DRAMA CLUB | hyunin ✔

.38

there was an annoying little noise close to jeongin's ear.

he tried to move his head, but it hurt a bit, the pain waking him from his dreamless sleep and bringing more awareness to the sound being blown into his right ear.

it sounded like... a bee? a fly? a mosquito!

jeongin's eyes snapped open, hand flying to his ear to shoo the bug away, but came in contact with a hard surface, which couldn't possibly be a mosquito, but the sound stopped nonetheless, only replaced by a single pained moan.

jeongin, startled, looked at his right, finding felix's face close to his.

"what the hell?" jeongin exclaimed, voice rough from just waking up, "what are you doing?"

felix had a hand pressed to his cheek, lips pouting.

"trying to wake you up, you ungrateful child!" felix reprimanded him, upset, then looked at something behind him, "look what he did to me!"

for jeongin's surprise, someone moved from his left side, rounding the... infirmary bed?! jeongin was on, and making his way to felix, gently lifting the boy's chin with a hand to examine it. changbin.

changbin cooed at him, "i told you he wouldn't like it."

felix blushed.

jeongin intervened before it escalated into more grossness: "why am i in the infirmary? someone explain!"

felix turned to look at him, jaw dropped and eyes wide and beginning to water.

"oh, no, innie!" felix started to cry. jeongin didn't know what was going on. "do you remember who i am? please," felix begged, weeping miserably as he reached to clutch tightly at his hand.

jeongin broke free from the other boy's grasp before snot could drip on his hand.

"what the hell are you talking about?" he was starting to lose his temper.

"i think you hit your head too hard!" he looked at changbin, who was awkwardly staring at the scene, not knowing what to do but trying to comfort his boyfriend. felix was inconsolable, proclaiming: "my best friend has amnesia!"

finally it snapped for jeongin.

"what? i don't have fucking amnesia, felix!"

felix instantly stopped his weeping, face morphing into a big smile as he threw himself on jeongin, making the bed squeak and threaten to break. jeongin yelped.

felix just celebrated, "innie, you remembered! i didn't even need to bring you a photo album of us when kids! thank god!"

jeongin sighed, defeated.

---

after finally fishing out some information from felix, jeongin came to know that he had, apparently, fainted in the middle of the auditorium, like a drama queen, when soonyoung broke the news for him.

news which jeongin had forgotten momentarily, and now wanted to faint again.

what was seungkwan possibly thinking? they were not, collectively, able to participate in any type of competition untouched from humiliation. jeongin could, but with the cast as a whole, no. they couldn't.

first of all, it was an indie play they were about to perform, written by someone's mom or sister and was seemed as original enough to become the drama club's next play. it was nothing comparable to shakespearean fucking plays.

after being dismissed to go home by the school's nurse, and dodging felix's attempts to assault him with questions about the after life which felix was convinced he saw during his coma, jeongin went home and practiced the best slap he could give seungkwan.

the next day, jeongin went to confront him.

the mood was evidently down at the rehearsal.

the chaotic mass panic had faded away, and only hopelessness thrived in the auditorium. people going over their lines in silence, some of them quietly muttering, others pausing to slap themselves in the forehead when getting one line wrong.

seungkwan was slouching back on his chair, lazily spinning his pen in one hand and looking at the distance. it was heartbreaking.

jeongin stepped in front of his desk. seungkwan looked up at him, but his face was still down.

he sighed, "go on, berate me just like the others. i can take it."

jeongin stared down at him, perplexed. he wanted to slap him on the face and scream get yourself together, man!!! but all he did was rub in between his brows and let out a heavy sigh.

"there's no time to mope around," jeongin confessed, defeated, "what's done is done. all we have now is our talent... well, i don't guarantee that we all have talent, but i can assure you i'll give my best."

seungkwan's whole complexion lit up like a candle at his words, and jeongin for one second entertained the idea of hosting a ted-talk someday, but quickly dropped it. he had no time management or self-discipline to pull off such a stunt. it was a miracle he was going through school work at all.

however, he wasn't wrong. they couldn't change the past. whatever possessed seungkwan to sign them up in a competition had apparently left his body, leaving all the chaos for them to clean up, and they couldn't waste any more time. there was a whole lot of work to do.

seungkwan whispered, "do you really mean it?" as if he was a child asking to be reassured by a parent promising to buy a new toy.

jeongin nodded. "i do."

"good," seungkwan smiled at him for a quite long time, and jeongin was starting to get weirded out, when he finally seemed to pull himself together, slapped his hands on top of the desk, and wriggled a bit, as if shaking off imaginary dust. boo seungkwan was a new man.

he cleared his throat and announced, voice clear and with a purpose: "all of you!" he called, a swarm of heads simultaneously turning to look at him. he twirled his finger around like a ribbon, "i owe you all an apology. i have been unreasonable... for quite some time now. but i see it now! we should not give up! we haven't lost yet!"

jeongin was baffled by how a few words from him had completely renovated seungkwan's motivation. jeongin was a powerful boy! or maybe seungkwan just needed a little push. jeongin was powerful anyway.

"we might not have shakespeare by our side," seungkwan was saying, finger raised towards the ceiling, "but we still have the power of..." then, out of a sudden, he pointed towards jeongin, catching him by surprise when he proclaimed: "crossdressing!"