Chapter Text
Peter's POV
"C'mon, Peter, you need to have fun. You're a teenager. It's high school. You're supposed to be out there having fun and making new friends." Aunt May tells me as I pick at my dinner. "Just try to join another club. That's all I'm asking. I just want to see you be happy again."
I let out a sigh. Aunt May has been bugging me about finding something to do after school. She keeps asking me about the different options and pestering me about joining. "I think I might have something in mind." I pipe up without much thought, and the smile she gives me makes me realize how much this means to her.
"Really? What is it?"
"Well, I was thinking—maybe—I could try for a part in the drama club's play?" I tell her, but it ends up as more of a question than a statement. May's smile widens as she happily chatters about how excited she is and peppers me with questions. I try to pay attention, but my mind is still adrift.
"So—" May drags out the sound and bounces in her chair, "—what made you choose Drama Club?"
My hands go clammy, and the blood drains from my face. One particular face comes to mind, but I can't tell May that I chose Drama Club because of the girl I have a crush on. I mean, she's not the only reason. And maybe that's a lie.
"No reason." I mumble and finish my dinner. Still, I can't stop thinking about Y/N, the shy girl who shocked everyone in her first performance at Midtown. She's the one who endures more bullying than I do and is still kind. And despite what everyone calls her—robot, zombie—I still think she's one of the most amazing people I've met, even with our limited conversations.
So yeah, I'm gonna audition this week as a chance to get to know Y/N better. 'Cause if I can face down criminals on a daily basis, this should be nothing. Right?
...
I was so wrong. This is way more terrifying than a bunch of criminals. But there she sits, towards the middle of the auditorium on the end of the row like she always does. Her hair is falling in her face, knee bouncing as she anxiously reads through the audition piece she was telling me about in Bio.
"Hey, do you mind if I sit here?" I whisper to Y/N and motion to the seat next to her. She looks up at me with wide eyes in shock before nodding her head. "So which part are you auditioning for?"
She smiles softly at me and leans closer so we can hear each other easier without getting into trouble. "Daya, the main characters cousin. What about you? You're here to audition, right?"
I shake my head as I try to process what she just said. "Yeah, I'm auditioning, but—" I take a moment to sort through my thoughts, "—but you're not going for the main part?"
Her cheeks twinge pink, and she avoids looking at me. "No, I—I couldn't do that. They would never want me for her character. I'm not talented enough for it."
"Are you kidding me, Y/N? You could totally be the lead. They would be crazy not to give you the part. You're crazy talented and perfect for it." I tell her, but she only shakes her head and locks her gaze back on her audition form. "How about this then? If you agree to audition for Elysia, then I'll audition for the male lead, Tom."
"Wait, you would really do that? Just to get me to go for the lead?" She questions once again meeting my eye, and it takes me a moment to realize that she's stopped bouncing her knee or shaking like before. "Why?"
"Because—" I struggle to come up with an excuse that won't sound creepy, "—because you deserve to at least take a shot at what you deserve—which is the lead role. So yeah, if it means putting myself outside my comfort zone to do it, I will."
Y/N nods and bites her lip. I wait for her to say something—or anything really—but she stays completely silent. Instead, she grabs a pencil from her bag and erases something from her sheet. A split second later, she takes mine from me and scribbles something in her beautifully messy writing.
I peek over at them when she's finished. It's the standard audition form. Name, classification, free time, the role we're auditioning for, and a few more things. My eyes immediately take in the way she writes her name. How even her writing is seems so neat despite the rush she writes with.
Then I see what she changed.
The original pencil marks linger like a ghost, but clearly written over is 'Elysia' the female lead, and on mine, Thomas, the male lead. "I'll take that as a yes."
She bites her lip and smiles with a shrug. "I was actually gonna ask—if you want—I have a piece that uses two people. Would you want to audition together?"
I can't hide the smile that creeps across my face as she hands me the paper with the audition piece. We sit side by side after we turn in our sheets and read over the lines while we wait for our names to be called.
"On stage, Cara Teagan. On deck, Peter Parker." The director calls from her table in the back, and I give Y/N an encouraging smile as we move to the waiting spot.
She starts to shake and twitch again. I almost take her hand but think better of it since she'd probably just think it was weird. "Don't worry, you've got this. Plus, I'll be there the whole time."
"Thank you, Peter." Y/N whispers and gives me a smile that makes me nervous. My name is called, and her hand twitches as if maybe she was considering grabbing mine. Her lips twitch upward as we face the director, her voice nothing more than a small whisper as she encourages me. "We've got this."
...
Y/N's POV
"Okay. Can I get Y/N to read for Elysia and Peter Parker to read for Thomas?" Our director and one of my best friends calls from her prime spot. "Start on page three with their first meeting. Remember there needs to be this sort of instant connection between the two of them. So I really need to see that here."
I nervously make my way on stage and stand next to an eerily calm Peter Parker, who I usually only can catch glimpses of in and between classes or decathlon meetings. We only really started talking earlier in the semester for a Chemistry project and more recently after auditions. The thing is, no one really knows that I've had a crush on him since I came to this school last year. It makes me nervous to be this close to him, especially in the place I'm always so confident.
The stage is my safe space. It's the place that I get to be someone other than me—whom I'm not exactly fond of. On stage, I get to not hate myself for a little while. No one understands how I got so good at acting, but I can never tell them the truth. For me, acting is easy because it's another form of pretending, which I've been doing longer than I can remember and so long it's easy as breathing.
Yet, right now, it feel like my AP Chem homework. My hands shake as I hold the script and read the lines as best as I can. It's hard not to watch Peter as we read the lines. There's a natural ease to him as he reads the lines and hints at the character.
I smile and counter with my lines at each turn. Out of the corner of my eye, I see F/N smiling like a child in a candy shop as she leans down in her chair. My hands shake at the mere thought of being cast alongside Peter. "Thank you!" F/N calls, and her voice turns fuzzy in my head as Peter and I smile at each other before handing the scripts off to the next pairing.
"So—um—how do you think it went?" I ask Peter as I nervously twist my shirt in my hands. Not just because of the nerves from callbacks. It's still so strange to be talking, laughing, and spending time with Peter. I've never been confident enough to say more than a few sentences to him at a time before I make some excuse to leave.
"I think—and don't tell the others—but she would be crazy not to cast you." I bite my lip to suppress a smile. "But if it helps, we can hang out until the list is posted to distract you?"
"You would willingly spend time with me?"
"Of course! Why wouldn't I?"
The question makes me falter. Mostly because there's a hundred reasons that he shouldn't want to spend time with me. The same reasons that I wouldn't want to be around myself. All the reasons that no one else has ever liked me. I'm zombie—robot—vulcan—freak—you name it, I've heard it. "No reason, I just wasn't really expecting it."
"Well, get used to it. Because if we get cast, we'll be spending quite a bit of time together." Peter smiles and nudges me with his shoulder. The director calls the end of the callbacks, and I swing my bag over my shoulder. Peter hands me my water bottle and gives me a nervous grin. "So, would you wanna go get some coffee or something?"
I falter mid-step and turn back to him. A part of me wants nothing more than to jump at the offer, but another wonders if I'll say something wrong or be too—well, me. Because, I don't know who that person is anymore, much less if I even want to show Peter that side of me.
Instead, I plaster on one of my classic fake-happy smiles. "Yeah, I would really like that." I tell him and try to remind myself that Peter is nice. Maybe he wouldn't hate the real me as much as I do. Who knows, maybe he might actually like the real me—whoever that is.