Chapter Text
Finally they made it to the dress rehearsal. They had been selling tickets bit by bit, but closing night wasn't sold out yet, and every performance still had tickets available. That’s why, in hopes of getting their name out there more, Izumi had invited some press and people involved in theater to come watch.
Everyone was really nervous, Matsukawa most of all, for some reason, and Izumi did her best to stay calm as she talked to the spring troupe, all dressed and ready to step on the stage. Her attempt at encouraging them was brave, but it seemed to have a reversed effect on herself.
“I can do it. For you.” Masumi declared with bravado.
“Y-yeah, we rehearsed so much! We can do it. Just like at practice.” Sakuya stood up, and Masumi followed suit.
“I am going to break a leg,” Citron said, causing Tsuzuru to retort with a swift 'that's not how it works!'.
Itaru stood up too. “Let's show them, then,” he said, somewhat more enthusiastic than expected.
Izumi smiled at them. “I'm so nervous, but this is your stage. I believe in you guys. It's five minutes to curtain, so go to your positions. I'll be watching from the side.”
“Okay!”
They all nodded with determination, and exited the dressing room. Tsuzuru was still nervous, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't just go away even as they would continue. However it wasn't a bad thing. Despite the nerves, he was focused, following what was happening on stage and keeping track of his own lines.
When it was his turn to appear, he took a deep breath and stepped into the light. He could almost feel the audience's eyes on him, and he remembered to do his best to stand tall and look cool.
As he said his lines, he started to feel more confident, too. He knew that he could do it. He locked eyes with Sakuya as Romeo and flashed a grin at him.
Sakuya was doing well too. There was still some hesitation in his words and movements, but experience would help to get rid of that. Masumi finally had his character's emotions down, and his expressions were on point. He was definitely going to score points with the audience.
The other one to score points was Itaru. He was a natural heart-throb and looked absolutely stunning as Tybalt. But this time Tsuzuru was too focused on his role to be impressed. Mercutio and Tybalt faced off in front of Romeo and Julius, fighting for their beliefs and their clans.
Their practice showed, and the sword fight was performed without mistakes. Mercutio went down wounded, and Romeo in turn defeated Tybalt. During a change of scene, Tsuzuru and Itaru left the stage together, and backstage they looked at each other with a sense of accomplishment and gave each other a pat on the back, nervous smiles on their lips.
The play finished without any big mishaps, and they went out for the curtain call. Some of the press representatives took pictures of them, so they stayed on stage for a bit longer than usual.
Izumi got asked some questions about the troupe and the play as well, and in general they had a good feeling about the dress rehearsal. Tsuzuru was tired, but too excited to be bothered by it, as he looked out over the theater seating area. It was by no means full, and the applause had been small and polite, but it was such a big step for them.
Sakuya was smiling widely, Masumi was gazing at Izumi, Citron was grinning, and Itaru had his business smile on. Izumi then looked over at them, and called out to Tsuzuru.
“Tsuzuru, can we have a moment?”
He nodded and went down the steps to the seating area. Apparently a reviewer wanted to ask about his inspiration for the script, after learning that the script had been written by one of the actors.
Tsuzuru explained that he'd been inspired by a play by the original Mankai Company's spring troupe, and that he had a personal experience with a friendship that couldn't last because of family differences, which made him rewrite it into a story about friendship instead of a romance.
The reviewer nodded as she made a short note about his answers, and thanked him for his time. Tsuzuru thanked her for coming, and went back to the others.
When the photographers signaled that they were done, the spring troupe left the stage and they walked into the dressing room in silence, but once inside they burst out in laughter.
“We did it!” Sakuya and Tsuzuru yelled.
“I hope the director praises me,” Masumi said, his hopes high.
“I think we levelled up.”
“Ohh did we get a new item?” Citron put an arm around Itaru’s shoulder, joining in the gamer talk.
“Sure did. I got a sword.”
“Sakuya, Masumi, you did great!” Tsuzuru complimented the leads.
“You and Itaru-san too! You were so cool!”
“I'm going to see the director.”
But Citron pulled his arm before Masumi could actually leave.
“Masumi. The director is beesy.”
“I'm so sweaty...” Itaru pulled on his outer jacket.
“We're going to have to wash these costumes after every performance...That’s troublesome...”
“Haha, yeah,” Sakuya replied, fanning himself.
“Anyway...,” Tsuzuru said, and helped Sakuya out of his cape and upper layers, “if you get out of your costume, put it away on the hangers.”
“Oh, right. Yuki did warn us to treat them well,” Itaru remembered, making an unpleasant face.
No one wanted to invoke the wrath of their costume designer, so they all hung their costumes back on the clothing rack as they had been before the performance. Right when Masumi was again about to go look for Izumi, the director came back to the dressing room, absolutely beaming.
“You guys did great! I want you to rest up tonight, and we'll have a meeting tomorrow morning about some things that can be improved.” She sighed out of relief. “I'm so proud of all of you... Sakuya, Masumi, you were in sync and carried your characters really well. Your practice really paid off. Tsuzuru and Itaru, you really expressed the rivalry, and the fight scene was so intense. Citron, you made no mistakes and were really easy to understand. You've got natural stage presence!”
The boys all grinned back, tired but satisfied. After Izumi left, they changed into their training gear and headed out to the dorms to get a shower. It didn't happen often, or rather, never, that everyone went at the same time, but now there was no one who didn't want to rinse off the sweat as soon as possible.
They didn't talk all that much while showering, except Sakuya, who could just not contain his excitement. But to Tsuzuru, it was enough to watch him be so in his element, and have Citron respond to him and compliment him, and make it somehow worse . But he could swear that he saw even Masumi smile. It could have been that he was just thinking of the director, but Tsuzuru liked to believe the stoic boy was just as happy as the rest.
Another cheerful character was Itaru. He was humming under the shower, a mild smile on his lips.
“What are you staring for, Tsuzuru?” the man suddenly asked.
Oh crap, he noticed .
“Nothing... you just seem so happy.”
“Oh, yeah. I'm looking forward to tonight.”
“You mean sleep, right?”
“Oh Tsuzuru, you are so cute. It's game night, duh. No work tomorrow, no morning practice... I'm taking your little healer out on a quest.”
Tsuzuru made a questioning face. “We're supposed to rest.”
“Don't worry, it won't get too late and I'll have a proper night's sleep.”
“Well, I can't tell you what to do,” Tsuzuru said, although he didn't agree with Itaru's plans. The other man didn't reply anymore and continued to hum as he left the bathroom after showering.
Tsuzuru decided to have a soak in the bath to relax his muscles and his mind a little. It didn't happen often that Masumi took a bath, but this time he was soaking in it as well, his cheeks red. Sakuya and Citron were there too, chatting in a lively manner.
Tsuzuru was good just listening to them, and for once Masumi didn't complain about how noisy they were. At some point, though, Masumi glanced at Tsuzuru, as if he was considering saying something. Tsuzuru smiled at him, hoping to encourage him to talk, if there was something he wanted to talk. Unfortunately, he didn't say anything, and soon after got out of the bath and left.
While sitting in the hot water, Tsuzuru's mind drifted back to the dress rehearsal. He admitted that standing on stage had been fun, and it felt good to step off the stage, knowing you had played your role well, and had given the audience a good time. Even their polite applause tonight had sounded awesome.
Once again, he regretted not having made an effort to get into acting before, but he no longer blamed his family matters for it. He should have tried harder, that is all. But he was truly grateful for his family to finally push him to do what he really wanted to do, and he found a place where he could not only act, but even write scripts. It may have been the best thing that ever happened to him, all because of a chance encounter with Sakuya.
Lost in thought, he barely registered that Citron and Sakuya were leaving together and wished him good night.He looked up, a little dazed before it got through to him. “Oh, yeah! Good night, you two.”
He shouldn't stay in there too long anymore either, but the hot water was comfortable. He soaked for five more minutes, and then got out as well. He dried, got into his nightwear, and went back to his room. Masumi seemed to be awake, reading on his bed.
Tsuzuru climbed into his own bed, as he was ready for a good, long rest.
“Hey, Tsuzuru?” It happened rarely that Masumi talked to him, but maybe that thing that he'd been thinking about in the bath was bothering him after all.
“Yeah, what's up?”
“Did I do well today?”
Huh? That was usually what he asked the director, almost at every practice they did.
“I think you did. But I wasn't watching the play from the audience's seats so... Why are you asking me? You usually don't care what anyone besides the director thinks.”
Masumi went quiet for a bit. “Because you wrote it. You said you wrote all the roles with us in mind.”
“I see...” Tsuzuru replied, thinking. “I did, and I made Julius the smart character because, well. You have that cool image that fits a guy who's generally calmer and thinks about things compared to Romeo, who's a little impulsive. So yeah, I think you did great.”
“Okay. If you liked it, the director probably did too...that's good.”
“O...kay.” Tsuzuru was confused. Was that how it worked in Masumi's mind now? “I'm pretty sure she did, and besides we're having a meeting tomorrow. You'll find out.”
“Yeah...I need to know that she likes me,” Masumi mumbled, and Tsuzuru could hear him move in his bed.
Weird kid, he thought. A few minutes later, he could hear Masumi's soft, sleeping breathing. Tsuzuru turned around, trying not to think too much about things, but since he was beat, he managed to fall asleep soon as well.