Work Text:
Rehearsal time. The Theater Club and everyone helping out gathered in the auditorium, a first check with the costumes on was today’s plan.
Wataru strided up and down on the stage, waiting for his phone to finally ring. He had not seen Hokuto at all today and got impatient on his apprentice’s whereabouts. Wataru watched everyone dress up, until suddenly his phone did signalise he received a message.
‘Hello, Buchou. I had to visit a doctor this morning. I’m too sick to attend any school related gatherings today. I apologise.’
These were not good news. Who would act the main role, the Prince, in his play now?
Natsume had finished dressing up as the Court Magician and was on his way towards the stage to meet everyone, just to be stopped midway by Wataru.
“Natsume-kun, let us talk for a moment~”
He led Natsume to a quiet part of the hallway, looking around to make sure no one followed them to eavesdrop.
“Wataru-niisan, why this Secrecy?”
“You see~ I had to make last minute changes to my script, but the moment of Amazing~ will be on its heights when only you know about them ♪” And with a “Ta-da! ☆” he handed Natsume the changed version of the play’s script.
Natsume could not even ask why the changes were made, Wataru was too fast in disappearing again, so he looked down onto the script. The redhead hesitated to open it, but his former master did not come back, and none of the others present today did get lost in this part of the hallway either. Eventually Natsume opened the script to read it. It mainly stayed the same, the only change he found was concerning his role as Court Magician. Originally, the Court Magician was supposed to sacrifice himself in order to save the opposing kingdom’s princess. A classic tragedy in the eyes of the Court Magician. However, in the changed version the Court Magician does not fall in love with the enemy princess. Instead, he grows fond of his very own prince. A weird change, Natsume thought. On the other hand, acting as Hokuto’s lover instead of Tomoya’s seemed quite interesting to the redhead.
Natsume ended his read and went back to his original plan of meeting everyone on stage.
It seemed like everyone was waiting on Natsume’s return already. Wataru stood at front, the others assembled around him. Did he plan on giving instructions this early? Natsume curiously joined the others.
“Now then, Natsume-kun was the last participant to join us. I shall introduce you to our substitute prince!” Wataru turned around, gesturing dramatically at the auditorium’s entrance area. “Predecessor-san!” A spotlight turned on, revealing Tsumugi standing there. “My dear Predecessor-san, please join us on stage! ☆”
Tsumugi said something, but he was too far away from everyone to be audible. Therefore he simply walked towards the stage, wearing his school uniform, and stopped next to Wataru.
“Hibiki-kun, I don’t think I can act as well as Hidaka-kun…”
“Oya? Didn’t your text message say you’d love to substitute him?”
“Ah, um….” Tsumugi nervously looked around, seemingly searching for something - or rather some one - specific. He briefly met eyes with Natsume, then immediately looked back at Wataru. Natsume noticed a very faint blush on Tsumugi’s cheeks.
“Hmmm?~ Very well! My dear Predecessor-san, Natsume-kun shall accompany you backstage to help with your costume ♪”
“Eh?” Tsumugi blinked, visibly confused, but Wataru only gestured towards backstage while wearing a bright smile on his lips.
There was nothing that would change Wataru’s mind. Natsume sighed, this definitely did annoy him already, yet he stepped out of the crowd to shove Tsumugi in the direction to where backstage was.
“Senpai, don’t Resist.”
Backstage was full of different costumes, each looked handmade and with special little details to make them look unique. Natsume headed straight over to the medieval costumes.
“Um… Natsume-kun?” Tsumugi stayed at the entrance, watching his junior with interest.
“I haven’t seen Hokke-kun today at all, this means Wataru-niisan wishes to have you act as Hokke-kun’s Role.” The redhead quickly explained, swift fingers looking through the amount of prince-like costumes Tsumugi could wear.
“Ehehe, yes, Hibiki-kun asked me to help out.” A soft smile adorned Tsumugi’s face. “Ah, Natsume-kun, let me help you.” He walked over to the costumes.
Natsume already picked a few to hold up at Tsumugi, so he could see if the costume would fit him or not. They either were too small for his rather broad shoulders, or simply did not match well with his hair colour. Much to Natsume’s disliking barely anything matched Tsumugi’s hair colour well. Why could he not have as black hair as Hokuto.
“Natsume-kun, I can pick a costume myself, you know?..”
“It has to match the overall image of your role, additionally to matching your Looks.”
“Ah, okay…”
The redhead was concentrated on finding the right costume. Eventually, he spotted a light blue one with a lot of white and silver. Tsumugi took the costume off of Natsume when being offered it, walked over to a big mirror, and investigated himself. Natsume stayed back, arms crossed.
“This should fit You, Senpai.”
“You think so? Ehehe, I’m glad~ ♪”
“This was definitely not a Compliment. Now try it on, everyone is waiting for You.”
“Ah, yes, of course!”
With these words the older boy started to undress himself. Natsume was about to say something, but considering all of Switch had to use a single changing room before, he kept his comment to himself. Instead, he helped Tsumugi to get into the complicated made costume, it consisted of several layers of fabric, some had to be tied on the back, others functioned as jacket.
It took quite a while to dress up Tsumugi. He took another look at the mirror, turning in front of it to see the back of the costume as well.
“Uwah…” An impressed sound left him. “I really look like a prince~ Natsume-kun, what do you think?” With these words the blue haired boy turned around, a smile on his face. But Natsume could not reply immediately, he had to hide the warmth he felt in his cheeks.
“Natsume-kun? You don’t look well. Do you want me to call a teacher?”
“No, I’m Fine. However, we have to head back on stage, Wataru-niisan is Waiting.” The younger boy left the dressing room.
“Ah, Natsume-kun, wait!...” Tsumugi quickly followed him.
They silently went along the hallway connecting the backstage room with the stage. On stage, Wataru already awaited them.
"Welcome back!~" He clapped once, indicating he wanted everyone's attention. "Let us start with Act 2, Scene 27 ☆"
One of the scenes that received a change, Natsume figured. He had to keep his prince from rushing into war without thinking properly about it. At the thought of acting as Tsumugi's lover his cheeks became warm again.
Meanwhile everyone prepared the props used for this scene, and those relevant in it stayed on stage, the rest took seats in the audience area. The scene started with the prince monologuing. Natsume heard this monologue spoken by Hokuto so many times, hearing Tsumugi speak it gave him unwanted goosebumps. 'I can't act as well as Hidaka-kun…' , he said. Natsume knew this was a lie.
As the scene went on, more and more of the other characters appeared, disappeared again, until eventually the stage went dark and only a spotlight lit up at where Tsumugi stood. This was Natsume's new entrance sign. From the shadows the Court Magician ran up to the Prince, reaching for his hand to stop him from leaving the stage.
“Your Highness! Please reevaluate your decision to go to war against the neighbouring Kingdom!” Much to Natsume’s surprise he got really into the changed aspects of his role.
“And why do you think I, the Crown Prince, should listen to a mere magician?” Tsumugi’s words had so much power, his slow calm and deep voice echoed through the whole auditorium, leaving everyone with goosebumps as well.
“...Simply because this kingdom will lose its royal power if something would happen to You, Your Highness. Additionally, this very heart-” Natsume slammed his flat hand onto his chest, “-will break Apart!”
Silence.
Natsume stood there, his flat hand on his chest, his expression a pained one, and his other hand grabbing around Tsumugi’s wrist. The other boy wore shock on his face. Were these words a surprise to him? Did Natsume forget his actual words and let his inner voice speak instead? As several thoughts crossed his mind, his expression slowly changed. It spoke realisation over having done a grave mistake.
Tsumugi gulped. Then leaned a bit towards Natsume to whisper something. “Natsume-kun, this last part isn’t in the script…”
“I…” Natsume let go of Tsumugi’s wrist. He took a few steps backwards, slowly, trying to think of a big enough distraction. No one should remember this incident. Ever.
He found a marble in his costume’s pocket and held it high in the air, to let everyone see it sparkle in the faint light.
“Take a look at this Sparkle. It may appear as beautiful and Innocuous, yet it is full of evil spirits, trying to break free to take over as many weak souls as they can Find. Hm? What is This? ...A Crack? Did the evil spirits break free after All?” The redhead took a step towards the audience area, acting as if he tripped over something invisible, and eventually let the marble dramatically drop onto the floor. It broke into several small shining pieces. Natsume looked at the broken marble for a few seconds, then snapped his fingers, eventually pointing into the audience.
“Perhaps the mightiness of these spirits have already taken me Over~ ♪” He kept a serious expression before rushing towards the backstage area, hiding there from this major embarrassment.
Natsume sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, and his arms around his legs while his forehead rested on his knees. He knew it was a bad idea to have agreed to join Wataru’s play. He simply was not made to stand on stage as actor . Natsume was an idol .
A door being opened interrupted his sulking.
“Natsume-kun? May I come in?”
“Senpai, Leave.”
“...”
The door swung open, only to be closed a few moments later. Foot steps towards Natsume resounded in the room, and Tsumugi eventually sat down next to him.
“I told you to Leave. Now Go.”
“Does your heart really break if I get hurt?”
“I won’t repeat myself Again.”
“Fufu, it’s cute.”
“Senpai, you’re Hallucinating.”
“Maybe I am. But even if I were, I like this. ♪”
Natsume looked up, his face was a flustered mess between embarrassment and shame.
“Ehehe, don’t worry! Your senpai will do his best so no one remembers your wrong text~”
“I don’t care about the wrong Text.” This was a lie. Natsume did care a lot about it, considering his most secret thoughts were voiced in that very moment. Pouting, he slammed his head onto Tsumugi’s shoulder to rest it there.
“Ouch!? Natsume-kun, this hurt?!”
But the redhead remained silent.
“Uhhh… Usually the prince gets a kiss from his secret admirer in such fantasy stories…”
“...Yes, yes, keep on Dreaming. ...Niisan.”