji rolled his eyes and, if Nicholas was not delusional, he could almost see a tint to his cheeks. Score.
“Did you bring your script?”
“Wouldn’t dare forget it,” Nicholas smiled, and Seiji did not seem amused with him. Nicholas had not yet made a move to exit Seiji’s personal space, and it occurred to him only when Seiji purposefully pushed past him that he was crowding him.
In some strange way, Seiji’s approval had become, in Nicholas mind, the unit of measurement for his acting quality. And Nicholas, bless his heart, had been born unfortunately competitive for someone who rarely won anything; and Seiji’s approval felt, to him, an awful lot like winning.
Which meant he had spent the bus ride home with his nose buried in the script, stayed up late with it again, ran lines at lunch… living, breathing and sweating Romeo, really.
So, today, when he managed scene one and two without a hitch, and most of scene three with Seiji feeding him the beginning of his lines from time to time, he felt pretty accomplished with himself.
He also had a good part of act 2 and 3 down, which had most of their scenes together. Which, for a weekend and a couple extra days, Nicholas considered great progress.
Seiji did not seem displeased with him, either, which he counted as a win.
Nicholas shared only two classes with Seiji; History, which he also had the misfortune to share with Jesse, and Spanish, where, in absence of Jesse, Seiji sat alone and talked to no one. So, outside of the theater club, these were the only two instances Nicholas shared with Seiji; either glued to Jesse’s side, or alone like a mean old dog.
That day, Nicholas had Spanish, and he had also recently learnt that the mean old dog didn’t bite. So, when he marched in to the classroom, instead of heading for the back of the class as he usually did, Nicholas took the executive decision to march next to the empty desk next to Seiji in the front row, and plopped his backpack right on top of it.
The noise made Seiji look up, and, as much as he had looked unimpressed with Nicholas’ lousy attempt at startling the day before, he did seem caught off-guard this time, which Nicholas took as another personal win. Seiji furrowed his brows slightly and took a glance around the classroom before looking back at Nicholas, as if he were surprised to see him.
“Hi,” Said Nicholas, because his mother taught him manners.
“...Hi,” Seiji answered, as if he distrusted his greeting.
Nicholas sat down as Seiji continued to stare at him as if he had grown a second head.
“You did know we’re in this class together, right?” Nicholas asked, nonchalant.
Seiji took a beat too long to answer.
“Of course I did.” He said, finally, snapping out of his stupor and returning to his stern expression, eyes back on the board.
“Wait,” Nicholas sat up, vaguely offended. “Did you really not know?”
“You don’t sit here.”
“I’m late a lot, don’t you see me then?” He protested.
“Is being late a trait you feel should make me take note of you?” Seiji answered, cutthroat, and Nicholas huffed.
“Oh, come off-”
“Teacher,” Seiji warned him before Nicholas had time to tell him off. As the teacher walked in, Nicholas quieted down, but not without sparing Seiji an annoyed glare. Seiji ignored him.
At lunch, Nicholas, for the first time since probably the start of the year, looked around to find Seiji. As far as Nicholas knew, Seiji sat next to Jesse during lunch, but Jesse was still not back yet from his leave of absence. Still, Nicholas had expected to find Seiji next to the rest of their group of friends.
Instead, he found Seiji sitting alone with his tray, in a table rather secluded near the end of the cafeteria.
Odd.
Nicholas gestured to Eugene, who was already heading to their usual table with Bobby and his very tall friend-maybe-boyfriend Dante, and turned away.
He approached Seiji’s table (who, Nicholas noted, seemed to be some sort of health-nut, if the contents of his tray had anything to say about it), and sort of hovered next to Seiji until he deigned himself to look up.
He looked just as bewildered as he had that morning. Again, he looked around the cafeteria, as if Nicholas could not possibly have the nerve to come bother him of all people.
“Stop doing that.” Nicholas pouted.
“I’m… sorry?” Seiji said.
“Can I sit here?”
“I won’t stop you,” Seiji said, hesitant, as if he were eyeing a stray animal and trying to figure out if it was rabid or not.
Nicholas sat down across from him. Seiji seemed to have gone very still, having stopped eating in favor of staring at Nicholas funny. Nicholas, not one to be easily perturbed, went on to eat his lunch.
When it became apparent Nicholas was not going to leap across the table and assault him or whatever it was that Seiji was expecting him to do, Seiji finally got back to his own health-nut lunch (which Nicholas found, frankly, depressing, but figured it wouldn’t be polite to say so).
“So-“ Nicholas spoke, which immediately made Seiji frown.
“Don’t speak with your mouth full.”
Nicholas made a big show of rolling his eyes, but swallowed before he kept speaking.
“So,” He tried, again. “Wanna run some lines?”
“We run them after class,” Seiji pointed out, skeptical.
“I’m on a tight schedule.”
Seiji considered this with a raised brow. Finally, he shrugged.
“Very well.”
The group of actors met their teacher by the mid week after class to rehearse together informally, and, between that and Nicholas’ Seiji-run daily Romeo boot camp, Nicholas had an impressive amount of the script down by the big rehearse on Friday. Seiji seemed very pleased with this (a win), which in turn made for a Julian who didn’t seem like he wanted to gut him out on stage.
It was the first time he ran through the actions with full intent, not having to keep looking religiously at his script (even if he kept it on hand for half the scenes still); which brought to his attention that Romeo and Julian did a whole lot of touching.
They danced, held hands, looked tenderly at each other. Romeo held Julien and drew him in for a kiss, and then another. Granted, they still did not practice the stage kisses, but Nicholas still had to draw Seiji in and tilt him back and hover over his face as if he were going to; which Nicholas found made it somewhat difficult to remember his lines.
Luckily, Seiji was more than generous in feeding them to him.
“Do you know all my lines too?” Nicholas complained.
“Someone should,” Seiji shrugged.
“Wow!! Low blow,” Nicholas laughed and shoved Seiji playfully, to which Seiji reacted by giving him that ‘spotted a wild raccoon and it has approached me’ look once again.
Nicholas spent another weekend going through the script like a madman. He hung out with Eugene and Bobby, and went over the script with them too.
“Man,” Eugene commented. “You’re going crazy with it. Shouldn’t you take a break?”
“Dude,” Nicholas answered. “I’m just too scared if I mess it up Seiji will stab me in my sleep.”
Eugene and Bobby laughed.
“How come he’s got it so easy to get you in your sleep, huh?” Gene teased.
“Yeah, what’s up with that? I sense tension,” Bobby agreed, with a mischievous smile.
“Yes, it’s called acting?” Nicholas rolled his eyes.
“Oh, come on!” Bobby complained. “You’re gonna tell me you don’t find him even a little cute? Seiji is so handsome,” He said, with a dreamy sigh.
“Maybe you are the one who likes him,” Nicholas countered.
“Didn’t you have a crush on him at the start of the year?” Eugene mused, which made Nicholas’ ears turn red.
“Did not!”
“Did too! And you were so annoyed with Jesse being around him so much,”
“That has nothing to do with it!” Nicholas defended himself.
“Doesn’t it, though?” Bobby chimed in.
“Yeah, what is that about?” Eugene asked.
“He’s a prick and I don’t like him, can’t I just dislike a guy now?” Nicholas huffed.
Eugene and Bobby shared a look, which Nicholas did not appreciate.
Monday come, and Nicholas found himself in a predicament.
“Hey, listen,” He greeted as he sat down next to Seiji at lunch, as he had taken up doing. “I can’t stay to rehearse today.” He said, apologetically.
Seiji only gave him a frown and a raised brow.
“C’mon, don’t look at me like that—” Nicholas pleaded. “I had a job come up, I have to be there right of school, like I’ll barely have time for the bus ride.”
“Can’t you reschedule?” Seiji asked.
Nicholas blinked at him.
“That’s not—not really how a job works, no.”
Seiji’s brows knitted together. “Right.”
“Come on,” Nicholas pleaded with him. “Don’t be mad at me.”
“I am not mad at you,” Seiji rolled his eyes. “You have a commitment. It’s understandable.”
“You don’t look like you’re understanding.”
“Well, I am.” Seiji huffed.
Eugene, Bobby and Dante, who had eventually followed Nicholas to sitting around Seiji, were eyeing the two of them quietly, eyes darting back and forth like an intense tennis match.
“Hey,” Nicholas said, turning back to Seiji again. “You know what we could do?”
“What,” Seiji asked, and he already sounded annoyed.
“We could rehearse over the phone.”
Seiji turned to look at him as if he had said something rather outlandish.
“Over the phone?” He repeated.
“Yeah,” Nicholas shrugged. “I don’t think I’ll be that late. So, like, when I’m out, we could—” He cleared his throat. “I mean, I could call you, or something, and we could go over the script.”
“And how am I supposed to know you’re not just reading off your script?”
“Fine, video call,”
“Still—”
“Video call and I show you my hands at all times,” Nicholas offered.
“You could have the script taped to the wall behind the screen for all I know.” Seiji said, but he looked, surprisingly, less annoyed.
“That’s too elaborate,” Nicholas denied. “And we’re doing this for me, right? So I would just be fucking myself over. Besides,” He leaned a bit across the table, with a playful smile and his best shot at puppy eyes. “Do you not trust I’m sufficiently afraid of you to behave?”
Seiji gave him an evaluating look, and Nicholas could swear he was holding back a smile.
Score.
Finally, Seiji shrugged. “Fine.” He extended his open hand across the table. “Phone.”
Nicholas took a second to process, and then almost fumbled his phone with how quickly he pulled it out. He handed it over unlocked and with the contacts app open, bright smile on his face, as Seiji took it off his hands and typed in his own number.
Only belatedly he realized the way the rest of his friends were staring at him.
“What?”
“Nothin’,” Said both Eugene and Bobby, in unison.
Jesse Coste came back to school by the middle of the week, in crutches, a leg brace and a fuss. Nicholas knew as soon as he stepped in the door, because there was virtually a crowd surrounding oh-poor-Jesse. Nicholas rolled his eyes.
When Nicholas walked into the cafeteria and didn’t see Seiji sitting on what had become their usual table he figured— almost bitterly—that his grace period had ended. Tentatively, he snuck a glance upon Jesse’s bustling table, where he was being accosted by classmates on all fronts and managed them all with an impeccable smile.
Seiji was not there either.
As Nicholas started to frown in confusion, a tray was set across from him; full of fruit and vegetables psychotically well balanced.
The smile on his face must’ve been awfully embarrassing. Seiji blinked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Nicholas replied, still smiling.
They ate in silence as Nicholas’ friends sat down next to them, already mid-conversation.
“Hey,” Nicholas called to Seiji, in a hushed voice as to not interrupt Bobby’s tirade. “Are we still sitting together in History?”
In Jesse’s absence, Nicholas had taken the empty spot next to Seiji in their second shared subject.
“Who else will you copy off of?” Seiji shrugged. Nicholas gaped in feigned offence.
“I was not copying! I was just—” Nicholas huffed. “Just a little memory shortcut. Yknow, like when you feed me my lines. I know the line but my mind needs a little jogging, right?”
Seiji evaluated him with a look nothing short of judgmental.
“I see,” He nodded. “I have spoiled you, is what you’re saying. Noted.”
“No,” Nicholas jumped quickly. “No, no, not what I’m saying.”
“I’ve been too soft on you.” Seiji shakes his head, as if disappointed with himself.
“Not soft!” Nicholas complained. “You’ve been so hard on me, act—no, wait, no. That’s not—Gene, don’t laugh!” Nicholas shoved Eugene as he laughed loudly at Nicholas’ statement.
If he wasn’t going crazy, Nicholas could swear Seiji’s pursed lips were some sort of a smile.
“Ahem,” Nicholas looked up when someone loudly cleared his throat above him. He already knew who it was, even without looking. So, he lazily lifted up his gaze, as if he couldn’t fathom why he was being addressed.
“Yeah?”
“You’re in my seat?” Jesse Coste, entitled and blond and infuriating as usual.
Nicholas knew this. Nicholas knew this was Jesse Coste’s seat, next to Seiji, during history. He also very pointedly did not care.
How immature would it be to say “you snooze, you lose”?
“Seats aren’t assigned,” Nicholas answered instead, with a raised brow, leaning back.
“Well, no, but—”
“Last I checked this is a free country,” Nicholas said, looking around. “Seiji, is this not a free country anymore? Have you carried over your plans to overthrow the government without telling me,” He elbowed Seiji, who shoved him off.
“Shut up,” Seiji scolded. “I have not. Yet. You’ll tip them off.” He played along, much to Nicholas’ delight.
“Seiji,” Jesse called pointedly, with an increasingly tightening smile. “C’mon, tell him to move.”
“I can’t.” Seiji shrugged. “As Nicholas so kindly pointed out, I’m not yet emperor of the world. Besides,” He raised an eyebrow. “I figured with your leg, you’d prefer to sit close to the door.”
Jesse’s smile faltered.
“Marcel seems to have saved you a seat.” Seiji noted, before taking his eyes back to his notebook.
Nicholas found this an astounding win.
Nicholas got fitted for his costume by the end of the week, for the last of their big rehearsals. Bobby said he still needed a couple retouches and that he wanted to meet him over the weekend to polish it, but Nicholas thought he looked just fine. He agreed, either way.
Seiji looked very good in his Julian costume, to Nicholas mind. And, thanks to his intense drilling, Nicholas no longer needed to hold the script anywhere near him. And, also, because Seiji clearly had something wrong with him, he could whisper the beginning of his lines to Nicholas whenever he stumbled.
“Nicholas,” His teacher called, at some point. “I want you to try that but with your hand on his waist this time,” She asked, gingerly.
Nicholas complied, hesitantly, lowering his hand from Seiji’s upper back as he drew him in for their second kiss—without follow through, of course.
“Lower, yes?” She asked, smiling.
Nicholas really hoped his face wasn’t as red as he felt it to be burning, as he found himself with his hands on Seiji’s waist and Seiji’s hands around his neck and his face oh-so-close to his own.
As he was convinced looking into his eyes would make him forget all his lines, he absently focused on that cute little mole below his eye.
“It’s a little overkill, no?” Jesse’s voice grated against Nicholas as they wrapped up the first act. He must’ve walked in after they started rehearsing—Nicholas had not seen him walk in. He was sitting in the audience with his booted foot propped up and his crutches resting next to him. “There’s a lot of touching,” He noted. “Are you gonna keep all the kisses in?” He asked the teacher.
Nicholas blinked at him from the stage. “They were your idea,” He said through gritted teeth. “You made a fuss. Remember?”
“Well, yeah,” Jesse shrugged, nonchalant. “When I was Romeo, sure. Seiji’s comfortable with me. He didn’t really agree to kiss you,” He pointed out with a raised brow, challenging, and Nicholas did not miss the venom in his voice.
Nicholas stiffened, and didn’t dare to look at Seiji.
The teacher looked up at them, expectantly.
“Boys?” She asked. “We’re still on time to make the change.”
Before Nicholas had the chance to answer, Seiji spoke;
“I’m fine either way.”
Nicholas blinked, and glanced to Seiji quickly. He was unable to meet his eye, however, and looked back at the teacher. “Yeah,” He said. “I’m good, too. Besides, I already learnt all the lines around them.”
Jesse seemed displeased about this. The teacher, however, looked happy to hear it.
“Good then! Let’s move forward. We have lots to do!”
Jesse kept on needling Nicholas’ performance for the afternoon, finding endless things to nitpick about his Romeo, who, of course, was just not as good as his Romeo. Nicholas very much wanted to punch him in the face.
“Ignore him,” Seiji muttered to him at the end of Act 3. “He’s allergic to not being the center of attention.”
Nicholas snorted half-heartedly.
“You would tell me though, right?” He asked Seiji.
“Tell you what?” Seiji asked.
“Like—if I’m doing it wrong” Nicholas answered, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “Romeo, I mean.”
“Nicholas,” Seiji said, turning to face him full on. He had such an intense gaze. “When have I ever spared the chance to tell you you’re doing something wrong?”
Nicholas was caught so off guard he almost coughed of how loud he laughed. He shoved Seiji, who seemed to have gotten used to it enough not to look at him as if he were freshly escaped of the psych ward.
“You’re right. You would never.”
“I would not.” Seiji nodded. “Your hair’s a mess, by the way.”
“Okay, you didn’t need to give examples” Nicholas complained, unable to stop smiling.
“Nicholas,” Seiji called again, once his laughter had died down.
“Yeah?”
“You make a fine Romeo.” He told him, uncharacteristically soft, and Nicholas was caught off guard once again.
“Really?” He asked, and it almost pained him how desperate he sounded.
Seiji almost smiled at him and nodded. Nicholas felt his heart skip a beat.
He almost missed his cue.
“Are you sure you’re cool with it?” Nicholas asked during the break of one of their private rehearsals, on their last week before the show. They had agreed on one last grand rehearsal before the day of the show on Saturday, but Seiji and him kept meeting after hours every day, regardless.
“Hmm?” Seiji asked.
“The kissing,” Nicholas clarified. “I think we’re still on time to change it, if you want to.”
“They’re stage kisses, Nicholas, it’s not a big deal” He shrugged it off.
“Yeah, but like,” Nicholas hesitated. “I mean, you agreed to kiss Jesse, not me, so…”
Seiji scoffed a bitter sort of laugh. “I’d rather kiss you than him.” He confessed. “Honestly? It’s a relief.”
Nicholas blinked.
“Really?”
“Yes,” Seiji rolled his eyes. “He just—” He cut himself off. “It doesn’t matter. Besides, we don’t have to actually kiss if you don’t want to. You could dip me and just turn the back of your head to the audience. It’ll look like a kiss.” He said. “Or you can kiss me here,” He pointed at the corner of his mouth. “They won’t tell the difference, either way.”
“Oh,” Nicholas deflated, and he sounded rather disappointed. Seiji wasn’t looking at him.
“Yeah. So,” Seiji shrugged again. He looked peeved. Was Nicholas going mad?
Nicholas decided he had nothing to lose.
“I’d rather just kiss” He said, as nonchalant as possible as if his hands weren’t sweating profusely. “I mean, Julian and Romeo are in love, right? We have to sell it. Feigned kisses don’t sell it.”
The silence that followed was just about the worst few seconds of Nicholas’ life.
“I’m fine with that.” Seiji said, finally.
“Really?” Nicholas turned towards him embarrassingly fast. “I mean, uh. Cool. Yeah.”
“Yeah.” Seiji agreed, nodding at nowhere. “Cool.”
Nicholas took a sip from his bottle. Seiji absently checked something on his script.
“So… you and Jesse…?”
“No.” Seiji replied, harshly.
“Not even a little bit?”
“Not at all.”
“I thought—”
“Well, you thought wrong.” Seiji’s cutthroat tone was enough for Nicholas to know he’d better stop digging.
“Okay.”
Now or never. Nicholas took a wild gamble.
“I think we should practice it.” He blurted out.
Seiji looked up from whatever he was doing, and Nicholas was very pointedly not looking at him.
“Practice what?”
“It. The, uh. The kissing.”
Seiji’s brows furrowed.
“It’s a kiss, what’s there to practice?” Seiji asked, visibly confused.
“Well—” Nicholas hesitated. “I just think it would be good if we both knew what was gonna happen, right?” He said.
Seiji looked at him with a raised brow.
“You know, like—what if we go in cold and one of us freezes?” For not saying, what if you kiss me and I forget my lines immediately? “Or, like, what if we go in for the kiss and we both turn our head the same way? And then we try to correct it and do it again? What if our noses bump. We’re gonna look super ridiculous, instead of, you know, all romantic and stuff—”
“Fine,” Seiji cut him off, finally. “I get it. Fine. We can practice the kisses.”
Nicholas tried not to perk up too much. Still, he could figure, by the way his mouth tugged insistently at the corners, that he was smiling like a fool.
“So, uh,” He cleared his throat. “Scene five?”
“Sure,” Seiji conceded. “Scene five.”
They begin just as Romeo sees Julian, and takes his hand to draw him in, as Romeo talks about profaning Julian with his touch or whatever. He draws Seiji in, holding both his hands delicately.
“O, then dear saint, let lips do what hands do;” Nicholas recited, this time, without taking his eyes off Seiji’s. “They pray: Grant me a kiss, lest faith turn to despair.”
“Saints do not move,” Seiji replied, perfectly practiced, Julian’s role granting him a softness almost unlike him (but that looked so good on him). “though grant for prayer’s sake.”
“Then move not,” Nicholas took a deep breath, nervously. “While my prayer’s effect I take.” Seiji closed his eyes, and Nicholas leaned in trying to not think too much about it.
Seiji’s lips were plush and soft and the kiss, chaste and tender, sent Nicholas’ heart racing. He parted from him too soon for his liking, to fluttering lashes and tinted cheeks, and all he could think of was of how much he wanted to do that again.
Seiji blinked at him after a few seconds of silence.
“Thus from my lips…” He whispered.
“Hm?” Nicholas asked.
“Your line.” Seiji reminded him, so softly Nicholas didn’t even feel chastised. “Thus from my lips…”
“Oh.” Nicholas said, absently. “Right. Sorry—Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.”
“Then have my lips the sin that they have took,”
“Sin from my lips? O, tresspass sweetly urged!” Nicholas recited, letting go of Seiji’s hands and now drawing him in by the waist, close, so close, chest to chest. “Give me my sin again.”
He met Seiji’s lips with more enthusiasm, intense, holding him tight against him. Absently, he felt Seiji’s hands on his neck; his thumb drawing small circles on his nape that sent small electric shocks down his spine. Nicholas leaned into the kiss, dipping Seiji back a little, even if he had the nerve to be taller than him. His lips moved softly, and Seiji generously complied; and it may have lasted a little too long for what a stage kiss should be.
When they parted, there was another long silence as Nicholas and Seiji stared at each other in wonder.
Finally, Seiji spoke.
“You kiss by th’ book,” He said, and Nicholas smiled as if he had said this to him, and not to Romeo.
Nicholas could still feel Seiji’s thumb, tracing small circles at the base of his neck.
“Nicholas?” He called.
“Mm?”
“I have to exit the stage now.”
“Oh, yeah.” He said.
“So…” Seiji spoke softly, even if he had broken character already. “You’re gonna have to let me go.”
“Oh,” Nicholas realized. “Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I should.”
“Do you think tongue would be too much for a stage kiss?” Nicholas asked as nonchalantly as possible, two days away from the show, on his last private rehearsal with Seiji.
Seiji looked up at him as if he had asked something ridiculous.
“Yes, Nicholas,” He answered. “They’ll kick us off the stage.”
“Right, right,” Nicholas nodded, rather defeated. “How about for an off-stage kiss?”
Seiji blinked at him, brows furrowed.
“A what now?”
“You know, like,” Nicholas figured he had gotten this far. “Well, Romeo and Julian are super in love, right? So,” He looked away. “Like method acting, right? Helps get in character. And stuff.”
“And stuff,” Seiji repeated.
“Mhm,” Nicholas nodded, ears burning.
Seiji did not look impressed.
Before Nicholas could rectify and say he was kidding, of course, Seiji spoke.
“If you want to make out, just ask.”
Nicholas almost broke his neck with how fast he snapped back to look at him, gaping.
He did not expect Seiji to be this forward. Seiji looked at him expectantly, expression unreadable.
“So?”
“Uhm,” Nicholas mumbled. “I’m uh, sort of afraid you’ll smack me across the face,” He confessed.
Seiji seemed amused.
“You think I’ll say no?”
“Well, I don’t know! I don’t even know if you like me like that!” Nicholas defended.
“Sure, Nicholas,” Seiji rolled his eyes at him. “I’ve been letting you kiss me gratuitously for two days because I find you repulsive.”
Nicholas was sure his face must be a hilarious shade of red.
“I d- I just-" He stuttered, again. “Maybe you found my logic very convincing.”
Seiji gave him a blank look.
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
“No!” Nicholas jumped. “Never. No. I think I’m stupid, and I think we should make out before I say something even more stupid and you don’t want to kiss me anymore.”
Seiji huffed a laugh, and, in lieu of an answer, grabbed a fistful of Nicholas’s shirt and pulled him in.
Nicholas’ hands found his waist with practiced ease.
Nicholas stood at the edge of the stage, behind the curtain, as the first scene of the first act played out for their audience on the night of the show, eagerly awaiting for his turn.
As Capuletos and Montagues started cursing each other across the room, Nicholas felt a soft hand on his arm.
Seiji, next to him, in full costume and makeup, looking radiant. Nicholas couldn’t help but smile at him.
“Ready?” Seiji asked him.
“So ready,” He said. “Excited. A little nervous. There’s this really hot guy I get to kiss on stage, so really looking forward to that.” He joked, and to his delight, Seiji huffed a laugh, and patted him on the shoulder.
“That’s your cue,” Seiji said. “Break a leg.”
Nicholas smiled brightly at him (almost laughed at the irony, really), and walked out to the stage.