To Put On An Act [bxb]

Chapter 38 - doing it scared

Out of all the elements of stage production, costume and set design were Youngbin's least favourite. Not that he absolutely disliked these things, but he'd usually let the set and costume designers take that job. The problem was that this year, he had to be a set and costume designer.

He painted a large piece of wood in a dark blue, on which Kaya would later add flowers and trees and details. He wasn't a painter, or an artist at all. But something about covering a large surface in a smooth layer of paint was somewhat satisfying.

It was a same motion, back and forth, back and forth, with a steady sound of bristles on wood. Maybe he should find more things to paint. Maybe the walls in his room should become a different colour.

"Would peonies be nice for this, or the camellia?" Kaya held up two pink plastic flowers to a delicately woven headpiece made of blossoms and leaves. She was the one to really get into all that costume stuff. She'd been the one taking over costuming ever since she joined the theatre club years ago. Her acting had always been... fine. Better than the average high schooler, at least. But she had an eye for fashion, for art, and especially for colour.

"For Titania?"

"Yeah..." Kaya frowned. "It's probably too ironic with their meaning of marriage and stuff, isn't it? You're probably right."

"I'm- Yeah, no problem?"

Kaya dropped both pink flowers, grabbing a different purple one and sticking them into the crown.

"You don't happen to remember Wanda's head measurements from last year?" She held it up into the light, turning it in her hands. It looked fine. Big enough for Wanda's head, probably. Not that Youngbin really remembered much about the size of her head, only that it was big enough to fit her rather large ego.

"Looks fine to me," Youngbin answered, going back to painting. Wanda was going to let Kaya know if something was wrong. Loudly, and very dramatically.

"You're not the biggest help."

"This isn't really my department, Kaya."

"You chose this." She shrugged, put the flower crown down to start weaving another one. "You could be out there practising Lysander's lines but you decided that you'd rather paint pieces of wood all day. Anyway, what flowers do I go with for Puck? And don't tell me that you don't care. I know you secretly do."

Youngbin only kind of cared, if he was being honest. He'd kind of lost hope for the entire play by now, and nice flower crowns wouldn't save that disaster either. But, also, they wouldn't hurt.

"Green goes with his eyes."

"Doesn't really help the flower question, does it?"

"There's a green flower in Animal Crossing. Forgot what it's called, but, you know."

"You've really got zero passion for any of this." Kaya rolled her eyes, and Youngbin could only give her a sad shrug. Maybe he'd lost it. The passion.

Which, if that really was the case, should've been a very bad sign. Theatre had always been his passion, he didn't remember a time where he wasn't obsessed with it. It'd been his special interest since the very beginning. And the play was a highlight. Every year it'd been a highlight, a glimpse into the world he could one day be part of, a teaser for all those big stage productions that were hopefully to come in his life.

One day he'd be a famous actor, and he'd shout out Mister Davis and think back to theatre class and remember the love he had for it. Remember that he never gave up, that he always knew he'd been born for this.