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“Minhyun, you’re in the wrong position again.”
“Shut the fuck up!”
The auditorium fell into silence as Minhyun’s voice bounced off the walls, a few decibels too loud for the other theatre kids not to hear.
“Can’t you just focus on your vocals?” Minhyun spat. “I’m sick of you nagging me with the same thing over and over again for the past weeks!”
Jonghyun flinched and willed himself not to sigh at Minhyun’s outburst. “Then stop making the same mistakes, Minhyun. I wouldn't have corrected you so many times if you actually listened to me the first time.”
Though Jonghyun retorted with a relatively calm tone, Minhyun seethed where he stood. The others had started fleeing the scene, too scared to meddle with the two actors.
Minhyun’s eye twitched at the words. “Are you picking a fight with me? Stop acting like you’re always right! I’m tired because we’ve been doing this for hours, Jonghyun, it slipped my mind.”
“Maybe if you do it right every other practice it would’ve become muscle memory by now.” Jonghyun clucked his tongue, unfazed by Minhyun’s flaring anger that seemed to heighten by the second.
“Maybe if you start doing your own part right you don’t have to keep telling me off for being wrong!”
“Then dance better!”
“Fucking sing better!”
As it almost escalated into something else, Aron came into the scene with Minki to yell at the two to stop. The two didn’t immediately step back, but they did eventually. With that, Aron put the rehearsals on hold, letting everyone rest before they continued again.
It was where everything started going downhill for them.
Jonghyun spared a glance at Minhyun as the taller eyed him with hatred from across the room.
❄
It’s bound to happen again, sooner or later, because they had to work on the same stage for the same musical on a daily basis.
“That’s not how it goes.” Jonghyun frowned, sitting on a crate by the stage and looking over Minhyun teaching Joshua a part of the choreography.
“What?” Minhyun snapped his head towards Jonghyun. “This is exactly how it goes, I’ve always done it like this.”
“And you’ve always been wrong, so no wonder.” Jonghyun jumped off the crate and Minhyun was already shooting icy glares at him. “At the part where we sing ‘if I close my eyes’, we twirl. The jump step is before that.”
Minhyun blinked. “No, it’s the other way around.”
“No.” Jonghyun sighed. “It’s like that, Soonyoung told me.”
“This is how I do it every rehearsal.”
“I told you, you’re wrong.”
“No, I’m right!”
“Are you not listening to me because you don’t want to admit that I’m the better personnel of the assembly compared to you?”
“You’re not better than me, Jonghyun, you can’t fucking sing.”
“And you can’t even remember a single right thing about the choreography!”
The punch came without warning, but Jonghyun dodged it in time. Enraged, Minhyun stepped forward and grabbed Jonghyun’s collar instead.
Jonghyun didn’t falter, only grabbed Minhyun’s wrists and pushed the taller back and away from him.
“Can’t even land a strike on me?” Jonghyun taunted. “You really can’t do anything right, can you?”
That day, Jonghyun left with bruised lips while Minhyun almost got his nose broken from one particular punch.
❄
“And you’re here and not out there because...?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Jonghyun promptly wiped his eyes and straightened his posture where he’s seated, back against Minhyun who just entered the room.
“Leave me alone,” Jonghyun said, but it’s too hoarse that even someone as dumb as Minhyun could tell that he was crying.
“Everyone’s out there waiting,” Minhyun jabbed, completely ignoring the fact that Jonghyun was not in his best state. “We’re not starting until everyone’s present and you’re the only one missing. Don’t be so selfish, Jonghyun.”
Jonghyun’s shoulders tensed at the words. “Then tell Aron I’m not going to today’s rehearsal, I’m tired.”
“Everyone’s tired too, you’re not the only one.”
“Fuck you, Minhyun.” Jonghyun didn’t even hold back this time, standing and walking up to Minhyun, who stood still by the door.
Minhyun’s eyes widened when he noticed how red and puffy Jonghyun’s face was, only now realizing that Jonghyun was not alright.
“You’re an asshole, do you know that?” Jonghyun jabbed his finger at Minhyun’s chest, eyes void of its usual cheerfulness when he’s with the rest of the theatre kids. “Be useful and relay my message to Aron just this one time. My grandmother just passed away, I’m going home now. Good luck with practice.”
When Jonghyun bumped their shoulders on his way out on purpose, Minhyun knew that he actually fucked up this time.
❄
Realizing they’re now locked inside the supply closet, Minhyun kicked the door and shouted in frustration.
“It’s no use, just sit down.” Jonghyun called out from where he’s seated on the floor, back against the wall. “They’ll let us out in fifteen minutes.”
“Then let’s talk.” Minhyun averted his gaze to Jonghyun and decided against sitting with him. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “That’s what Aron wants, right?”
“Let’s just make an agreement,” Jonghyun said.
“What agreement?”
“We don’t like each other, but we’re both actors, right?” Jonghyun started and Minhyun just nodded. “So let’s just pretend we’re okay in front of the others.”
“Deal.”
❄
Pretending to be okay meant that they couldn’t start a fight in front of everyone the way they always did. Frankly, it taught the both of them to hold back when things didn’t go right. Jonghyun still told Minhyun to fix his positions during the choreography, but Minhyun learned to say a quick “Thank you” instead of snapping back at Jonghyun. On the other hand, Jonghyun still couldn’t always hit the right notes in some songs, but Minhyun stayed silent and let Jeonghan be the one to correct Jonghyun instead.
In place of their old days’ fight, Jonghyun opted to rant about the other people in the production team instead when he found himself alone with Minhyun.
“Never pegged you to be the type to shit talk people behind their backs.” Minhyun smiled amusedly.
“I don’t have anything to hide from you,” Jonghyun retorted. “The others always look up to me as a role model, I can’t betray them.”
Minhyun snorted. “Fair enough.”
Unfortunately, that’s when Minhyun started noticing how vibrant Jonghyun’s smile was. It didn’t help that he’s completely endeared by Jonghyun’s unfiltered version whenever it’s just the two of them with no prying eyes for Jonghyun to let up his walls.
Minhyun ignored his quickening heartbeat when he saw Jonghyun laughing his heart out after they’re done with practice one day.
❄
Amidst the production team and all the actors crowding the stage, Minhyun’s eyes only searched for one person. They just finished the last day of the showcase and it ended perfectly with Minhyun as the closing act.
“There you are.”
The familiar voice brought a smile to Minhyun’s lips.
“You were looking for me, too?” Minhyun turned around.
“You were looking for me?” Jonghyun raised his eyebrow, clearly amused at their situation, remembering everything that had happened between them in the past. “I just wanted to say that you did a great job.”
“Thank you.” Minhyun’s smile widened. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“Of course I’m not.”
Before Minhyun could process anything, time stretched around them and he felt a peck land on his cheek. His eyes widened as he looked at a very red Jonghyun.
“See you around, Minhyun, I’m going to take more photos with Minki and the others.” Jonghyun grinned, excusing himself and disappearing again into the wave of people around them.
Minhyun’s heart fluttered at the thought of what had just happened.
He had to tell Jonghyun some things himself, but that could wait. For now, he’d just stare at Jonghyun from across the room.