DRAMA CLUB | hyunin ✔

.42

"my lovely boo," jeonghan cooed, "how have you been, my old friend?"

jeongin saw seungkwan narrow his eyes and grasp the closest thing in reach, and that was jeongin's arm.

he flinched at the vice-like grip, but didn't dare to try and break free. they had moved to the dressing room, where they kept the equipment and clothes, to have the private conversation seungkwan clearly needed to have with that jeonghan boy. and jeongin had the feeling that it'd be either his arm or soonyoung's neck.

"we were never friends," seungkwan spat at him, then looked away, as if he couldn't bear the sight of him.

jeonghan pulled a face, "we were, once."

seunkwan didn't look at him.

soonyoung cleared his throat. jeongin felt his arm lose circulation but was too scared to even blink.

to further improve the situation, jeongin glimpsed at the rack containing his name and all the dresses he'd be wearing throughout the play. maybe the blood from his arm was going straight to his brain, because suddenly his cheeks were hot.

"just say whatever you want to say, jeonghan, please," soonyoung begged, looking defeated, "that's a dick move."

"i'm not moving any dicks today," jeonghan cheekily retorted.

seungkwan let go of jeongin's arm, but, with what he did next, jeongin wished he'd just cut his arm off. he watched in amazement as seungkwan lunged forward and grabbed jeonghan by the collar of his shirt, face flaming red and eyebrows crooked downwards, just like an angry birds character.

seungkwan was the type to battle someone with words rather than fists, and jeongin had his share of first-row seats for his shows of clapping back insults to other students. but never, in his life, had jeongin seen seunkwan use physical force.

he looked at soonyoung for guidance, but the other seemed as hopeless as himself as he watched the other two go tussling over the racks full of overexpensive costumes. jeonging hoped they wouldn't damage his dresses.

jeonghan just threw his head back and laughed out loud, he said mockingly: "violence is not the answer, seungkwannie."

"of course not!" seungkwan yelled. he pushed jeonghan towards the makeup station, making the blond boy's back hit against the furniture. jeongin saw his own worried face on the mirrors. seungkwan kept on, "violence it's a question! and the answer is yes!"

jeonghan reached behind himself and got his hands on a blush brush and attacked seungkwan with it, swapping it on his face like a cheap makeup artist. the brush seemed that it hadn't been cleaned recently, because once seungkwan unclasped his hands from jeonghan's shirt and came up for a breath, jeongin saw his face covered in orange powder.

"ha!" jeonghan shouted in triumph, "you should know better, seungkwannie. on a battle of fists, i'll always bring a knife!"

"you have no morals?" seungkwan was indignant, eyes screwed shut so he didn't get more blush on them. "wasting stage props like this?"

"it's not my fault your crew is incompetent and doesn't know how to clean a goddamn brush!"

"enough!" jeongin startled at soonyoung's demanding voice booming inside the room. it echoed as if they were in an ancient cave. turning to take a look at him, he saw his eye twitching, mirroring the vein on his forehead, its outline completely grossing jeongin out. "can't you both just chill out, seat and have a civil talk like actual people?"

jeonghan erected his posture, offended: "i'm an actual person!"

seungkwan scoffed, "are you, even?"

"stop!" soonyoung shouted before jeonghan could snap some mean comeback at him. "i can't believe i have to be the bigger person in this situation!"

jeongin side-eyed him.

"so we're going to seat, or stand, or lie down and cuddle like civilized modern people!" soonyoung ordered.

jeongin was still confused as to why he had to be part of this conversation.

---

jeongin soon realized why he had to be caught in the middle of the battle between seungkwan and jeonghan.

they sat on the makeup station chairs and talked and talked (if by talk you mean scream sporadically) and jeongin came to know that seungkwan and jeonghan were, in the past, directors together.

they'd been co-founders of the drama club of seungkwan's former (and jeonghan's current) school, and had it going since elementary school! and performed great plays and musicals with a plethora of really talented actors. both of them had the same dream as jeongin: to participate in something bigger.

after that, things became a bit blurry. there was seungkwan's version of the story, which jeongin speculated was a bit overdone (he talked a lot about backstabbing, but jeongin just assumed it was figurative language). and then there was jeonghan's side, which sounded more like an autobiography of a mary-sue-type of main character.

but from what he could pinpoint from both stories was one thing: there had been a misunderstanding, followed by a fight, which caused seungkwan to change schools and cut any sort of connection with jeonghan or his other friends.

soonyoung — loyal soonyoung —, followed him with this decision, and allowed himself to become seungkwan's minion while they repaired the dream that was once thought to be lost.

jeongin also came to know that jeonghan was not some nobody: he had starred in a pretty good amount of indie movies and was even an extra in a famous tv show! he was also a senior on his way to graduate and had already gotten himself a scholarship and a future deal to star in a real hollywood movie.

and jeongin also came to know that jeonghan was their opponent in the competition.

and he was offering a deal for them to unite and destroy the third opponent.