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“So we meet again Captain” Seiji holds his sword up to Harvard’s chest, “Release the princess to me, and no one needs to get hurt”
Harvard swipes his own sword, it clashes noisily against Seiji’s as he settles into a combative pose.
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about General” Harvard smirks. There is a moment of silent tension between them.
Suddenly a third sword joins the fray, sending the others boy swords clattering to the ground.
“This princess can save herself thank you” Bobby smiles, holding the skirts of his dress so that he can walk.
“CUT!” Jesse calls out from in front of the stage, “What the hell was that, Bobby that is not in the script”
“Improvisation” Bobby shrugs, as Jesse storms across the stage towards them. Harvard and Seiji quickly duck out and make themselves scarce.
“I know i’m playing the princess but do I have to be a damsel in distress?”
“Yes, you look best in the dress and besides i’ve matched all the fencers so that their characters have the best visuals for fight scenes, I know what i’m doing”
“Dante doesn’t even fence, why does he get to be a pirate” Bobby crossed his arms over his chest, he wasn’t going to let this go.
“I just think he embodies the character really well” Jesse crossed his arms too.
“He’s also the only character not wearing a shirt”
“It’s an important part of his characters backstory” A blush was starting to crawl up Jesse’s neck.
“Right. Yeah. I’ll pretend I believe that, and it’s not because of your boner for him”
“If I give you a fight scene will you leave me alone” Jesse put his head in his hands, how did he end up these situations.
“Definitely”
The two boys shook on it as Jesse went to work on the script with the twins to figure out where he could fit in a fight scene for Bobby.
---
“Jesse I’m struggling with my characters motivations, I really think I would work better as a pirate” Nick wandered over to Jesse, a serious look on his face Jesse only saw when the other boy was fencing.
Jesse sighed, “Your character’s motivation is just that you would follow Seiji’s character to the end of the earth, it’s not that deep”
Nick nodded as if he was taking this is, but Jesse knew better.
“Maybe I should be a ninja” Nick smiled, Jesse put his hand over his face.
“There aren’t any ninjas in this play”
“Exactly, every story is better with ninjas”
Jesse needed an aspirin.
---
“Harvard is playing the Captain and i’m playing the first mate, it would be so much more dramatic to have a love story, also I read somewhere that Captains could marry people on his boat” Aiden lounged at the front of the stage whilst Jesse told Kally and Tanner where to move different prop pieces and helped to block out different scenes.
“I don’t think that applies to himself, this play isn’t a love story it doesn’t need one” Jesse could feel his grip tightening on his clipboard.
Aiden kept going as if he hadn’t heard Jesse at all. “If the Captain gets married, the first mate can marry them and if the Captain and the first mate get married to each other the second mate can marry them, which would be Dante”
“You got that information off a tumblr post didn’t you” Jesse grit his teeth, Tanner and Kally backing off slowly.
“Doesn’t make it not true” Aiden waved him off rolling his eyes, “It could be in the midst of battle, our love cannot wait any longer, saying our vows over the sounds of clashing swords”
Aiden put a hand over his heart like it was the most romantic thing in the world.
“Now you’re just ripping off Pirates of the Caribbean” Jesse glared and Aiden just smirked.
---
“I just wanted to let you know that Aiden is trying on wedding dresses backstage” Dante told Jesse, sitting next to him in the front row of seats in the theatre.
“God dammit” Jesse pinched the top of his nose, he could feel a headache coming on.
“Also Nick seems to be wearing all black, and trying to climb up to the rafters”
“What the hell” Jesse groaned.
“Why do the other guys seems to be getting more costumes, and I seem to be getting less” Dante looked at Jesse from the corner of his eye.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about”
“Why does my character have to be shirtless, and wearing shorts?” Dante raised an eyebrow.
“He’s in a hot climate Dante, he just wants to work on his tan” Jesse fiddled with the papers in his lap, not meeting Jesse’s eye.
“Just make sure the heating is on in here”
“Of course”
“If you tell me my chest needs baby oil, I will walk”
“Now that seems a bit of a stretch” Jesse smiled, as soon as Dante got up to walk away, he zipped up his backpack to hide the bottle of baby oil in there.
---
“I feel like my character really could be the underdog hero this play deserves” Euegene threw himself onto the desk next to where Jesse was working.
“Please Eugene, your character is just part of the Generals crew, to round out numbers, please just follow the script” Jesse begged, his head already in his hands.
“Maybe he’s been in love with Bobby’s character this entire time and only joined the crew to make sure the Princess was safe, but when he gets there to save her, she can defend herself and whips out a sword and starts fighting with him, but then they realise they are on the same team and run off together” Eugene used his hands to illustrate the drama of the situation.
Jesse’s head was on the desk at this point. “Is this still the plot of Pirates of the Caribbean? I can’t even tell anymore, we are NOT doing Pirates of the Caribbean”
---
“Dante why is your chest shiny?” Bobby asked trying to see if he could see his reflection in Dante’s chest.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about” Dante kept his face stoic.
“What’s that on your neck?” Bobby reached up as if to poke to small bruise there.
“Don’t you have a fight to rehearse” Dante walked away.
---
“Hey….Jesse…..I hate to interrupt….but….” Kally approached Jesse cautiously.
“It’s ok Kally, what do you need?” Jesse sighed, too tired to deal with whatever new problem there now was.
“It’s just I think we need a bigger prop budget” Kally steepled his fingers together, trying not to grimace.
“Really? But I didn’t think we needed that much stuff, and the budget was so big”
“Yes, but with all the new additions we are slowly running out…” Kally tried to smile, it wasn’t working. Jesse’s face fell into a flat look.
“.........what additions?”
“Well, Aiden’s wedding dress with matching rhinestone sword, Nicks espionage gear to help him propel from the ceiling, not to mention trying to make a life sized boat” Kally counted them off on his fingers.
“A life sized boat? I thought we were just making a bow out of wood that we could slide on and off stage”
“We were…..but Tanner drew up some plans, and they were really good and I thought they would add a real authenticity” Kally smiled genuinely now.
“Just, send me the bill for the estimates, I can figure it out” Jesse put a hand to his head, the throbbing was back.
“Great, also do you want to use real treasure in the treasure chest, or fake?”
Jesse screamed silently into his fist.
---
It was opening night.
Both prop boats were capsized.
The background scenery curtain had several sword slashes in it, ruining the sunset image, half the curtain had fallen down anyway. Nick was dangling from the ceiling.
Bobby was knee deep in the fake treasure chest, after trying to claim it for his own in an act of improv, not realising it wasn’t real, had stepped upon it and fallen through.
Aiden was in a wedding dress, being carried bridal style in Harvard’s arms. Dante was lying down off to one side of the stage drinking a can of pepsi in nothing but a pair of shorts and pirates hat. Seiji and Eugene had fake swords at each other’s throats, their costumes disheveled and ripped.
Kally and Tanner could be seen peeking out from backstage.
“Perhaps the real treasure was the friendship we found along the way” Nick held his hands out in a placating gesture as Jesse facepalmed in the front row. This show was a fucking disaster.