Love Me Stage Left; Soonhoon

07

A/N: happy holidays everyone!! i didn't get to write a special christmas oneshot, but i hope that you all had wonderful christmases (to those of you that celebrate), and that this will make up for it <3 i'm sending lots of love to each and every one of you!!

25 MARCH

In the hours leading up to their first performance, Jihoon is oddly calm. For all his running around like a madman, working himself to the bone, constant wearing thin like a rope being pulled to the point of breaking – it's opening night now, and he's done all he possibly could.

"What will they look like?" Jun asks, eyeing himself in the mirror while he combs his hair back. "Y'know, those state officials."

"It's weird. Isn't it weird?" Chan chimes in. "Like, why would some guys working for the government come to our school? It's so extra."

"As if they're qualified, even. What are they, the Academy?"

"Don't even think about it you guys," Jihoon says. "It'll just throw you off."

They've done this before, they know the drill; the usual chaos of wanting to give a good first show, the last-minute preparations, the odd something or other that goes missing, or breaks, or stops working at the worst possible time – it's a kind of hectic mess that Jihoon has become oddly fond of since his first time volunteering for the school theatre. Every now and then he'll hear Seungkwan or Seokmin burst into song, way too loud and practicing their lines, and it makes him smile.

He can feel Soonyoung sneaking up behind him before the boy even says a word, and the warm, reassuring touch on his arm doesn't surprise him for once. He turns around to face him, gives a grin.

"You ready?" he asks. Soonyoung smirks.

"Born ready."

They have a special dynamic, the two of them, and it stirs up all sorts of warm mushy feelings in Jihoon's chest when he thinks about it. For all their personality differences, Soonyoung and Jihoon look at their work in a very similar way. Even if it seems like he's goofing off most of the time, Jihoon knows for a fact that Soonyoung is an endlessly hard worker, putting his all into everything he tries. He has this intuition that comes so naturally to him, an invisible guiding hand that makes every task look easy – truthfully, Jihoon's almost jealous of it. But they work so well together. It's a mutual aid and understanding that makes his heart swell with pride.

And it shows, he thinks, how naturally in sync they are. During every rehearsal and performance, as soon as Soonyoung finishes his part and goes off-stage, he gravitates towards Jihoon as if by instinct, and Jihoon revels in the feeling of supporting him as best as he can; adjusting his costume, fixing his hair, wiping the corner of his eye where his eye makeup has smudged. During the few times Soonyoung isn't on-stage for a while, he'll stand to the side and watch the latter go back and forth, fetching props, preparing costume changes, giving instructions; during the even fewer times when Jihoon is able to stand idly and catch his breath, they'll stick together and make conversation, run through Soonyoung's next set of lines, or otherwise just stand and watch together. Soonyoung will do goofy things just out of sight of everyone else and Jihoon will hardly contain his laughter, stifled giggles bubbling out of him.

Jihoon wonders, in moments such as those, what it looks like to be outside of their little bubble. He tries to watch himself from someone else's perspective; what does he look like? The soft, melting smile, the look in his eyes. Jihoon likes Soonyoung too much. Loves him. When he looks at the boy, he can feel the happiness radiating off of him in waves – is it visible to everyone else? He wonders what being in love looks like on him.