Chapter Text
One hell of a night turned a whole weekend. Binge-watching all three seasons. Rehearsals were starting the upcoming week on Wednesday evening. It was a quick turnaround, so Zen was eager to watch everything he could about his demon butler, Sebastian. Long nights turned into early mornings of chatting about the episodes. Zen began theorizing and pouring out the emotions that came with such a captivating show. As an actor, Zen was always so expressive in his reactions. It made watching shows like this so worthwhile.
Up until it was revealed, MC wondered how Zen would react to the fact that Sebastian adores cats.
“Is this.. Are you kidding me? Cats?! Why does a demon like cats?”
MC giggled, grabbing the tissue box on the nearby table.
“Shhh.. Just keep watching!”
“But-” Zen was cut off by a sneeze.
“It’ll be a great acting challenge for you, right?”
He made a big show of rolling his eyes at me.
“Yes. A challenge, alright..”
Another realization hit him and his crimson eyes widened to the size of marbles.
“..Oh, god. Jumin’s never gonna let me live this one down.”
MC couldn’t help but stifle a laugh at this. The chat conversations were bound to be entertaining in the coming weeks once Zen made a reappearance.
Since the news of casting came out, neither Zen or MC had been taking part in many of the RFA chats. But she knew they were keeping themselves occupied planning the newest charity party. She figured Jaehee had already heard the news about Zen and informed the rest of the chat. MC wondered if Jaehee had anonymously added to the slew of fangirl comments recently.
Whenever Zen got invested in something, he had several tell-tale signs. He’d lean forward, crimson gaze locked on the screen, his big hands squishing his face while supporting his chin. Just looking at his profile like this was enough to make anyone swoon. His long white hair, slightly disheveled from the long days on the couch, his sharp jawline, and his extremely kissable lips.. MC still couldn’t believe sometimes that Zen was all hers. He was such an angel in real life, but she knew he would undoubtedly play the perfect demon.
So, when Wednesday evening approached, Zen found himself equally nervous and excited. He so wished MC could come with him, but of course that would go against the director’s wishes. Today was the first table read. After doing some quick warmups, Zen kissed MC goodbye and took a big swig of his water bottle on the way out the door. MC shoved a bag of Honey Buddha chips in Zen’s rehearsal bag.
Arriving at the rehearsal space, he found the typical circular table setup for a read-through. One difference he noticed were the name tags assigned to each seat.
Sebastian Michaelis - Zen Ryu
The seat to his right:
Ciel Phantomhive - So Ji-hyun
And to his left:
Joker - Ryong Ki
Zen glanced around the room, looking at the people clustered around.
Ryong Ki was a familiar name in the industry. He was known mostly for his tendency to latch onto the Meisner technique. He was a very zen figure, usually found meditating in his free time. He heard that having a conversation with him was an experience of its own. He could tell he had just recently dyed his hair the signature red that Joker had. The only other person he knew in this production semi-well was Jun Hoon, the actress for Beast. He’d worked with Jun in another show, so he was relieved to see a familiar face. Jun had also been one of the ones who’d backed him up during the Echo Girl situation. She already had naturally curly black hair, a signature of Beast’s look.
Then, So Ji-hyun made an appearance. The young boy playing the role of the infamous Ciel Phantomhive. So was a child actor, currently starring in a show called So What? His fame would certainly rack up the ticket sales. He had plenty of fans, mostly within his age demographic, but he was already becoming somewhat of a household name.
Making his way to each one of them, Zen formally introduced himself.
“Hello, I’m Zen. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Hello. I’m Ryong Ki. Vice versa.”
“Hello, Jun. I’m looking forward to working with you again.”
“You too, Zen!”
“Hello, I’m Zen. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“I’m So. But I’m sure you already knew that, right?”
Zen was taken aback by this. He didn’t like to judge based on first impressions, but he could already tell this kid was a little bit of a brat.
“Yeah, I did. I’m sure we’ll both bring in a bunch of fans, So.”
“I definitely will, but I don’t know about you.”
Zen blinked, lost for words.
This is just a kid. I can’t get angry at a kid.
He felt a little exasperation bubble up, but he kept it hidden with a forced laugh.
“Yeah, no guarantees, I guess..”
So stared at Zen, a deadpan look on his face. Maybe he wouldn’t have to do much acting at all to be like Ciel Phantomhive. He seemed perfect for the role already.
As he looked around the room for a distraction, Zen realized that he was the only one without the corresponding hair color to his character. Even So had dyed his hair a dark blue, identical to Ciel Phantomhive.
“So, are either one of your parents here? Or your agent?”
He searched for the adult that was surely hovering over this kid, hopefully a more level-headed individual than he was. But looking around the room, the more he surmised this kid may have been dropped off.
“You’re playing my butler, not my babysitter.”
Was this kid trying to get under his skin?
“Right.” Zen forced a smile.
“It’s nice to meet you, So.” Walking away, fuming, Zen made his way to his seat.
Sitting down, Zen rested his forehead on his palms for a moment. He panicked internally, thinking of the possibility of having to cut his beautiful, long white hair. And then having to dye it black. Other than his gorgeous face, his hair was a signature of his look. The modeling agencies all agreed with this. Damn it. He had assumed there would be wigs in this production. Was it stupid of him to have assumed that? Had he missed an e-mail of some sort?
“New production nerves, huh? I’ve been there before.” Ryong took a sip of his water bottle, observing Zen’s expression.
“Yeah, dude.” Zen nodded, taking a sip from his own water bottle.
Maybe it was ridiculous to be freaking out about such a small thing. He needed to calm down before the read-through began.
And then, So walked up and took his seat beside Zen nonchalantly. Zen immediately picked up the script in front of him, in an attempt to avoid another interaction. Thankfully, So began scanning his script as well.
After a few minutes of calm chatter as white noise in the room, everyone made their way to their seats. The director of the show walked in, and an applause broke out.
“Oh, stop it. Stop it!” She laughed, embarrassed from the attention on her.
“I’m just so grateful to have all you amazingly talented people here to put on this production with me. It’s going to be wonderful.” Her gaze scanned the room, landing on Zen and So.
“And with that, I won’t make you all wait any longer. Let’s begin, shall we?”