poeta nascitur, non fit ~ steven meeks x fem!reader

neil, master of all chaos~

song of the chapter: pierre by ryn weaver

3rd person pov...

Later on in the day, Todd Anderson was seeking refuge from the horrors of composing his original poem in his shared bedroom. The idea of writing out in the open - where someone might steal and read his poem before it was perfectly altered to his taste - absolutely did scare the hell out of him, in all his "mole"-ish glory. Silently, as he crossed out yet another ill-fitting word, Todd cursed Keating for insisting they write an original work, because he felt that nothing out of his creativity would be worthy to be read, anywhere. Suddenly, his roommate, Neil Perry, brunette and tall, dressed in a green sweater, burst into the room. A broad, impish smile lay pleasantly on the boy's face, lighting up the room and whisking away Todd's internal struggling after just one glance. 

"I found it!" he says, victorious as he drops a slip of paper into Todd's lap. 

"You found what?" Todd asks, forever in a gorgeous haze of confusion whenever Neil enters a room. 

"What I wanna do right now," he explains "What's really, really inside of me." From his position kneeling beside Todd's bed, staring up at him, he sounded as genuine as Todd has ever seen him. 

"'A Midsummer's Night Dream'?" the blonde questions, observing the poster which had evidently come from the nearby school, Henley Hall. how Neil got ahold of the paper, was unclear. 

"This is it." His brown, soft eyes lit up with excitement. 

"What is this?"

"It's a play, dummy!" Todd's heart fluttered at the final word. 

"I know that!" he exclaims, exasperated "I - Wh-wh-wh- what does it have to do with you?" he stutters and flushes when Neil takes notice. The other boy, however, was quite fond of Todd's little stutters. It was adorable, if anyone asked him. Which (y/n), who was still with Pitts and Meeks, listening to the radio, had asked him that morning. Ever since she brought it up, it was all Neil could think about. 

"All right. They're putting it on at Henley Hall," he explains further "Open tryouts! Open tryouts!" he nearly yells. 

"Yeah, so?" the other boy, still lounging on his dark comforter, asks. Neil jumps up and claps his hands together. Todd can't help but think if there was any one person who embodied optimism, it was the one he shared a room with. In wonderful expression, he watches on as he yanks a blanket off his bed, using it as a cloak. 

"I'm gonna act." he declares, now standing on the bed opposite Todd, who couldn't contain his grin - Neil was contagious. "Yes, yes! I'm gonna be an actor! Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to try this. I even tried to go to summer stock auditions last year, but, of course, my father wouldn't let me. For the first time in my whole life I know what I wanna do." Even at Neil's enthusiasm, the blonde felt his heart twitch in fear of Mr. Perry's wrath, should he discover his son's plans to become an actor. After a few minutes of arguing, in which Neil had sat himself down at a typewriter and made a few odd-sounding squawks, he seemed to snap. 

"Jesus Todd!" he cursed "Whose side are you on?" Todd seemed to shrink inside himself a little bit, hurt at the boy's comment.  Like a balloon, Neil deflates and, taking the poster from Todd's gentle grasp, walks to the window to brood. 

"You're coming to the meeting this afternoon?"