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Taro wasn’t one for gossip, really. He never understood how people could get so invested in what other people do with their time. It was all so frivolous. However, if the Drama club was going to argue that loudly… Well, it’s not his fault. It really couldn’t even be considered eavesdropping. He was just sitting there trying to read, of course. He was a good thirty feet away, all that talk about ‘diaphragm’ and ‘projecting’ really paid off.
It’s not all that surprising. It was the Theatre Workshop this week. A play would be scripted, rehearsed, staged, and performed by the end of the week. The Art Club would pitch in and do sets and the Science Club would chime in to do tech, the Drama Club, of course, would be performing. It was a highly anticipated event at Akademi. It was always nice to see everyone working together. By the end of the week, you could really see the sweat and tears that went into it. Truly a time of student-body togetherness.
Unless you're in the Drama Club apparently.
From what he could gather, Kizana had just announced the cast list. It was not going over well.
“Are you kidding me?! I would make a perfect Prince Charming!”
“What a joke! You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“Kizana, I was born to play this role!”
He can hear her presumably laugh in his face, “Just because your family visited France last summer, does not mean you were ‘born for the role’!”
“Please! No one in this school is better suited than I!”
“Really? You wanna bet? I could pick out any random Joe and he would do a better job!”
Taro thinks that's the end of that, and he can finally get back to reading his book, but then Kizana stomps out into the courtyard and stops right in front of him. He looks up just in time to see her lips part in a nasty smile.
“You.”
----
He really needed to learn how to say no to people. If he had to guess, years of being dragged around my Osana had really stunted the development of his metaphorical spine. While he had always admired Theatre Workshop Week, he never really saw himself being a part of it, especially not as a lead role handed to him on a petty silver platter.
That was fine though, he was just going to have to make the most of it. Though, it would be a whole lot easier if the entire Drama Club didn’t shoot daggers at him when he got on stage. Tsuruzo in particular knew how to throw a dirty look.
It was making it quite difficult to remember his lines.
Luckily, the script wasn’t all that difficult. It seemed like a pretty standard fairy tale. He heard a rumor that it was originally supposed to be Sleeping Beauty but Kizana didn’t want to spend all her time on stage asleep. He was happier with this though, if he ever forgot his line, all he had to do was think ‘what would a generic princely character say?’.
He couldn’t be more thankful they weren’t doing shakespeare.
On the bright side, Kizana seemed determined to make up for her club member’s ice. She always made a point to tell him how good he was doing, even when he knew it wasn’t true. It was… nice. Kizana wasn’t exactly known for her sincerity, but it was something to latch onto while he sweated under the stage lights.
----
“It bothers you that she’s… nice to you?” Masuyama questions.
They had been meeting in the library for a couple weeks now. It started after Osana had confessed to him. They agreed to just stay friends but she said she needed some space, so Taro found a new place to have lunch. He thought he was enjoying the isolation of the library until Masuyama came in looking lost. After seeing Taro eating all alone he took it upon himself to keep him company during lunch.
Taro didn’t think they had much in common but… he could admit he appreciated it. He has been dreading sitting alone more than he thought. Lunch was the only opening in Masuyama’s busy training schedule, it made him feel a little special.
“I mean, yeah? I don’t know.” Taro answers, unsure.
Matsuyama laughs, “Kizana can get pretty vicious when she wants to, I don’t think it gets better than this.”
‘I know. It’s just…” Taro had a way of fumbling his words when Masuyama was around. “I don’t want to embarrass myself up there. I just wish someone could be honest with me.”
He sits up, “I’ll be honest with you. You can practice here!”
Taro flushes, “I-I mean… I don’t know…”
“Aw c’mon Yamada! It’s just me!” He beams before awkwardly gesturing to the side, “And Demura, but I don’t really think she’s paying attention…” To prove his point, the librarian doesn’t even flinch at the mention of her name.
He blames his spinelessness as he gives in, but this doesn’t feel like he’s being walked over, it’s different. It’s warmer.
He takes a deep breath and reads his lines from the scene they covered this morning. He doesn’t think he’s ever been so nervous.
“My beautiful rose! A dove passed the horizon and dropped a feather, so delicate, so pure! Her voice is so gentle like wind after rain, it could keep me warm in the harshest of chills. I must locate the source!” He does the dramatic (yet gentle!) pose Kizana had been awfully touchy when guiding him into earlier. He made sure to burn it into memory so she wouldn’t have to spend 10 minutes posing him again. “A love like this is so fleeting, I won’t let it pass me by!”
He thinks it’s a little cheesy, but Masuyama looks at him full of awe. He gives a little applause and looks like he’s about to cheer before Demura finally looks up to glare at him. Taro sheepishly rubs the back of his head.
“Keep that up and you’ll have so many love letters you’ll have nowhere to put your shoes!” Taro knows Masuyama is probably overselling it but it feels good anyways.
Luckily, lunch is almost over. Taro thinks he would die of embarrassment if he had to keep going. It wouldn’t be the worst way to go.
----
Kizana stomps her foot on the ground as a strangled sound escapes her. “What do you mean you don’t want to kiss me!?”
Taro can’t look her in the eye. “I- Can’t we just like… hug it out?” he cringes at his own lame suggestion.
“Hug it out? Hug it out!? You think THAT’S a gesture of true love!? Taro, love… are you dense !?” Her voice gets shrill as she reaches the end of her sentence.
“I’m not … comfortable with this.” He voices weakly.
“Not comfortable? Taro…” She looks at him with pity. He decides he hates it. She waltz across the stage to drape an arm around his shoulder and look him in the eye, “getting to kiss a girl like me is the best thing to ever happen to you. Don’t waste a chance others only dream of.” She’s sickly sweet but there’s no room to pull away.
Maybe he wouldn’t mind kissing a girl like Kizana. She was as beautiful as she was vain. In another setting he could probably get the guts to kiss a pretty girl when she asked, but here on the stage, with everyone watching, it made him nauseous.
He didn’t want to admit to her he had never kissed a girl before.
He watches her smile fall as he turns his head away. He doesn’t have anything else to say to defend himself with.
“Fine.” Her tone is scathing. He suddenly misses sickly sweet. “But I’m expecting a kiss on opening night. That’s final.”
----
He’s not eavesdropping this time, or well, maybe he is. He went back to the gym to grab the water bottle and heard his name… it would have been rude to interrupt.
“Oh my GOD! Can you believe it?”
“I’m not even remotely phased. Not everyone wants to kiss you.”
“Not even remotely true. Any guy like him should be begging me to kiss them! Not the other way around!”
“Hm. Maybe you’re just ugly.” Smack
“No. I think he’s gay or something.”
He thinks Tsuruzo jumps to his defense after that. He must have walked away too soon to be sure.
----
Masuyama hums as he looks at the table in concentration.
“I mean- It’s not like I don’t want to kiss her! It’s just with so many people watching and so much pressure…” He forgets the second half of his argument as he’s trying to make it.
He just gets a sympathetic look in return, “I wouldn’t want to kiss her either.”
Taro isn’t sure why he decided to share this, he was honestly convinced he was going to take this to his grave, but he finds he doesn’t regret it. He smiles at him.
“What about a stage kiss?” He suggests.
“A what?”
“It’s.. well. Not a real kiss.” Masuyama seems to be struggling to find the words he wants to use.
“Okay? How does that work?” He’ll do anything if it means he doesn’t have to kiss her.
Masuyama looks embarrassed for a second, “Uh, I’m not good with words the way you are.” He gets closer to Taro and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Um, may I?”
Taro gives a small nod. Masuyama then moves his hands to his cheeks, placing his thumbs over his lips. Taro can’t help but feel… cradled. He tries not to think about it too much.
“So you use the thumbs as a buffer… and you just…” Masuyama only hesitates for a second, but that’s still longer than Taro had ever seen him hesitate. He leans in and presses his lips to his thumbs. Despite the lack of actual contact, Taro’s stomach flips inside out. He can feel Masuyama’s soft breath on his face and starts to feel lightheaded. It’s not quite electric, but it’s something . He feels his face run hot against his sturdy hands.
Then Masuyama pulls away, hands still on his face, and smiles, “See? Not as bad as a kiss, right?”
Taro can’t help but agree. If Budo had actually kissed him he would have combusted on the spot. He looks for an answer that doesn’t make him look like a gaping idiot. He’s not sure he finds one. “Yeah… that was nice- I mean good. Uh- that will work.” he adds a shy, “Thank you.”
Masuyama beams at him.
----
Stage kissing seems to pacify Kizana. At the very least she keeps her ruffled feathers to herself. Taro blocks out the recurring thought that stage kissing her feels nothing like Masuyama. He also blocks out the thought telling him he prefers it that way. Really, the show opens tonight, he needs to focus.
With the kiss-issue out of the way, Taro is… excited! Not even the thought of the whole school watching makes him sweat. He hopes Masuyama will be in the crowd. Scratch that, he knows Masuyama will be there. He wouldn’t miss it for the world. Masuyama told him as such, several times.
Dress rehearsal goes well. They are running the show through once to make sure everything is in place, and then going home and coming back at 5 for the real thing.
Credit where it’s due, Ayano had been an amazing stage manager. She wasn’t even part of a club! She had randomly volunteered at the beginning of the week. Taro doesn’t know how they would have done it without her. She was in charge of communications between all three clubs, and worked out all the minor bumps in the road. She was a little weird, sure, she always got kind of fidgety when he tried to talk to her (she rarely talked back), but he tried to not pay it any mind,
After they finish running the show, Taro notices that Kizana’s lipstick has stained the inside of his thumbs. He can’t help but smile at the fate he’s been spared.
Ayano wishes him good luck.
----
It’s actually kind of insane to see how much can go wrong in just a couple of hours. Taro is starting to suspect he hit his head in rehearsals and this is all a bad dream.
The bad news starts with Riku, no one must have told him that ‘break a leg’ was just a saying. He slipped on his way home and somehow shattered his kneecap. It was pretty obvious he wasn’t going to perform. Even if he could walk, the amount of pain meds they loaded into him were making him loopy. (They tried. They really did.)
And speaking of meds, the Gardening Club got the wrong order, something about camellias instead of roses, (which Kizana did NOT appreciate) it wouldn’t be the end of the world except Shozo is highly allergic to camellias. He said he would be fine if he took some pills for it, but now he’s loaded up on benadryl and can’t focus for more than 30 seconds at a time.It almost feels cruel to ask him to stay in character. The gears turning is visible as Shozo tries to separate the play from reality. He operates the huge dragon puppet near the end, luckily he doesn’t have a speaking role.
And that’s just pre production.
Tokuko and Tsuruzo have doubled up on all the minor roles. Taro suspects Kokona was supposed to help with that but, well, she wasn’t known for performing her best under pressure. Everything has to move twice as fast and painfully slow at the same time to accommodate.
He doesn’t even know what happened to the sound board, but the quality of every single soundbyte had dropped off the face of the Earth, if it would even play at all. He would blame the Science Club but he can see them trying to strangle each other in the control booth as they try to fix it. It was a little funny when Kizana's mic didn’t turn on for the entire first act. He did wince thinking about how she would tear them to shreds later, though.
They would have to apologize to the Art Club. They must have gone a little too hard at dress rehearsal because now every prop they even looked at seemed to fall apart. The top part of the Wizard’s staff rolled across the floor in the middle of his big speech, the basket of flowers handle broke off, meaning it had to be carried with two hands and disrupting all the blocking, the dragon puppet was looking pretty lopsided, and quite frankly, Taro has getting really nervous for when he was supposed to pull his enchanted sword out of a well. Costuming wasn’t doing too well either, two of them were missing completely and had ripped, on stage (Tsuruzo was a stronger man than he was).
By the time they reach the climax, Taro is so stressed out he can’t even remember if he had delivered any of his lines correctly. His brain had started to instinctively cut out the past hours worth of memory.
When Kokona, as the Witch, was supposed to lead him to the well so he could pull out the sword, she looks inside it and her face freezes. She stumbles on her lines for a bit before bursting into tears. She runs off stage to go grab the prop, she improved a little bit of dialogue but she’s blubbering so hard none of it comes across. The mics cutting out every other minute didn’t really help.
It’s the final stretch, surely, he can do this. He just has to rescue Kizana from her tower.
The dragon fight is pitiful. Shozo is clearly half asleep and clearly doesn’t remember the choreography. Taro ends up putting the dragon out of its misery a little earlier than planned.
And bam! He slayed the dragon, saved the princess, and now all he has to do is…
It’s fine. He remembers the practiced movement as he moves to embrace her, until she starts to change the script on him. She swiftly grabs his wrists before they make it to the sides of her face and lunges forward to close the space between them, kissing him harshly.
Her lipstick is sticky and the entire thing is far too wet . Gross, was that her tongue? He tries to wiggle out of her grasp, but she holds on tight.
When she finally lets go, Taro guesses he looks as scared as he feels, because she looks unhappy with him.
The line, God what was he supposed to say? All he can think about is the kiss, is her red lip now smeared on his face? He runs hot with embarrassment as he struggles to remember what he’s even doing here.
The silence draws on as he continues to grasp for straws.
Then something in Kizana snaps, “Come ON! Are you serious?” Her eyes go wild as she starts to rant, “Everything. EVERYTHING! It’s ruined! This play has been a total disaster thanks to my incompetent club members! I’m supposed to go to Juliard! I don’t deserve this!” She pulls at her har, messing up her elaborate hairstyle. “Yamada, we might have had a fighting chance if you weren’t such a gutless worm! You can’t even do something as simple as kiss the prettiest girl in school!” She scoffs, “Oh I’m sorry, would you prefer Tsuruzo to play the princess? Would you man up for him?” She says cruelly.
“Don’t even get me started on Tsuruzo!” She continues, this is probably the best monologue performed all night.”He was supposed to be playing the King! Not my conniving eunuch! You can’t trust that two-faced pompous asshole with anything! ”
Taro has never seen her this mad, “Riku’s a flake, Shozo is cracked out, and no one should have to look at a fat pig like Kokona except war criminals and prisoners!”
The audience is dead silent. He thinks he can hear Kokona crying again backstage. She looks like she’s about to go off again, before there’s a resounding crack ! In the air and a sandbag lands squarely on top of her.
----
Everything starts to blur together after that. Someone called an ambulance, he’s pretty sure at least, and they all split to just get dressed and go home. Taro stays behind in the dressing room for a little bit, hoping the crowd will mostly be gone by the time he leaves. No one tries to talk to him. He’s glad. He shouldn’t have agreed to this.
He watches as Shozo seems to wander aimlessly out of the gym. Tsuruzo is venting to Tokuko in hushed, angry whispers in the corner. Riku had managed to come see the show somehow, someone wheeled him backstage for a second, but it looked like he couldn’t think of anything to say to them, just stare in disbelief, before requesting the person pushing his wheelchair to take him home.
And Kokona is still crying. Saki comes backstage to comfort her and hold her while she sobs into her shoulder. It’s a hard watch. Taro should really go home.
After a second, Saki looks at him, “Yamada right?” he nods, “I think Masuyama is waiting for you outside.” He freezes, before remembering to thank her and moves to go back outside.
It takes all of his will power to move his feet. He does not want to see him right now, but somehow leaving him waiting feels worse. He is clenched unbearably tight as he thinks of what his reaction will be. He’s starting to feel a little ill. He really would prefer just getting to sleep off this embarrassment without anyone to witness him,
The cool, now evening air feels nice against his face.
And there he is.
Masuyama was sitting on a bench outside of the gym with something clutched in his hand.
Taro is suddenly nervous that the performance was so bad that Masuyama will never want to talk to him again. The idea of it sits heavy in his gut.
Masuyama perks up when he hears Taro approach, he gives him the same stupidly bright smile he usually gave him. “Well hello, Prince Charming.” It lacks his usual enthusiasm, but it’s earnest all the same.
Taro averts his eyes. He wasn’t feeling very Charming right now. “Hey.”
“I got you something.” Masuyama holds out what he was holding in his hand. It’s a lily, it looks like it was plucked straight from the ground, roots full of dirt still dangling from the bottom.
Taro stares at it for a little too long, Masuyama flusters, “Well, at first I thought a rose would be classic, but uh,” He looks away, “that felt a little… insensitive.”
“What?”
“I mean,” he stumbles over a couple more words, “ roses were kind of… her thing. I didn’t want that so I had to improvise. He lets out a nervous laugh.
Taro thinks about the situation in front of him. Roses were customary, they were the symbol of the drama club. Obviously that had been Kizana’s idea, it represented her just as much as it did the club. Was it really even an Akademi production if Kizana wasn’t showered in roses at the end?
Really, it would have been nothing more than tradition. Congratulations between friends, but Taro looks at the embarrassed boy in front of him and imagines him holding out a rose . He starts to feel a little funny again.
Not that his heart isn’t already thumping at the reality before his eyes. Masuyama has watched the disaster finale of the play and the only thing he had thought about was not upsetting Taro with his flower choices . He accepts the lily into his hands. It’s beautiful.
“Thank you Masuyama. I mean that.” Taro smiles, something he hadn’t thought possible after tonight.
Masuyama insists on walking him home, something about protecting him from paparazzi and crazed fans asking for autographs.
“You don’t have to do that,” Taro says sadly, “I know it was bad.”
Masuyama bumps into his shoulder as they walk, “Hey, I don’t exactly have an eye for theatre, but that was the most entertaining show I’ve ever seen.”
He’s probably just joking with him, but it makes Taro feel better anyways.
They continue down the street, Masuyama telling him his favorite parts and various commentary on the show, before he stops and turns to him. “Hey, hold on a sec,” Taro tenses as he raises a hand to his lips, wiping away whatever was there. He knows it’s hers. Shame flares up hot. Masuyama seems to understand.
“I’m sorry she did that.” he says honestly. Too honest. Taro doesn’t know what to do with that. He’s taken aback for a second. He didn’t realize there was something to apologize for.
“It’s okay… It’s not like the end of the world I just…” Taro wonders if the thought is worth continuing. He would probably just leave it there but Masuyama is still looking at him like that so he keeps talking. “It’s dumb, and kinda girly,” he starts to mumble “but I always wanted my first kiss to be special.”
Masuyama blinks at him. “That was your first kiss?”
Taro can’t even look at him. Masuyama bumps their shoulders together again. “Nothing wrong with that, it was just a little surprising coming from someone like you.” Taro doesn’t know what he means by that, he considers briefly if he should be taking offense but Masuyama has this soft look in his eye and Taro can’t even fathom the idea that he meant it as a bad thing.
“And you know what? I don’t think it’s dumb. Or girly. That’s pretty normal. It doesn’t have to count if you don’t want it to.”
Taro wonders to himself if a stage kiss could count as his first.