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The first night it happened, Sam thought it was an accident.
There was an interval between each act in their version of Romeo and Juliet. Nothing long, just enough so each actor can change between into whatever clothes they need and the scenery can change. Sam was in charge that, making sure everything ran smoothly, and he was damn good at his job. Even every dress rehearsal had gone to plan.
Act 2 began with the curtain opening to a darkened balcony. Mercutio, Benvolio, and Romeo were all in the spotlights in the foreground. Only Romeo out of the three had to change, he needed his clothes to be muddier for when he met Juliet on the balcony. However more than once Mercutio - damn Gabriel - had changed his costume too.
Sam was about to make his signal to raise the curtain when he spotted it. On Juliet’s balcony, there was a jacket. That couldn’t be there! Not if Sam wanted a good review in the school paper, anyway.
Charlie went to grab the rope for the curtain, but Sam slapped her hand away. She stared after him for a second, but she understood why when Sam pointed the jacket on the balcony. Despite the audience coughing and getting anxious, Sam made a dash for the stage, jumping and grabbing the jacket before running off again, to the opposite wing.
The curtain started to rise just as Sam reached the wing.
When the show was over, Sam scolded the whole cast, not knowing who the jacket belonged to. From the design, he guessed it belonged to a Montague, but Mercutio had changed when he wasn’t supposed to and Sam didn’t know Romeo well enough to decide it it was him. Thankfully, the while cast seemed to get the message, and agreed not to do it again.
The second night it happened, Sam got pissed.
Again, it was between Acts 1 and 2 when a jacket went flying and landed on the fake tree Romeo was supposed to climb up. Sam growled as he stomped onto stage, yanking down the jacket as he hurried across. However, he didn’t notice how done Romeo was with his costume change, and suddenly the curtains were being pulled up with Sam still on stage.
Hastily, he ducked down behind the fake shrubbery and watched the scene unfold from his crouched position. He had to be fair to the actors, especially the guy who played Romeo - Castiel something or other - who spoke like a true Elizabethan. As soon as the Act ended, Sam crawled out from the bush, glaring at all of the Montague characters.
“Whoever is leaving their clothes everywhere,” Sam started, as everyone congregated afterwards. “If you don’t stop, I’m banning you from the next play.” There were murmurs coming from all of the actors, mostly grumpy comments.
“For God’s sake, Montagues, get your crap together,” Balthazar, who was playing Lord Capulet, sighed dramatically, though everyone knew he was joking.
Charlie raised her eyebrows at Sam. She may have been his right hand woman, but even she was surprised at Sam.
The third night it happened, the third in a row, Sam nearly punched a wall.
It was a different Act than the previous nights, instead taking place before the finale. Romeo had to change from his civilian clothes to black, a sign of mourning. And during the scene change, sure enough Romeo’s civilian clothes were draped over the candles in Juliet’s crypt.
Sam was near panic attack, everything needed to go off without a hitch more than ever. His brother and his Dad were sat in the audience, watching on proud of Sam’s debut as a director. Exhaling deeply, Sam ran for the clothes, colliding directly with Castiel.
“We need to talk afterwards,” Sam mumbled, staring Castiel directly in the eyes. They were very pretty, but Sam couldn’t let his morals be swayed by eyes. Hurriedly, he picked the costume from the candle and ran off. Charlie had waited until Sam was off-stage completely, before pulling the curtain up.
After the play had finished, and all the actors but Castiel had left, Sam sat on the edge of the stage and waited. Castiel joined him on the edge of the stage after a few minutes.
“Why?” Sam asked the second Castiel sat down.
“Why what?” Castiel replied, a confused look on his face.
“Why the Hell do you keep your costumes everywhere?” Sam snapped, holding up one of Romeo’s jackets as evidence. “I mean I’m sorry for being such a harsh director but I really need this to go well.”
“Sorry,” Cas muttered, eyes falling to the floor. “I sprained my wrist and it’s all swollen, I didn’t take into account how hard it’d be to get the costumes off in such a short amount of time.”
“You sprained your wrist?” Sam repeated, eyebrows furrowed. As Cas began to nod, Sam reached out and grabbed his wrist to take a better look. As expected, it was swollen just enough that the tight sleeves of Shakespeare would squeeze painfully. "Castiel, you should have told me. It’s my job to make sure you’re comfortable.“
“Call me Cas,” he smiled, turning his hand around in Sam’s grip until it was resting palm down on Sam’s lap.
“Or I could call you Romeo,” Sam laughed, mostly to himself.
They sat there for a while, not saying anything. Cas’ hand was still in Sam’s lap, but it felt too warm and too comfortable to move. After another few minutes, Sam felt his hand slipping towards Castiel’s and soon they were linked by their fingers. Sam didn’t even try to hide his smile.
“So I realised the other day, I don’t even know your last name,” Sam started awkwardly, fingers twitching around Cas’. “So wo-would you like to go out sometime. So I can get to know you better.” Cas chuckled at Sam’s nervousness - damn actors and their confidence - but he squeezed Sam’s hand gently nonetheless.
“I’d love that,” he beamed, eyes lighting up even more than before.
“Just don’t go leaving clothes everywhere,” Sam mock warned. “Not everyone is as forgiving as me.”