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Quackity could feel the knot in his stomach no matter how much he tried to ignore it. He was nervously pacing around the corridor but no amount of steps would magically make his stage partner appear out of nowhere after 10 missed calls and a night everyone knew he spent partying.
“I am so going to kill him if he’s still alive.” He muttered more to himself than to anyone else and got a quiet snort in response. “Oh you think this is soo funny now but when your ass is gonna be left hanging I will be the one laughing. Loudly. And pointing fingers at you.”
“Calm down, my friend. He still has time! Maybe he will somehow make it. You never know.” Roier patted his friend's back reassuringly but a stupid smirk still ghosted on his lips.
“Friend my ass. If I was your friend you would find me a stage partner better than Juan and not just sit there and laugh at my misery.”
“Quackity. Quackity look at me.” Roier put hands on his shoulders and made him look him straight in the face. “Who was the one to take him drinking?”
“Me.”
“And who was the one who was passing him the whole bottle instead of just refilling his glass?”
“…Me.”
“So who is the one responsible for the predicament you’re in?”
“..Juan of course and who else.” Quackity shrugged his friend off and got back to his nervous pacing. He could feel a pair of eyes stare directly at him the whole time so he finally decided to give the culprit some attention. Pale blue eyes were drilling into him with intensity that seemed a little too much for a calm afternoon before drama club in college but he wasn’t intimidated by it. Quite the contrary, by now he was used to it so he just sent the sweetest smile he could muster in that direction before going back to tormenting Roier.
“Why won’t you just do this scene with me instead?” Quackity asked for the nth time like he didn’t already know the answer.
“Did you hit your head? I told you five times. I don’t know the role like that. And I’m not doing roles I know I will suck in.”
“How can you not know Romeo and Juliet? That’s just bullshit you made up… Find me someone else then! You’re literally the prince of the campus. You must know someone who can memorize four lines in ten minutes.” He whined while taking the rolled-up script out of his bag.
“You’re such a social butterfly how come you don’t know anyone?” Roier asked sarcastically and only got a middle finger shoved in his face in response.
“When she kicks me out because of this, know this is on you. Mostly on Juan but you too.” Quackity whined dramatically and kept waving the script in his direction.
“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Roier rolled his eyes. Before going back to rereading his lines Quackity poked him in the stomach with an elbow which gave him a beautiful string of curses thrown at him in response.
Quackity knew his lines by heart but since he didn’t know who he was going to perform with the nerves were getting to him. When he was at his fifth reread he could feel a shadow loom over him and as soon as he heard the voice he already knew who was standing above him.
“Hey. Powodzenia. It’s good luck. Or as you all prefer to hear: połamania nóg.” Multi was standing there staring at him with a small smile hiding in the corner of his mouth.
“Awww, thank you. Whatever that means.” Quackity smiled brightly in response. “Hope you will cheer me on mister I-don’t-care-for-art-and-only-help-here-for-the-additional-credit-to-pass.”
“I never said I don’t care for art. I appreciate good art. Maybe the problem is just your acting.” Multi smirked in response and got hit on the hand with the script.
“Asshole.” Quackity huffed but couldn’t hide his own smile.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” He put his hands up apologetically. “I’m going in. Good luck pendejo.”
“Yeah, pendejo, thanks.” His eyes followed Multi’s back until he disappeared behind the door.
“…Okaaaay, sure…” Roier’s voice cut through and almost made Quackity jump as he completely forgot he wasn’t alone.
“Shut up. Don’t even try saying shit.” He put his hand over his mouth preemptively.
“We awlso need two gow in.” Roier murmured between his fingers anyway.
“Shit. Fuck. I’m going to kill Juan or myself.”
“You will be fine.” Roier guided him inside the auditorium where the drama club resided and he only had to put a little strength into it.
The professor who was chosen to help them with the drama club wasn’t usually considered especially scary but she still had everyone’s attention when she spoke. Everyone’s eyes turned to her in anticipation when she sat down on stage and started explaining how the pair exercise will look. Each of the actors looked prepared and ready. No one seemed to be in the same situation as Quackity or that was what he assessed when he was frantically looking around.
No wonder, they had a week to prepare the scene in pairs, any scene of their choice – an exercise that seemed too good to be true, so of course no one would want to miss it.
No one but Juan apparently.
Quackity only felt the knot in his stomach tighten with every pair that was going up on the stage as it meant it was closer and closer to his turn.
“You’ll be fine, my friend. You will get someone paired with you.” Roier whispered to him in what was his attempt to reassure him but that was kind of the root of the problem.
Quackity knew he wasn’t going to perform alone and somehow that was even worse. He would much rather depend on himself and his own skills than act with someone he doesn’t know anything about. At least when it came to his friends he spent enough time with them on stage, he knew exactly how long of a pause they’re going to make, what emotions they were going to highlight with their line delivery and all of those little things that made performance so… personal. And something more than just going on stage and reciting lines. Acting was something that made him feel vulnerable in a way. He needed time to get comfortable with his stage partner and he was not going to get that in those few minutes now.
“Quackity?” The professor called his name and it felt like something very heavy started crushing him into the floor.
“Yes! I’m here but the problem is my partner is Juan and he’s…not here yet. I don’t think he feels well today… Can we postpone our scene?” he smiled and held his hands together behind his back to hide the nerves that were slowly getting out of his control again.
“…Quackity, do you know your lines?” The professor looked at him from above the rim of her glasses.
“Of course! I’m not lying, he’s really not here.” He pointed at the people inside the room offended.
“Then it’s not a problem, as far as I remember Katie did Romeo and Juliet recently so she can fill in for Juan. We need to get this over with today, I don’t want to get back to it next week. You can also resign but you know the rules. Not participating in the exercises equals not getting parts.” She clapped her hands and gestured for Katie to get on stage like she already knew the answer he was going to pick.
Quackity took a deep breath. This was going to be terrible. Katie did in fact play in Romeo and Juliet recently so there was a big chance she remembered the lines but there was also one big problem: she played the same role as Quackity.
He shook his head and hands simultaneously to get rid of the uneasiness. It was just a drama club not National Theatre, it won’t be the best performance of his life but he has to just get through this. He handed Katie the script with the part they were going to perform marked.
“This but you know. I marked it for myself so you’re taking Juliet lines.”
Katie focused on the script for a moment. She quickly read through it and raised her eyebrows when she realized what scene it was.
“Oh! That is… a choice for sure. I hope you don’t want to… you know.” She looked at him and raised her eyebrows suggestively. Quackity cringed immediately.
“No, we aren’t doing the kiss.”
“Fine with me if you want to. Just saying.” She raised her arms.
“Ready?” the professor asked and when they both nodded, the attention of the whole room was on them. Quackity cleared his throat and gently took her hand in his.
“If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this…” he got stuck and cursed quietly under his breath. “Sorry. I’m sorry. Can we start again?”
Katie nodded, not even bothering to give him a smile as she was already in her focus mode. So he took a deep breath to steady his nerves and began again:
“If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss”
He could feel his gaze slip away from her face during the key moments so he squeezed her hand harder than necessary in hope of saving himself.
“Good pilgrim! You-“ Katie suddenly stopped and shook her head. “Sorry can we do that from the top again, I put too much power in the beginning.”
Quackity let go of her hand to hide his face in hands for a moment. This is going to last forever and be the end of him at this rate.
“Sure.” He said out loud though and began again:
“If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss”
“Good pilgrim, you do… you do… you do wrong...?” Katie faked a cough attack to hide the fact she got stuck at the same line again and Quackity looked pointedly at the script in her hand. She could use it freely as it was not her scene and she was just helping. So what was the point of it if she was just going to hold it closed and not use it?
They began again and when it was time for Katie’s line he could feel himself getting even more nervous for her than for himself.
“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand…too much…” When there was another pause Quackity thought he was going to scream. Just as he was reaching for the script to hold it in front of her face for the whole scene, he could hear a loud tired sigh coming from the audience and a clear strong voice recited the lines perfectly, although in a pretty monotone tone instead.
“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;” Multi got up from his seat and was walking slowly towards the center of the stage.
Towards him.
“For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.” Multi finished the line in the exact moment he stopped right before Quackity.
Surprise on the actor’s face quickly turned into curiosity. He swiftly switched partners, this time reaching for Multi’s hand and gently intertwining their fingers together just in time for his cue. He didn’t even notice when Katie moved to the back of the stage to not disturb them.
“Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?” Quackity’s eyes were shining with completely new emotions giving the whole performance an entirely different vibe than seconds before. It was almost like he was throwing Multi a challenge.
How much did he remember? And more importantly: can he keep up with Quackity? He wasn’t an actor so of course no one was expecting a life changing performance on his part but Quackity did want to provoke him into getting into it a little more than necessary.
“Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.” Multi answered and moved closer, not letting go of his hand and keeping eye contact flawlessly.
It almost felt like they were playing with each other, throwing the ball into each others court and now it was Quackity’s turn so he also leaned closer before delivering his next lines:
“O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do.
They pray: grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”
His eyes were shining with a playful challenge and what made his blood rush through the veins faster was that it looked like Multi wasn’t going to back down.
Their faces were barely inches from each other so he could feel the hot breath on his lips when Juliet’s lines came:
“Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.”
Quackity licked his lips and considered the thought he had for just a split second before he moved one of his hands to rest on Multi’s hip, a decision he could absolutely justify to himself - he was just playing the character.
“Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take.” He moved even closer and he noticed the tiniest flinch from Multi, right before he suddenly turned his head putting some distance between their lips again. He stepped back and he could swear his whole body was feeling like he was coming down with a fever.Before he could sneak a glance at his stage partner he heard the professor slowly clap her hands.
“Thank you Multi for saving the day. I think this is the biggest surprise of this week. I thought you weren’t interested in getting a role for yourself, did you change your mind?” she sounded amused. Quackity immediately looked at the star of the day and noticed instantly how suddenly he couldn’t hold eye contact with anyone. Multi looked like he was embarrassed and it was a new emotion that he was witnessing coming from him, so he didn’t want to miss any detail.
“I have not, thank you.”
“It’s a shame. You seem to remember your lines well.” She laughed.
“A coincidence. Someone was practicing a lot around me and I do have a pretty good memory...” He murmured like he was explaining himself.
“Alright. If you do change your mind you know where to find us. And Quackity…” she turned her head towards the other actor now. “I liked it. You played off each other’s energy well.”
Quackity nodded.
“Thank you. I just had a surprisingly good partner.” He smiled when he glanced at Multi and he didn’t miss how the other was giving him a little smile too.
“Thank you” he mouthed to him because in the end this could have gone completely differently if it wasn’t for his improvised entrance.
“You owe me for that.” He heard Multi whisper right next to his ear when they were both getting off the stage. Quackity rolled his eyes.
“Of course, nothing is ever just out of kindness with you.” He scolded him.
Multi shrugged but smiled a little when they sat down next to each other.
„Takie życie.”