Work Text:
“Stand aside: the noise they make will cause Demetrius to awake.” Oberon warned.
“Then will two at once-...” Puck paused.
...
“-... woo one.” Oberon assisted,
“-woo one; That must needs be sport alone; And those things do best please me that befal-...” Puck paused once again.
...
“.. ‘profusely’, Neil. Are.. you okay?” Todd said, now breaking his temporary character as Oberon. Neil sighed, throwing the script down in his lap and leaning his head back against the wall. He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the ceiling, “Profusely! God, why do I keep forgetting this?” He exclaimed.
Todd set down the second copy of Neil’s script, shifting his position on the bed, as they’ve been sat practicing Neil’s play that is approaching in the upcoming months.
“You remembered most of it-“ Todd attempted to be encouraging.
“Most, Todd, not all of it.” Neil answered, sighing in resignation. He shook his head, reaching over and taking both his and the spare script, getting up and placing them on his desk.
Todd frowned, watching Neil carefully. “Did I at least help?” He asked.
Neil looked at him, and it took a moment for the frustration over the script to deplete before it was like it was never even there, now replaced with thought.
“Yeah, yeah, I guess you did. Thanks, Todd.” Neil agreed, sitting back down on the side of his bed while looking at the floor. “I just have to get this right, my father is trusting that I know what I’m doing.”
“I thought you didn’t care what your father thought?” Todd asked, crossing his arms.
“I don’t!” Neil answered quickly, looking at Todd, “ But he’s still letting me do the play. If I mess up and ruin my chances of a future I want, well...” He sighed, looking back at the ground, “hello, Med-School.” Neil finished in defeat, letting out a huff.
Todd thought for a moment, it was moments like these that were rare with Neil, where he not only talks about his father, but bad about himself. Fortunately for both of them, neither Todd or Neil mentioned these moments after they were over. They were over as quick as they came.
There was a knock at the door, and the two boys’ heads shot up and stared at it. A familiar face entered, Charlie stood while leaning on the frame with Meeks beside him. “Evening gentlemen,” Charlie said with a smirk, eyes drifting to the discarded script on the desk before looking back at the two boys. “You two up for study group tonight? Or are you too caught up in...” he gestured to the scattered papers, “whatever the hell this is.”
“We‘ll be there.” Neil said, smiling. Charlie nodded and turned back to the hallway.
“We’ll save you some breakfast.” Meeks said with a wave and closed the door, presumably following Charlie close behind.
“We?” Todd questioned after a moment of silence passed, looking over at Neil.
“What?” Neil asked, still caught up in what Charlie said.
“You said ‘we’.” Todd repeated.
“You don’t want to listen to Meeks correct Charlie on his Latin for an hour?” Neil rhetorically asked with amusement, getting up to go put on his shoes. Todd shifted so he’s now sitting on the edge of the bed instead of just on it. He stayed quiet for a few moments, thinking.
“You answered for the both of us.” Todd stated.
“Todd, look, if you don’t want to come, that’s fine-“ Neil began with a small laugh, but got cut off.
“-I do. I do want to come.” Todd said instantly, nodding and moving to his side of the room, reaching under his bed for his own shoes.
“Then what’s the big deal? It’s just studying.” Neil asked, putting his shoes on. Todd stared, going quiet. He too put on his shoes and stood up, shaking his head,
“Nothing.” He muttered, and waited by the door for Neil. Neil stood too and grinned, opening the door and ruffling Todd’s hair.
“Nothing?” Neil questioned with mirth while stepping out into the hallway, Todd following behind him. Todd gave him a look, fixing his hair and pointedly shoving his hands into his pockets, staying quiet.
“Fine, fine, let’s just go to breakfast.” Neil said, still smiling as the two walked down to the hall.
The corridors were empty, and sunshine spilled in through the windows. The two boys made their way to the dining hall, and stopped short in front of the half open doors. Neil peeked his head around, “Ah shit, they’ve already said grace.” he groaned.
“So?” Todd asked, moving Neil out of the way to peek inside himself. The room was filled with the chatter of boys, all sat and eating their food with the teachers distracted while talking amongst themselves.
“If Mr Nolan sees us, who knows how long he’ll lecture us for being late?” Neil replied, crossing his arms in thought. Todd turned back around to face the other boy, looking at him expectantly with a frown. Seconds passed and Neil moved back to the doors, peeking around them again. He watched Mr Nolan sat at the teacher table in the distance, talking to their Trigonometry teacher.
“He’s distracted”, Neil thought. He quickly entered the room and Todd was struck dumb as he scrambled to follow. The two hid behind other students by sneaking behind them while getting over to their table, Todd blindly trusting whatever the hell Neil was doing.
“Fellas!” Charlie greeted with a wide grin, shuffling over so the two can sit. The poets’s greetings all melted together in a mix of ‘Hey guys’s and ‘Morning’’s.
“Nice of you two to join us,” Knox remarked with an amused grin.
“Guys, share your slop,” Charlie chided, and everyone started to pass food down and give a little of their own to Neil and Todd.
“Kitchen’s closed already?” Todd asked, looking over his shoulder at the door leading to the kitchen. He took the food with gratitude, but still, as selfish as it made him feel, having his own food would’ve been nicer.
“Well, you two were late.” Cameron answered, taking a spoonful of cereal.
“Yeah, by two minutes.” Neil muttered, bitting the apple that was passed down to him, probably by Pitts.
“Did Nolan see you?” Charlie asked the two of them, and Neil shook his head.
“If he did then you would’ve heard him.” Neil replied with an amused grin, and as if to prove his point, Mr Nolan could be heard yelling at a group of students from his table.
“Quit you’re jabbering over there!”
The poets stifled their laughs and covered their smiles. Despite Mr Nolan’s warning, the hall was still loud and lively. The poets went on to talk about their own business, with Pitts and Meeks talking about their homemade device, Knox and Charlie talking about the girl Knox is infatuated with, and Cameron eating while listening to both conversations. Neil glanced over to Todd beside him, noting the lack of talking from his friend. He nudged him with his foot under the table, giving him a look of silent concern. Todd looked back and gave a meek smile as a response. That was all he needed. If Todd want to be quiet, that’s fine with him. He’s quiet in poet meetings and he’s never questioned him on that, not ever. Neil tuned back in to the other conversations, a particular word catching his attention. “What about a pool?” Neil asked, leaning over to Charlie and Knox, who he heard the word from. Knox paused, but Charlie laughed and explained.
“I overheard Nolan talking about a pool day. Something about student moral.”
Neil scoffed, laughing a little, “When has Nolan ever cared about student moral?” he said. A couple other members joined in on the conversation now.
“Parents are complaining.” Meeks chimed in.
“Turns out unhappy schools don’t make happy kids.” Charlie said with a shrug.
“Who would’ve thought...” Pitts scoffed out with amusement, and turned back to talking with Meeks. Charlie continued, picking apart the crust from his toast,
“There’ll probably be some announcement about it in a week or so, but I wouldn’t count on it actually happening. A pool seems a little too... lower class for a school like this. You how Nolan gets when it comes to this school’s legacy.”
Neil hummed in response, looking down at the table in thought as the group continued their quiet buzz of chatter.
Twenty minutes pass and the sound of the bell tower tonging in the distance signals that it’s now time for lessons. The boys exit the hall with the large and rowdy clump of the other students, and they all head back to their dorms to collect their books, though Cameron brought his with him to breakfast. The hallways were loud, full of stomping footsteps and laughter with conversations created by friends, and the sunlight was now pouring in from the windows.
“Do we have Trig first?”
“I thought it was English?”
“No, he’s right, it’s Trig.”
“Spaz, is this yours?”
“Hey, Spaz! Catch!”
“Hey, that’s mine!”
“This school doesn’t feed us enough, I’m still starving.”
“Nolan was staring at me during breakfast, it was creeping me ou—....”
The noise faded when Todd clicked the door shut, and he let out a breath. Neil rummaged through his desk, not wanting to be late. He was so caught up with the script, he forgot to set out his books. Todd moved out of his way and sat on the edge of his bed, looking out the window. Neil looked over from his rummaging, “You alright?” he asked, piling his books together. Todd watched him quickly scavenge around his desk, mulling over his words.
“Do you think Keating will make me do the poem again?” He asked. Neil paused, turning to him.
“Why? We don’t have English until second period.” He questioned with confusion.
“I didn’t memorise it.” Todd stated, earning a laugh from Neil. He walked over to him, sitting beside him.
“Todd, it was improvised, of course you didn’t memorise it. It was a one time assignment, so why are you so worried?” Neil said with a glint of that usual amusement in his eye, nudging Todd’s side with his arm as if that’d get it through his head.
Todd paused, thinking it over. “What if he makes us do another one?”
“You sure you don’t want that? You really have something with this stuff, but you get in your head too much. I get the presenting-out-loud thing, but you could always just write stuff for you and not class, y’know?” Neil kindly suggested with a shrug. A few moments paused before he patted his shoulder encouragingly, getting up and continuing to collect his books for the day.
Todd stared, his thoughts repeating one specific line.
‘You could always just write stuff for you and not class.’
That’s not the worst idea, Todd thought. He hummed to himself and got up, picking up the stack of books he already put out on his desk. He waited at the door for Neil, who took a few more seconds before he was ready to go. Todd opened the door and closed it behind him once Neil exited. As the two walked to Trigonometry, eventually joining up with the other poets, that line stuck in his head for the rest of the day...
‘-...write stuff for you.”
Maybe he will.