Archive of Our Own ^beta

Lizzie Saltzman would like to make it very clear to anyone who asks that she is one hundred and fifty percent done with the School’s play. 

First of all, she had never agreed to being in Romeo & Juliet.

( Well — that’s not entirely true, Josie would then say calmly when Lizzie stops her ranting to take a sip of her tea while their mother listens on with the interest that only really Caroline Forbes could actually have in situations such as these, You did audition. And you told Professor Ted that if you didn’t get Lady Macbeth you’d get dad to cancel the play.)

And, well, that really only proves her point, honestly. Lizzie had been in hopes that her kindred spirit in loving all things drama and Shakespeare, the man who fancied himself the title of Necromancer for God really knows why considering he was just a gay man in his 50s who still had to deal with hormonal teens and the lack of recognition in the Mystic Falls’ theatre scene (which, you’ve guessed it, was nonexistent), would have chosen Macbeth for the school play. 

But obviously not, because the very next day, when she was sure, so sure, that she would have gotten the role of her high school career, only to have her hopes and dreams quite literally stepped on until they were nothing but absolute mush on the ground —

(Macbeth had been vetoed. So, it's not really Professor Ted’s fault. Something about the kids in Mystic Falls having too much exposure to violence and aggression and them not wanting the local school to encourage that through the arts. 

Romeo & Juliet had been the compromise Ted found with the council — not crazy in the murder-y aspect but still with its unhappy ending, enough to calm Ted down and stop him from threatening to trash the school’s classrooms again.)

And, well. Lizzie had been hoping for Macbeth. Not for Juliet. And certainly not for Landon Kirby’s Romeo. 

Lizzie had glared daggers at her favorite professor, only to have him shrug and say that she still got to be the lead anyway. 

( “But I have to… kiss… him!” She had winced, disgusted, and sent the curly haired boy a glance, “Do something!” 

“Uh, um -” Landon had stuttered, “I mean, I- I love this play. I don’t really… I don’t really mind it. Unless Josie has a problem with it, but -”

They all had looked expectantly at the brown haired girl who had been given the responsibility of working with costumes and she looked up from the papers in her hands and met Lizzie’s pleading face and Landon’s nervous one. She then met their teacher’s expectant eyes and shrugged.

“I mean, I’m fine with it. It’s just a play,” Then she made a pensive face, “Although it’ll be weird to see my sister kiss my boyfriend. But there’s been weirder things around here. Like Raf doing slam poetry for his audition last week.” 

“Well, that settles that then. Lizzie is Juliet, Landon is Romeo, and we all wish this play was Macbeth. Everyone got your scripts?” Ted clapped. Lizzie glared.)

Frankly, she thinks that she’d actually lasted enough and it was a bit remarkable that she’d spent so long pretty involved in the process of actually putting this play together, but this — this was ridiculous. She’s had enough. 

The this in question comes in the form of Landon Kirby, her so-called Romeo, being rushed into the ER with a broken leg from a jumping accident at Pedro’s birthday party on a Saturday afternoon, exactly a week from the big day. 

“Lizzie, stop with the glaring contest, you’re making Landon uncomfortable.” Josie says from where she’s sat next to her boyfriend, watching as the nurse helps him with his cast. 

“Your fault for making me drive you here.” 

“He broke his leg .”

Lizzie rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, “Yeah, don’t even get me started on that particular inconvenience.”

Landon looks up at her with an offended expression on his face, his eyebrows in a frown, “How the hell is this an inconvenience to you? I can’t stand on my own without crutches.” 

“Precisely, Romeo .” 

Landon’s eyebrows go back to normal as he realizes what she means. “Well, yeah, I guess that does suck a bit for you, then.” 

“Don’t sympathize with her, Landon.” Josie says, her hand meeting his in support. “You broke your leg. This has nothing to do with her and a stupid play.” 

Lizzie gasps in offense at that.

“Alright, then, Josette, may I remind you that you’ve been working on the costumes for this stupid play for about a month now and you’re extremely fucked if the understudy they have for Landon isn’t at least somewhat near the same pocket sized measures of your dear Hobbit boyfriend because that will count for at least half of your grade?” 

“I swear, I don’t know how she gets the oxygen to say all those things in one breath,” Josie mutters after a pause, not really having a rebuttal to Lizzie’s (quite valid, thank you) point. 

“Well, um, you don’t have to worry about that, Jo,” Landon almost mumbles, his eyes now on the stark white cast around his leg. “Um - the understudy, well -” 

“You know who your understudy is?!” Lizzie asks when he pauses, her eyebrows rising up on her forehead as she steps closer to him and her twin. Landon gulps.

“I mean, yeah - I kinda swore to secrecy, though.” 

“To whom?!”

“Professor Ted.” Landon answers quickly.

“Why the fuck -”

“Language, Lizzie.” Josie reprimands.

Lizzie ignores her with a wave of her hand.

“Speak, Hobbit.”

“Well, Ted kinda knew that if you knew who my understudy was you’d be pretty pissed and maybe get your dad to cancel the play like you said you would if you didn’t get the leading role. I told him you wouldn’t, but he made me promise to keep it a secret unless it was an emergency. And, well, we’re literally in the Emergency Room, aren’t we -” he rambles. 

“Get to the point, Landon.” Lizzie snaps her fingers. “Who is it?”

“It’s, um.” Landon licks his lips, then takes a breath, “It’s kinda… Hope?”

Josie winces. Landon bites his bottom lip nervously and looks around the room for any nurses that might be able to help if Lizzie had a stroke or something of the sort.

“Hope… Mikaelson?” Lizzie asks, her voice strained and her face unreadable.

“Well, not like there’s another-” he stops his sentence and lets the chuckle die out on his lips at Lizzie’s glare. 

“Why the fuck would he make her the understudy for Romeo ?”

“Heteronormative much, Lizzie?” 

“Shut it, Josette. Not right now.”

Landon meets Lizzie’s inquisitive eyes and he shrugs, “I mean, she knows the play really well. Her dad is like, crazy obsessed with Shakespeare. Her whole family is, actually. She knows it all by heart and she helped me run my lines, so. Also, similar heights and stuff. You know. Kinda made sense.” He shrugs, “I swear, I wanted to tell you -”

“Yeah, yeah, Ted didn’t let you. Whatever.” Lizzie huffs. She walks towards them and sits on the other side of Landon. They’re silent for a few seconds as Lizzie proccesses the information she’d just been given and Josie is about to speak up when Lizzie says, with a tone of finality, “Well, fuck this play then.”

“Huh?” Josie asks. The blonde meets two sets of confused brown eyes and shrugs.

“Over it. Done. Not doing it, sorry. They’ll have to find another Juliet. Good luck getting my costume to fit on Alyssa, Josie.”

Josie groans and facepalms.  

“You’re not dropping out.” Her mother tells her over breakfast the next day. 

“Snitch.” Lizzie glares at Josie. Her sister takes a sip of her orange juice before speaking.

“You’re being irrational. I thought mom would help you realize that.” 

“No, Josie, you thought snitching would get mom to tell me to not quit the play so you don’t have to change the costumes to fit Alyssa,” Josie scoffs, fake affronted, and Lizzie adds, “I see you, I see right through you.”

“You’re being ridicul-”

“Girls. Please, it’s 8AM on a Sunday and I’ve just barely had any caffeine to deal with your bickering.” Caroline interrupts them, her mug midway to her mouth as she gives them both warning glances and the twins sit back, Josie going back to her orange juice and Lizzie back to stabbing at her pancakes in frustration. “Much better. Now, Liz, why do you feel like quitting is the right decision right now?”

“Because, mother , I am a firm believer that Hope Mikaelson is the actual antichrist.”

Josie rolls her eyes, and just as Lizzie finishes her sentence, Stefan, the twins’ step father walks into the kitchen with a cheery good morning greeting.

“Started early, then, have we?” Stefan says in a light amused tone as he leans down and deposits a kiss on each of their heads before sitting down beside Caroline. “Now, catch me up.”

“Lizzie is being ridiculous and wants to quit the play because Landon’s understudy for Romeo is Hope Mikaelson and she has this weird rivalry going on with her ever since like, forever, and just completely screw me over by making me change her costumes that are specially made with her ridiculously tall frame fit into a girl that’s like, the size of a normal human being and not her actual Gandalf stature. That’s about it.” Josie explains quickly as Stefan prepares his coffee and Lizzie rolls her eyes in all the right moments. 

Caroline sends Josie a look to reprimand her for her jabs but otherwise stays quiet, a pensive look on her face. (Frankly, Lizzie is already over this. She doesn’t know why Josie’s getting their parents involved.)

“Hope as in Klaus and Hayley’s daughter?”

“Yeah,” Caroline responds at the same time that Josie nods.

“She’s a sweet kid, isn’t she?” Stefan says in a calm tone, knowing to tread lightly. “Whenever we’ve been to the Mikaelsons she’s been pleasant. Isn’t she good friends with Landon, Josie?” 

“Yeah, she is. Honestly, she’s really nice-” She’s interrupted by the sound of Lizzie gagging. Josie rolls her eyes, “She’s actually nice. Lizzie is just, well, you know, Lizzie .”

“I’m the only one who sees what an absolute brat that girl really is. I swear, she goes out of her way to make my life miserable.”

“And this is all one-sided, I’m assuming.” Caroline comments, a sarcastic tinge to her tone and Lizzie squints at her mother while Josie and Stefan chuckle.

“Obviously.” Lizzie responds.

“Right, because you’re such an angel,” Caroline cracks then, a small smile on her face, and Lizzie frowns.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” 

“It means that I raised you, Elizabeth, and I was your age once. I didn’t get to be Miss Mystic Falls for three consecutive years, the captain of several school clubs including the debates, cheerleading and Model UN without making several enemies in my school career.” Caroline took a sip of her coffee and Lizzie deflated. “Now, why don’t you explain to me what’s so bad about Hope that you’re willing to quit the play at this point after all of the, and I quote, tests that God has given you to test your strength and willpower to endure the degrading situation you’ve been put in as the Juliet to Josie’s Living Muppet Boyfriend’s Romeo.” Stefan chuckles at that and Josie glares at Lizzie for the jab. “Sorry, sweetie, you know I think Landon is lovely.”

Lizzie rolls her eyes. “I told you. I don’t wanna be Hope’s romantic interest in the play.”

“Yeah, sure you don’t.” Josie mocks under her breath and the adults raise their eyebrows at the comment.

“Shut up , Josette.” Lizzie says, through gritted teeth, and Josie only gives her a smirk, proud of herself for getting on her sister’s nerves. 

“Well,” Caroline claps, “Doesn’t matter. You’ve made a commitment, your sister’s grade is at stake and you’re not dropping a commitment you’ve made just because of petty drama. That’s not who I raised you to be.”

“But mom-”

“And that’s final .” Caroline says sternly, and when Lizzie deflates with a pout she smiles, “Take this as a life lesson. Most people will get on your nerves, but you have to deal with them and be professional so you don’t let them get the best of you. A winner’s mindset, remember, Lizzie? We are airy clouds, floating high above a turbulent sea of drama.” 

Josie and Stefan exchange a look as Lizzie takes her mother’s words to heart and takes a deep breath, nodding once. “You’re right. I can do this.”

“That’s my girl.” Caroline grins.

“They’re terrifying,” Josie whispers to Stefan.

“Tell me about it.” He chuckles when Caroline punches his shoulder playfully.

Turns out being an airy cloud is not the easiest thing to do when Hope Mikaelson is involved. Not when you’re Hope Mikaelson’s love interest in an, quite frankly, overrated romantic drama. 

No, actually, it’s about the hardest thing Lizzie has ever done, really. 

She’s not necessarily doing anything, to be fair, but just her presence seems to get a rise out of Lizzie. The other girl is just standing to the side of the stage, laughing at something Rafael has just said with her big, stupid smile and honestly — she’s overhead the joke. Wasn’t that funny. So either Hope is really stupid or she’s like, into Raf or something -

“Whoa, Liz, you gonna spill coffee all over the stage if you keep gripping the cup like that.” MG cuts her out of her trance and Lizzie snaps her attention to the boy in front of her, who’s working on getting her to release her grip on her Starbucks coffee. 

“Right, yeah, you’re right.” Lizzie says, easing up on the grip and sighing, trying to ground herself. 

“Are you okay?” He asks, tone concerned, and Lizzie nods a little too fast. 

“Yeah, I’m great. Wonderful. Never better,” She forces a smile and MG nods slowly, not quite believing her but not really wanting to press her on it, knowing her well enough to know that Lizzie being pressed when she was having a moment was not about to end up well. 

“Okay, good. Uh, you seen Ethan anywhere? I brought him some snacks since he gotta stay longer.” MG grins, raising his left hand that he held the brown paper bag with. 

“Cute,” Lizzie smiles genuinely, knowing how happy that would make the boy. “He’s up there working the light cues. Careful with those stairs, Jed managed to hurt himself three times going up just this week.” 

“Alright, thanks Lizzie.” MG gave her one last grin and walked off the stage towards the stairs Lizzie motioned to. 

She watches him walk away with a smile that dissipates as soon as she hears She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named’s voice call out to her. She takes a deep breath and turns her head, her eyes meeting Hope’s expectant ones. The auburn haired girl walks towards her as she speaks.

“Wanna run our lines? Raf just told me this is the final rehearsal before the rehearsal with the costumes, so, you know, Ted might be extra testy today,” Hope says, an easy tone to her voice, “Might be good to be prepared.” 

“Are you implying I’m not prepared, Mikaelson?” Lizzie frowns.

“What? No!” Hope frowns back. 

“Seems like it. I’ll have you know that I’m more than prepared.”

“Okay, well, I was just trying to be helpful -” 

“And I don’t need your help, Mikaelson. So whatever little mind game you’re playing at is not going to work with me. I’m unbreakable and untouchable, you got it?”

Hope blinks and then frowns, “Jesus, what’s your problem?”

“You know damn well what my problem is.”

“No, actually, I don’t. So enlighten me.” 

Lizzie squints, “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Hope is about to open her mouth to speak when Professor Ted makes his presence known by quite literally storming into the auditorium with a loud bang of the door as he removes his cape-like jacket and throws it at Chad, his assistant and announces that they’ll start the rehearsal immediately. 

“You’re unhinged.” Hope says to her as the students begin to scramble around to get into position and Lizzie is not proud of it, absolutely not, but she sticks her tongue out at Hope in response. “Mature.”

“Bite me, Mikaelson.” 

“Romeo and Juliet, you’re not up yet, so please kindly get off the stage thank you very much and begin!” Ted claps twice and silence sets on the auditorium as Hope and Lizzie scurry off the stage so the others can start their scene.

She trips on her way down the stage (those damn fucking stairs) and just barely makes it when Hope holds her arm so she doesn’t fall. 

“Please don’t follow in Landon’s footsteps and go breaking your leg as well,” Hope whispers so she’s the only one able to hear her and not disturb the rehearsal.

“Careful, Mikaelson, or one might think you actually care.” She whispers back as they take their seats next to each other.

Hope scoffs, “Don’t flatter yourself, Saltzman. Just really don’t feel like dealing with Alyssa Chang’s stage demands on top of dealing with your ever so pleasant disposition.” 

“ Whatever. ” 

“Romeo, Juliet, quiet! This is not your time!” Professor Ted exclaims in exasperation, his accent becoming thicker as his stress levels begin to rise up.

“Told you he’s testy.” Hope mutters. Lizzie pretends she didn’t hear.

This is the worst, actually. 

Lizzie likes to think that she’s a good actress. Honestly, it’s not her passion or anything, but as Caroline Forbes’ miniature, she does have a knack for it, not surprisingly. So, it’s a bit of a shock for everyone involved when she begins reciting Juliet’s lines at the party through gritted teeth.

They’re barely halfway through the scene when Ted asks them to stop. 

“I don’t know what that was, but I imagine the switch from Mr. Kirby to Miss Mikaelson has shaken up the performance of these specific scenes. Completely understandable, a bit inconvenient, but not like there’s much I can do as this is not my problem,” Ted rants, his accent pointed and clear. “Hope, Lizzie, you’re excused from today’s rehearsal to get anywhere else to sort this… whatever this was, out. Go.” 

Lizzie and Hope nod and ignore the snickers from the other students as they make their way out of the auditorium. 

“Well, that went exactly as bad as I expected it to go,” Hope says after they’ve stepped out into the hallways of the school. 

Lizzie sighs and runs a hand through her face, “This is all my fault.”

“Yeah, it is,” Hope agrees, and when Lizzie glares at her she raises her hands up, “Kidding. Kinda. But like, we can work through it. We just need to run our lines together so you get used to, I don’t know, being Juliet to a female Romeo?” 

“Technically you’re still a male Romeo.” Lizzie reminds her as they fall into easy steps. 

“Technically. You know what I mean,” Hope turns to her, “Are you doing anything tonight?”

“Sulking. Avoiding Josie. Why?” 

“Well, I guess you could avoid Josie at mine? I was going to ask if you wanted to come home with me so we could run lines together. You could have dinner with my family, if you wanted. Or not. I mean, whatever you felt like, really, but -”

“You’re rambling.” Lizzie interrupts her, in a bit of a daze. She’s not entirely sure what’s happening, not having seen this one coming - Hope Mikaelson? Inviting her over? Rambling?   The girl who’d just called her unhinged not two hours ago?

“Yes, I am, sorry,” Hope winces, “I just know we’re not the best of friends and you clearly don’t take me being nice to you well so I just figured you’d like me to be clear about my intentions -”

“Rambling again.” Lizzie interrupts again.

“Stop doing that.” Hope frowns, annoyed, and Lizzie smirks. “I don’t know why I try to be thoughtful to you.” She mutters under her breath, if Lizzie was meant to hear it she’s not sure, but it still makes her feel something in the very pit of her stomach.

“Well, either way, yeah, I’ll come over.”

“Cool.” Hope nods, and her eyes are a bit wider than normal and Lizzie wonders if she wasn’t expecting Lizzie to say yes. Which, you know, fair. Lizzie nods back and they look at each other expectantly. Lizzie raises an eyebrow.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” 

“Are you going to drive me or should I drop Josie home first?” 

“Oh, um, yeah, sure. I’ll drive you.” Hope says, sounding a bit flustered, and Lizzie frowns confusedly at the girl. She’d never seen Hope acting like that before.

“Alright. So I’ll go find Josie and give her the keys to our car and meet you at the parking lot?” Lizzie says, already walking away towards where she knew Josie would be working on the costumes at and Hope nods, still giving Lizzie that weird look that the blonde is not totally sure she trusts.

“Okay. I’ll be here.”

“No, Hope, parking lot, remember?” 

“Right, yes.” Hope nods and turns around, and Lizzie frowns.

“Weirdo.”

“Heard that.” Hope calls out, her back turned to Lizzie as she walks away.

“Good.” Lizzie responds, not really knowing why that’s brought a smile to her face.

It’s no secret that the Mikaelsons are, well, loaded. Everyone knew that the Mikaelson manor was pretty much comparable to a castle when put next with most of the homes in Mystic Falls, but it always made Lizzie a bit taken aback whenever she visited. Their house actually rivaled the Salvatore Boarding House where she and her family resided.

The Mikaelsons were good friends of Caroline and Stefan’s, and it wasn’t unusual for Lizzie’s family to be invited over for dinners and celebrations at their home. Lizzie and Josie had pretty much grown up with Hope, and while Hope and Josie’s friendship had been able to develop without many hiccups or issues, especially not when Josie had started dating Hope’s best friend, Landon, the same could not be said for Lizzie and Hope.

It seemed as if something had always just… not exactly clicked between them. The tension and rivalry had always been present between the two blue eyed girls, and as the years went by it had only gotten more and more intense. 

For that reason, the car ride to Hope’s home had been awkwardly silent, with Lizzie pretending to look through her phone while Hope drove and with nothing but the sound of the radio playing softly. It wasn’t terribly awkward in a way they couldn’t bear it, just in a way that made Lizzie feel as if her stomach was doing turns anytime she caught Hope throwing a glance her way.

Hope’s dad is in the living room when they walk in, and he smiles when he sees his daughter walk in with the tallest of the twins. 

“Hello, dear,” He greets, accent ever so present, and Hope smiles in response. “Oh, Elizabeth, surprising yet lovely to see you. I take it your sister is here?” 

“Just me, for Hope’s absolute delight.” Lizzie says with a smirk and Klaus chuckles, “Lovely to see you as well, Mr. Mikaelson.” 

“Please, call me Klaus.” He says, “It’s a pleasure to have you here nonetheless. Hope, dear, why don’t you go ahead and take Elizabeth to the kitchen to get something to eat, yeah? Your mom’s been preparing you your afternoon snacks.” He winks and smiles when Lizzie chuckles and Hope flushes.

“Okay, dad, we’ll just put our stuff up in my room,” She mumbles, and she avoids Lizzie’s eyes as she motions for the blonde to follow her up the stairs and towards the door Lizzie remembered to be Hope’s.

“Uh, you can just go wash up if you want, the bathroom is next door. I’ll just go put our stuff in and then we can go downstairs to get something to eat.”

“What, Mikaelson, afraid I’ll see anything lying around in your room?” Lizzie teases, and she’s delighted to see the flush in the smaller girl’s pale cheeks. 

“No, um, I mean, kinda, yeah. Just, well - it’s just messy and I didn’t expect any visitors, so -” 

“It’s fine, Hope. I’m just teasing. I need to call my mom, anyway, so.” 

“Alright. Okay, cool. Just, wait for me, yeah? My family’s kinda intense.”

“I know, Hope. I’m well familiar with your family, remember?” 

“Right. Yes. Sorry.” Hope nods once and then takes Lizzie’s bag from her and throws it over her shoulder. 

Lizzie gives her one last amused look before she walks into the bathroom and fishes her phone out to call her mother to let her know she was surrounded by her arch-nemesis’ floral shampoos and mint toothpaste and that her arch-nemesis turned out to be a bit of a rambling fool when she was alone with Lizzie, which Lizzie totally didn’t think was kind of endearing. Definitely not. Never . No, sir!

“Oh, Lizzie! Didn’t expect you!” Hayley says with a smile when the blonde walks in, sans Hope, “That’s a surprise. Was expecting a girl a foot shorter than you. Seen one of those around?” 

Lizzie smiles, “Yeah, your hobbit is upstairs in her room obsessively cleaning so I don’t find anything embarrassing I can blackmail her with.”

“Ah, right, yeah. That tracks. I’m sure you’ll still be able to find something.” Hayley smirks back and winks. “Well, I’m just finishing up these sandwiches for Hope. She’s always starving when she comes home from school. Swear, she’s like a teenage boy.” 

Lizzie chuckles. “Yeah, honestly, I always get home pretty hungry too. Being the quarterback kicks my ass - sorry, butt, sometimes.” 

“Yeah, well, I can imagine. Hope’s mentioned how you’re pretty much carrying your school’s team through the championship this year.” 

“She has?” Lizzie asks, a confused frown on her face and Hayley nods absentmindedly, her focus on the task at hand.

“Oh, yeah, didn’t know Hope cared that much about soccer before, honestly. But she was pretty vocal on how impressive you were in your last game.” She smiled, and the way her eyes wrinkled at the corners reminded Lizzie so much of Hope’s smile that she felt that tug in her stomach again. 

“Well, um, that’s nice. Thanks.” 

“Seriously, Lizzie?” She hears from behind her and Hayley looks behind her shoulder at the same time as Lizzie turns around to find Hope walking into the kitchen with a frown on her face, “I asked you to wait for me.”

“And I told you I didn’t have to. Relax, Hope.” Lizzie rolls her eyes, “I was just chatting with your mom. Am I not allowed?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“What you were chatting about.” Hope mumbles as she sits on the stool next to Lizzie and across from her mother on the counter and Hayley is about to open her mouth to answer her when Lizzie opens her mouth first.

“Nothing much, really. Just about school.” Lizzie says quickly, somehow knowing that Hope would not appreciate knowing that her mother had told the blonde about Hope talking about her. She certainly knew she wouldn’t want Caroline to tell Hope the things she’s said in the privacy of her own home, so really, this small gesture was only for karmic purposes. (Hear this, universe?)

“Hm,” Hope hums and smiles when her mother sets the food in front of them. “Thanks, mom.”

“Always,” Hayley smiles and walks to the sink to wash her hands, “Well, now, if you’ll excuse me, your dad promised me we would go grocery shopping this afternoon. Is there anything you need from the store, Hope?”

Hope makes a thinking face as she swallows down her bite and then nods, “I’m all out of Oreos. And cereal.” 

“Noted.” Hayley nods once and with one last smile she leaves the two teenagers by themselves in the kitchen. Lizzie chuckles under her breath.

“What?” Hope asks with a sigh.

“You’re like a toddler.” Lizzie chuckles again. Hope rolls her eyes. “Now, can you finish your little apple juice box so we can go ahead and run our lines, or what?”

Hope’s room is different than Lizzie remembered it to be - of course, the last time she’s been inside it was about five years ago, but still. The walls were painted a rosy tone that Lizzie thought rather fit the girl, and there were books and art supplies spread all across the room. Hope’s bed was big and centered in the corner of the room and Lizzie wondered for a moment if it was as comfortable as it looked. 

The auburn haired girl sits down on the bed before she grabs the script she’d set on her bedside table and flips through it until she gets to the page she was looking for. 

“So, act one, scene five, right?” When Lizzie nods, she pats the spot next to her on the bed. The blonde sits down next to her and tries her hardest not to notice the way Hope leaned towards her automatically, bringing the script to the middle of the two of them. 

“Alright. So, we should do a run through of the whole scene, yeah? And - um, well -” Hope pauses, as if trying to approach this lightly and casually and Lizzie waits, “I know that you and Landon hadn’t really… well, you know -”

“Kissed?” Lizzie raises an eyebrow. Hope nods.

“Yeah. I know that in your rehearsals you kind of skipped through that, but I was thinking maybe we should, uh, you know -”

“Kiss,” Lizzie states, her stomach doing the flips she was now growing used to and tries not to think about what that might mean. 

Landon and her had decided on skipping through the kissing bits until the very end of the rehearsal process and to the day of the performance, deciding that it was definitely a super weird thing for them to do multiple times, all things considered. That had been their excuse, and it had been met with understanding. Now, though, Lizzie is not sure that she has an actual excuse to skip through the rehearsal for the entire scene - as far as she’s aware, Hope is not dating her twin sister. So.

“I mean. Yeah. We don’t have to, obviously, but we’re a week away and I just thought that it’d be best if we knew how to work together, and -” Hope begins to ramble, her cheeks becoming flustered and matching the color of her hair. Lizzie tries to hold her smile - and, um, excuse me, but since when does she even have to hold back a smile in Hope’s presence, what the hell is going on -

“No, you’re right.” 

Hope nods, a bit surprised at Lizzie agreeing with her so easily but doesn’t say anything else. “So, um, we start by Juliet on the porch and Romeo behind the column?” 

Lizzie nods and stands, and there’s a beat before Hope speaks up again, “Can you like, crouch down a little? The stage directions are that I’m supposed to say this in your ear.”

Lizzie rolls her eyes, “You can just. Say it normally. On the day you just have to wear heels or something. Maybe we can get you a crate.” She smiles when she can basically hear the eye roll that Hope gives her in response to that.

There’s another pause, and then Lizzie feels Hope’s hand grabbing one of hers behind her back, and she notices that Hope’s hands are way softer than Landon’s calloused hands from guitar playing. 

“If you find my hands too rough, I have two gentle lips ready to soothe you.” Hope says, voice soft, and Lizzie notices that she seems to say that way easier than she had earlier that day. Almost as if she meant the words. Lizzie waved the thought away in her mind and licked her lips and smiled.

“No, don’t speak so badly of your hand. When two hands touch like this, what they’re doing is kissing.” Lizzie moves her hand in Hope’s so that their palms are pressed against each other. She heard Hope’s intake of breath and smiled minimally, “See, what a lovely kiss this is?”

Lizzie wasn’t sure if her reaction was instinct or just her having the stage directions memorized, but when Hope moved closer and the front of the smallest girl’s body pressed against the back of hers, Lizzie felt as if all oxygen had left her body and she took a deep intake of breath.

“You’re right,” Hope says, voice still soft and gentle, “We’ve also got lips, though.”

“Yes,” Lizzie answers, not missing a beat, “But lips are used for praying.”

“So are hands,” Hope continues, smoothly, and Lizzie has to give it to her, Landon was right when he said she knew the play by heart. “So let our lips do the same as our hands. I’m praying that you’ll kiss me,” Hope says, and Lizzie realizes that she’d been holding her breath. “If you don’t, I’ll die.”

“I can’t grant your prayer,” Lizzie says, recalling the words she’d memorized by running the same lines over and over with Landon throughout the past month. She realizes then that this had been the first time since she’d read through the entirety of the play that she truly felt… something , other than pure obligation to the play and to acting. She didn’t want to wallow too much on that, though, and continued - “You’d have to go to Friar Lawrence’s chapel for that; the saint’s statue that stands there grants prayers. Even though it doesn’t move.”

“Don’t you move then,” She hears Hope say, and then there’s a gulp as Hope approaches even more and the hand that was holding hers grips it a little more tightly. “You are my saint. Stay still and answer my prayer.”

Lizzie was aware that her lips were dry, was aware that her stomach felt funny, in a way that she wasn’t too familiar with, knew that her palms were sweaty and she knew that this had been maybe the best running of lines she’s been involved in since, like, forever. She takes a deep breath, knowing that there would be no going back after this - usually, this was the bit that her and Landon would stop and just skip through lines, but as she had talked over with Hope a few minutes earlier, they would go through with the entirety of it, so -

So she turns her head, and then Hope’s free hand is settling on her jawline softly as she cups her jaw, and their lips meet in a shy, nervous kiss. Lizzie is well aware that she’s not breathing, well aware of her heart speeding up against her chest, and she can’t help but feel like the universe could really be a bitch, sometimes.

Never in a million years had Lizzie Saltzman expected to feel so many butterflies from kissing Hope Mikaelson. The kiss is soft and gentle, and it takes a beat for them to break apart. Hope doesn’t move her hand from Lizzie’s jaw, and their foreheads meet as blue eyes stare back into blue. 

“You’ve heard my prayers,” Hope continues the scene, and Lizzie had almost forgotten what they were even doing. She sounds a bit dazed and out of breath, “And you’ve taken my sins away with that kiss.”

“Then my lips are full of sin.”

“Here, let me take it back,” Hope says, and her full lips meet Lizzie’s again.

Hope’s lips taste like fruit and lipgloss, and Lizzie finds that the taste is rather addictive. Lizzie ends up turning around fully, and of their own accord, Lizzie’s hands go up to cup the smaller girl’s face on each side and Lizzie’s annoyed that on top of everything, Hope Mikaelson’s skin is impeccably soft, as well.

It’s as if they forget they’re supposed to be running lines - that this wasn’t supposed to be their kiss. Lizzie seems to forget that she was supposed to be kissing Romeo, not Hope. And, well, it’s as if Hope had never really intended to just kiss Juliet, judging by the way her arms are holding Lizzie close to her as their lips move together. She’s not sure who led who, but next thing she knows, she has Hope pressed against her own mattress as her legs straddle the auburn haired girl. 

And - wait. Wait.

Lizzie breaks the kiss, sitting up and getting off from Hope’s body, her hands tidying up her hair nervously as she tries to gather her thoughts. 

“What the hell just happened?” Lizzie mutters, more to herself than to Hope, and she takes a deep breath when she realizes the jacket she’d been wearing was now on the floor without her noticing. Jesus.

“I think I just realized what your problem with me was.” Hope says, tone flustered, and Lizzie snaps her head to look at the auburn haired girl that was still lying on her back on the bed, a silly smile on her face as she stared up at the ceiling. Her face is flushed and her hair is messier than ever, and Lizzie is kind of annoyed, really, because Hope Mikaelson truly has her own way of getting under Lizzie’s skin, and the blonde is not so sure that she likes why that was. 

“Lizzie?” She hears, and she realizes she’s been silently staring at Hope for far too long. She flushes when their eyes meet and Hope smirks. “Cat got your tongue?”

Lizzie rolls her eyes and turns her back to Hope so she’s staring at the wall across from the bed. “I’m… thinking.”

“About?” 

Lizzie doesn’t answer straight away. She doesn’t know exactly what to say - so she just shakes her head and bites her lip for another moment before she says, “We should - uh, we should finish running our lines. It’ll get late otherwise.” 

There’s no way she’s going to talk about it. Because she doesn’t know what it is. 

She ignores the way Hope looks at her with disappointment in her blue eyes for a moment before she stands up as well and follows another stage direction. 

Lizzie is lying on her bed with her arm covering her eyes, willing the ground to swallow her whole and her mind to stop running wild with thoughts of blue eyes and full lips and soft hair when the sound of her bedroom door opening breaks the peaceful, yet full of turmoil silence that her room had been in. 

“Didn’t say come in,” She mumbles into her arm. She feels the mattress moving and she sighs when the familiar frame of her twin sister lies halfway on top of her, never one for personal space. 

“So, I heard some interesting things today,” Josie says, ignoring her protests and snuggling more into her sister’s space. 

“Good for you.”

“Don’t you wanna know?”

“Not really.” 

“Well, that’s too bad,” Josie says, and Lizzie doesn’t need to look at her to know that the girl was grinning, “Landon told me that Hope told me that you and her had a little… moment, this afternoon.”

“What a gossipy bitch.” Lizzie mutters.

“Who? Landon or Hope?” 

“Both.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you made out with Hope Mikaelson!” Josie screeches. Lizzie groans.

“Stop reminding me.” 

“Was it good?” Josie presses, tone curious, and Lizzie wants to smother her sister, actually. She doesn’t respond, “Come on, at least tell me something!”

“Her lips tasted like apples,” Lizzie frowns, “I hate apples.”

She turns her head and finds Josie looking at her with a frown. “What?”

“That’s gross.” 

“Well, Hope is gross.”

“No, not her, idiot. I thought I wanted to know but I’m actually disgusted by the thought of you kissing someone.” Josie makes a face of disgust and Lizzie chuckles.

“Now you know how I feel whenever you tell me things about Landon. Especially after I’ve almost kissed him myself.” She shudders, “I swear, it triggers me.” 

Josie rolls her eyes, “Can’t say I’m not kinda glad Landon got out of that one. It definitely would’ve been weird seeing you guys kiss, thinking about it now.”

“I’m going to text him and tell him you said you’re glad he broke his leg.”  

“I didn’t say that!”

“You kinda did.”

“No, I didn’t! Lizzie, give me your phone -” There’s the sound of playful wrestling, and then a thud, and then - “ Mom! Lizzie threw me off the bed!”

“Snitch.” Josie flips her off as she stands, and she’s about to say something back when there’s the sound of a message coming in from Lizzie’s phone. The blonde looks down at the screen and raises one eyebrow.

“Who is it?” Josie asks, curiously, and Lizzie smirks.

“Your boyfriend. Says he can’t do this anymore.” 

Josie rolls her eyes, “You’re an ass. I’m going to go and call my boyfriend and bitch about you being a brat.” 

“Thank you.” Lizzie breathes out, a fake smile on her face, and Josie scrunches her nose up at her as she leaves the room. “Close the door on your way out, Josette.”

“No,” Josie says, but closes it anyway. Lizzie chuckles and unlocks her phone, opening the messages app and reading the text she had received a few minutes prior again. 

Hope Mikaelson (7:26PM): hey, wanna get together and run lines before the final rehearsal tomorrow? 

Lizzie types a response, then deletes, then tries again.

Lizzie Saltzman (7:28PM): Pass.

Lizzie pretends she doesn’t feel Hope’s eyes on her the next morning during the few classes they share together and when lunch time comes, instead of joining the rest of their friends at the cafeteria, she decides to tag along with her twin and the other backstage nerds while she mindlessly scrolls through her social media and snacks on carrot sticks like a glorified human rabbit. 

This seems to bother Josie, though, by the way she stops just in front of Lizzie as she folds some fabric, “When you said you were tagging along, I thought you would be making yourself useful.”

“As if,” Lizzie scoffs, taking another bite from her carrot, “But that’s cute that you thought that. You never seem to give up on me.”

Josie rolls her eyes at her sister’s comment but Lizzie can see the tell-tale sign of a laugh in her lips. 

“Are you ready for today’s last rehearsal?” Josie asks, making conversation as she sets the folded piece of fabric down on a nearby table and takes the sandwich Landon had gotten for her earlier and sits next to her sister.

Lizzie exhales, “I guess so.”

“You guess?” Josie raises one eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Lizzie nods once, “Hopefully - no pun intended - Mikaelson won’t attack me with her hormonal self again, especially not in front of everyone, so…”

Josie squints, “I thought you straddled her.”

The blonde twin chokes on her snack and she’s pounding against her chest with a closed fist while she coughs out, “What exactly did Landon tell you?”

Josie shrugged one shoulder, “Just what Hope told him.”

Lizzie groans. “I swear, the mouth on that one -”

“Lizzie, ew !” Josie protests with a disgusted look on her face.

“Not like that , you pervert.” 

“Says you, Miss Straddler,” Josie sing-songs as she stands up and then she looks over her shoulder at her twin as she walks towards another end of the room where someone called her over, “If you’re not gonna be here to help, please get lost.”

Lizzie huffs but stands up anyway, “Fine, the smell of nerds in this room is making me sick anyway,” Then, looking around and seeing the offended glances headed her way at the loud statement, she adds, “No offense, nerds.”

“ Bye , Lizzie.” Josie says pointedly, and if Lizzie didn’t know her twin any better, she would actually think that the brunette was annoyed at her - but the small familiar glint in her sister’s eyes told her that she was somewhat amused by her antics, as Lizzie hoped she would. 

“Toodles, Jo.” Lizzie waves before she steps out of the admittedly stuffy room and closes the door behind her, relishing on the cold breeze that passes through her as she stands in the empty hallway.

Her moment is quickly broken, though, when an all too familiar voice speaks up from behind her, making her jump.

“I thought you were too busy to run lines.”

She jumps and turns around to find Hope standing in the middle of the hallway, a knowing look on her face as she crosses her arms.

“Um, I was.” Lizzie gulps unconvincing. 

“Standing in the middle of the hallway, clearly not doing nothing? And are those carrot sticks?” Hope eyes the small transparent ziplock bag on her hands with a squint and Lizzie straightens her posture. 

“It’s none of your business what it is.” 

“Did you eat carrot sticks for lunch only?” Hope asks, a frown on her face, ignoring her jab. Lizzie doesn’t answer, and Hope takes it as a positive, “You know, I actually have some cookies I brought from home in my bag…” She trails off, raising one eyebrow.

“Congrats?” Lizzie says it like a question. She’s not really sure why Hope would feel the need to tell her that, honestly, and Lizzie was so not in the mood for Hope’s bragging right now —

“I was gonna offer to share it with you,” Hope rolls her eyes and exhales. 

Lizzie blinks.

Oh, yeah. That would explain why she would say it, then.

“Oh.” 

Hope has a ghost of a smile on her lips when she continues, “I can share them with you, if…”

“If?”

“If you agree to run through some lines from Act 3 with me before our last rehearsal.” Hope states her proposal, her tone businesslike, and Lizzie tries to stop herself from groaning.

They’re looking at each other for a few moments before Lizzie sighs. 

“Fine.” She compromises.

Hope grins brightly at her and walks a few steps forwards and grabs Lizzie’s wrist in her hand and begins to pull her towards her locker and Lizzie can’t find it in herself to regret her decision to say yes to this.

“Okay, ready?” Hope asked as she stood up from the auditorium chair they were sitting at. The room was miraculously empty, and Lizzie figured that the other students who worked on the background scenery were most likely either stuffing themselves up with food to make it through the last rehearsal or stuffed themselves in a room taking care of last minute details like Josie was.

 When Lizzie doesn’t answer, Hope asks, “Lizzie?”

“Um? Oh, yeah, just -” Lizzie walked over to Hope with her own script and her finger ran across the page, “I don’t know if you’re aware, but there’s like, a bunch of kisses in this particular scene.”

Lizzie’s throat is dry (she blames it on the cookies and being water bottle-less, not on anything else, no sir), and she looks back at Hope to find the shorter girl biting her lips and clearing her throat as she says, “Oh? I hadn’t - um, I hadn’t realized.”

Lizzie blinks.

“Is it just me or did your acting just turn shittier from last night to today?” 

Hope flushes.

“Um, I just - well, the last rehearsal is on the next period and we have like 20-ish minutes right now and I just thought -” Hope uncharacteristically fumbles with her words.

“Hope, it’s fine. We can just - um, we can just skip the kisses. I mean, I’m fine with it, don’t think that I’m not because there’s no reason not to be and -” Lizzie is the one fumbling with her words now, and Hope nods.

“No, yeah, totally. It’s totally fine. I mean, I’m cool with not skipping, though, if that’s what mean -”

“That’s what I mean, yeah.” Lizzie nods right away, and then she adds, “You know, um, for realism and - uh, we need to like, make sure that it’s all.. um, right.” 

“Totally.” Hope repeats, and they’re looking at each other in silence, the air around them nervous and somewhat electric, and Lizzie thinks that maybe she should definitely have brought a water bottle with her because she swears it’s like her insides are on fire.

“Okay, so… Shall we start?” Hope says, as she walks up the stage and makes her way to the makeshift bed that was supposed to be Juliet’s. 

Lizzie follows her up the stage stairs carefully and she sits down on the bed, making sure it was sturdy enough to support the two of them. When she’s satisfied with the result, she moves a bit so she’s beside Hope on the bed. 

It takes a beat, and then Hope nods at Lizzie to start with her line.

Lizzie clears her throat, “You’re not going! It’s not morning yet.”

Hope lays down beside her again and there’s only a slight pause before she leans forward and kisses Lizzie for the second time in the last 24h. Lizzie feels her heart race against her chest and she thinks she sees Hope’s cheeks redden ever so slightly as she pulls aways and says, “It really is morning. The clouds in the eastern sky are streaked with light. I have to leave if I’m going to stay alive, or die if I don’t.”

It takes Lizzie a slight of a second to remember her lines, her attention having been so captured by Hope as Romeo. Landon was a really good actor; truly, he had actually been a good scene partner. But… He hadn’t been able to make Lizzie feel every line in her core as much as Hope was able to with only just a look. (Not that Lizzie would ever admit to any of this out loud. Ever.)

“That light isn’t daylight,” she continues smoothly, as if her thoughts weren’t running wild with completely different things at the moment. Hope doesn’t seem to notice her mind deviating from the scene, “I know that: it’s like some meteor sent to light you on your way to Mantua. So stay: you don’t have to go.”

Hope leans closer to her, and one of her hands cups the side of Lizzie’s head, her thumb rubbing softly against her face where it could reach. “No, I don’t. Let them catch me, let me put me to death. I’m happy if it’s what you want; I’d rather stay. I welcome death if it’s what you want,” Lizzie holds her breath when the auburn haired girl leans forward again and captures her lips with her own. This kiss is soft and slow, and Lizzie is a bit impressed with how seriously Hope is taking this small rehearsal between just the two of them. Almost too quickly, Hope breaks away and continues, her voice somewhat hoarse, “How are you, my darling? Let’s talk. It’s not day yet.”

Lizzie moves so she’s sat more upright on the bed and Hope moves with her, and this time it’s Lizzie who cups the side of Hope’s head and says, her tone frantic, “Oh, it is, it is! You must go. Hurry, come on, go. It’s getting lighter every moment.”

Hope groans and Lizzie realizes that Hope is taking some liberties with the stage directions, now, because by her own volition and improvisation, Hope’s Romeo is turning her (his? their?) head slightly in Lizzie’s grasp and depositing a soft kiss to her wrist before she says, “The lighter it gets the darker our troubles come.”

They take a pause, knowing that after Hope’s line the character of The Nurse (played by no one other than Lizzie’s understudy herself, Alyssa Chang) would knock on the door. 

They stood together, knowing that right after The Nurse warns the couple to be careful, Romeo and Juliet should be positioned by the window. Hope takes Lizzie’s hand in hers before she pulls the taller girl to her body and leans up at the same time as Lizzie leans down and their lips meet in a kiss for the fourth time ever and third time in just a matter of 15 minutes. 

What changes this time, though, is that they’re standing, and with the new position Lizzie could move easily, and, well - 

Soon, her hands are way lower than she thinks Juliet’s would be and definitely not where they would be in a school production - more like, a HBO max version, maybe - of the Shakespearean play. Hope is pulling Lizzie closer to her, her hands on each side of the blonde’s torso and under her shirt, skin touching skin - or, praying, as Juliet would say - and the next thing she knows, she feels the Deja Vu from last night’s situation because she won’t confirm or deny it, but she definitely did push the shorter girl onto Juliet’s bed.

And, well, Hope’s eyes are dark as they look up at her, and Lizzie is about to move towards her before she breaks her lustful trance and pauses. “Wait.”

“What?” Hope asks - more like breathes out. 

“We can’t.” Lizzie says, and she knows this is the last thing either of them want to hear right now, but the blonde knows that it’s too risky.

Hope exhales once and then runs her hand through her hair, “Yeah, no, you’re right. I don’t think Romeo and Juliet fuck just then.”

“That’s not why -” Lizzie begins to say, but she’s interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing. “Um, you should, uh…” 

Hope looks down at where Lizzie is motioning, and she chuckles when she sees that there’s lipstick marks all over her neck and jaw. 

“Right.”

That late Saturday afternoon, Lizzie walks into her school to begin to get ready for tonight’s play with butterflies in her stomach. Her parents had presented her and Josie with flowers in the morning, and Lizzie had been trying to not freak out at every second. It definitely didn’t help that she was left alone to her own devices when Josie left earlier that day to meet-up with the background nerds for the night’s preparations. 

MG had texted her earlier and told her that the turnout for tonight is fixing up to be pretty big!! congrats!!! no pressure tho ur gonna be great :):):) and Lizzie had sent back a string of happy face emojis and hearts that she truly did not feel like correctly represented how she felt at those news.

It’s not that she wasn’t happy people would actually come to watch; no. She hated to admit this, but.

She was actually pretty nervous. Stage fright, and all that. Things that Lizzie had repeated over and over to everyone who would hear that was something she, a winner, did not feel. Well, turns out she was wrong.

As usual, the voice in her head that sounds an annoyingly lot like her twin’s says. She takes a deep breath and exhales before she enters the auditorium and finds it in a frantic state as people run around, making sure everything is in the right place. 

She sees Landon sitting on a seat in the last few rows of the room with his leg up to the back of the chair in front of him, and Lizzie wonders if he’s supposed to move his leg like that. Deciding that that’s Josie’s concern, and definitely not hers, she approaches the curly haired boy and sits beside him with a sigh.

“Oh, hey Lizzie,” he greets her with his trademarked easy smile and Lizzie hums in response. “Nervous?”

“I don’t get nervous,” She says, but her heart is not in it. Landon chuckles.

“Right, sorry. If I remember correctly, you’re above human emotions of weakness.” Landon quoted, and the blonde nodded. He chuckles. 

They're silent for a moment before the boy speaks up again, his tone calm as ever, “You know you’re gonna be great. You’re gonna kick-ass. Hope told me you’re like, the best Juliet she’s ever seen.”

Lizzie snaps her head to him, “She told you that?”

Landon nods, a small smile on his face that turns into a smirk, “Well, admittedly, she told me a lot more than just that. You guys seem to be getting along well.”

Lizzie rolls her eyes, “And with that, I am leaving you here to rot.” 

Landon is laughing when she begins to walk away and she flips him the finger when she hears him call out a “ break a leg!” to her from where he sat. She manages to make her way to the back of the stage where she’s been told to be for makeup and hair, and that’s where Hope finds her a few minutes later.

“Hey, Lizzie.” She greets, one arm behind her back as she approaches the blonde on the high chair. Lizzie turns around slightly.

“Hope, hi,” She greets, hoping that it wasn’t obvious by the tone of her voice that her heart was beating hard against her chest -  which, honestly, was kind of a new development she was still processing. Apparently only seeing Hope Mikaelson now could induce a heart attack at a young age. 

Hope is already dressed up in Romeo’s garments, and the blonde has to stop herself from swooning at the way the white ruffled poet shirt fit the girl in front of her, and the way most of her neck was exposed due to her auburn curls being held up by a loose knot. She breaks her trance when she realizes Hope is talking to her and moving the arm that was behind her back -

“-so, you know, um, I got these for you,” And then Hope Mikaelson is standing before her, holding a bouquet of red roses with a shy smile on her face. “Uh, I asked Landon to ask Josie what your favorite flowers were.” She adds, when she sees that Lizzie is about to ask her something. And, Lizzie thinks that on top of everything that Hope Mikaelson is, thoughtful and maybe a mind-reader could be added to the list, as well.

“Thank you, Hope.” Lizzie says softly, accepting the flowers being held to her and she thinks her cheeks might as well be matching the flowers. 

“Of course,” Hope shrugs. She looks a little nervous, and Lizzie looks at her with curiosity while she watches the other girl struggle to come up with words - “I, well, I wanted to ask -”

“Hope!” A voice interrupts her before she could muster up any other words. The pair turns and finds Kaleb with his hands on his hips looking at the shorter girl as if she had lost her mind, “Girl, what the hell do you think you’re doing here? You’ve gotta go get your hair sorted out. Romeo is not wearing his hair in a messy bun like a 21st century art student!”

“I think that was shade,” Lizzie mutters to her, making Hope laugh and give her a smile. “Go. You can ask me whatever it was later.”

“Right, yeah, okay.” Hope nodded once and she lingered for a second before Kaleb called her name again, “I um- I should-”

“Go.” Lizzie said again, tone amused, and Hope nodded once again. She stopped mid-turn, though, and Lizzie was about to tell her to go with Kaleb again before Hope leaned down and pecked her cheek softly. 

“Good luck.”

Lizzie, dazed and holding an undeniably expensive bouquet of roses in her hands nodded, watching as her female Romeo began to follow after Kaleb, who was, by the look of it, berating Hope for getting sidetracked again.

About five minutes before the show is set to begin, everyone is running around backstage and they can hear the sound of the audience arriving at the auditorium, and Lizzie’s nerves pick back up again and Josie has had to slap her hands from her own dress about five times so she doesn’t ruin her masterpiece.  

“I swear, this is the last time I’m ever working in costumes. Next school play, I’ll be in the cast.” Josie mutters to her from where she stands fixing up Jed’s tie once more. “Stop moving!”

“It’s just so tight, I feel like it’s choking me.” Jed grumbles and Lizzie turns her head to watch as her sister tries to help a stressed out Jed Tien with last minute costume fixes. “Can’t I just go without the tie?”

“No, you cannot!” Josie responds sharply as she ties his tie a little too tightly and he gags in response, “Oh, sorry! Sorry!” 

Lizzie laughs, forgetting her own stress for a second and she’s still chuckling when a Hope Mikaelson fully dressed in character approaches her with a small smile.

“You look beautiful,” is the first thing Hope tells her as a greeting, and Lizzie smiles, her cheeks burning up at the compliment, which frankly is kind of annoying. 

“You look handsome, yourself,” Lizzie responds, and she had meant for it to come out teasing but it ended up sounding way more honest than she had expected. She finds that she doesn’t mind it too much, though, when Hope’s reaction is a little smile and flushed cheeks. 

“Thanks.” 

“I like your hair up like that,” Lizzie adds, just because, and Hope’s blush clearly deepens. Lizzie fights a smirk. Then she remembers something, “Hey, what did you want to ask me about?”

“Oh! Uh…” Hope bites her bottom lip and looks at their surroundings nervously for a second before noticing that no one was really paying attention to them, as Josie was still trying to get Jed to stop fiddling with his costume. “Um, I actually…. I was thinking. And, well, obviously you don’t have to say yes, totally fine if you don’t want to…. But obviously you know that -”

“Hope.” Lizzie gives her a knowing look and Hope laughs at herself and shakes her head.

“Sorry, I don’t know why you make me nervous,” Hope rolls her eyes and shakes her head, Lizzie chuckles,  “I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me tonight after the play. I know everyone is going to the party at Jed’s and you love those parties but -”

“I’d love to.” 

“Really?” Hope asks, as if she was fully expecting Lizzie to say no. The blonde was quite surprised herself at finding out how much she actually did want to go out with the Mikaelson girl.

“I know, I’m surprised too.” Lizzie teases, and Hope chuckles and then her expression turns serious.

“It’s a date.”

“Yes, I figured.”

“Okay, cool. So we have a date after the play.” Hope nods once and Lizzie is about to tease her for it when Professor Ted begins to call the cast over. 

“Duty calls.” Lizzie sighs and they smile at each other before they walk towards the group. If they’re standing closer to each other to the point of their hands touching, Lizzie doesn’t feel like thinking too hard about it. It is what it is.

After the play is over and the compliments have been given, the students had started to get their things together backstage so they could begin to head to Jed’s for the after party; all students except for two. Hope and Lizzie, now in their daily clothes, walked together towards Hope’s car in the well lit parking lot of the MFHS, their hands close and brushing together until Lizzie had enough of it and grabbed Hope’s hand in hers. 

 “Your hands are so cold it’s like holding hands with a corpse,” Hope comments. 

“Jeez, thanks, Romeo.” Lizzie says and grips Hope’s hand harder, making the smaller girl wince.

“You’re so abusive, I don’t know why I want to go on a date with you.” Hope mumbles, teasing. Her teasing expression leaves her face when Lizzie suddenly stops walking. She turns to look at Lizzie to find the blonde looking at her with a challenging expression.

“What?” She asks, confused, and Lizzie smirks.

“I was just thinking about how I know why you want to go on a date with me,” she begins to say as she steps closer to the smaller girl and Hope holds her breath the closer Lizzie gets. “And I realized that we should just skip the date for tonight.” 

Hope frowns, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she gets closer, “Josie is going to Jed’s party and my parents are going to be out with their friends for the night.” 

“Um, okay?” Hope still doesn’t get it, and it takes her a pointed look from Lizzie to understand what she’s saying. “Oh. Oh. ”

“Yeah.” Lizzie smirks, “So, what do you say, Romeo? Want to skip the acts and jump to the Little Death?” 

Hope groans at the joke and Lizzie laughs, a smile appearing on her face when Hope begins to pull her towards her car. 

A few hours later, when they’re both lying next to each other and under the covers of Lizzie’s bed, the blonde’s hand plays with auburn hair as they talk quietly. 

“I have to say,” Hope begins after they’ve been quiet for a second, “I’m kind of really glad Landon broke his leg. Don’t tell him, though.”

Lizzie chuckles, “I won’t.”

“Yes, you will.” 

“I know,” she shrugs, and she smiles when Hope laughs. She’s come to realize that she quite likes it when she makes the other girl laugh.

And when Hope kisses her again and rolls on top of her, she realizes something else. 

She’s kind of really glad Macbeth got vetoed. 

She might not have wanted to play Juliet to Landon Kirby’s Romeo, but being Juliet to Hope Mikaelson’s Romeo is another thing completely. Definitely the role of a lifetime.

(And she takes back that thing about Hope being the antichrist. She’s not so bad.)

Hope bites her neck   and Lizzie groans. 

(Okay. Fine. She’s perfect. Lizzie might be in love.)

(Not that that’s any of your business.)