USUK Fanfic Rec List

Mercutio and Juliet

They were going to do a Shakespeare play for their senior showcase.

And not just any Shakespeare play, oh no, of course they all wanted to do Romeo and Juliet. Oh, it's so romantic! the girls tittered. Such a charming portrayal of love and dedication! Arthur wanted to smack them all. Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy, not a romance. There was nothing romantic about a thirteen year-old girl and a seventeen year-old boy killing themselves in the name of love after only a few days of knowing each other. But unsurprisingly no one listened to Arthur's grumblings and the verdict passed -Romeo and Juliet it was.

The next part of the meeting consisted of electing students for non-acting roles, such as producer, director, makeup artists, set designers, and stage crew. Arthur stopped paying attention at that point and instead let his eyes wander a few seats over to where Alfred was sitting.

The boy was gorgeous, strikingly intelligent (when he wasn't busy being a wanker), and equal parts jock and nerd. He was currently busy staring absently out the window, pencil twirling between his long fingers.

'The Rosaline to my Romeo,' Arthur mused bitterly to himself. Completely out of his league, yet he couldn't stop himself from wanting.

He continued to daydream (mostly about the naughty things he'd like to do to Alfred if he ever got his hands on him), but the scrape of chairs against the linoleum floor brought him back. The meeting had obviously finished and students were now filing out of the unused classroom, chattering about which people they'd like to see play which roles. He gathered up his play notes and glanced back at Alfred's window seat -he was already gone.

With a sigh he turned to leave, but instead found that his escape was blocked by a very bouncy Erzsebet. She looked ready to burst, like a small child who perceived she'd had a brilliant idea during class but hadn't been called on. Not even the very pointed look he'd given her swayed her excitement, so he just sighed and crossed his arms.

"Yes, Erzsebet? What can I possibly do for you?"

"Well, you could just confess your undying love for Alfred already," she said, ignoring Arthur's embarrassed and indignant sputtering, "but we all know you won't do that. But I have an idea that might help you out! What if we did the play the way they were done in Shakespeare's time?"

Arthur stared at her. "Do you mean-?"

"Yup! An all-male cast!"

"And how do you propose to do this?"

"Well I am the director, Arthur. Weren't you paying attention? Oh wait, I forgot. You were too busy staring at the boy you're in love with."

Arthur hissed, but she was already out the door -he could hear her giggling down the hallway.

And that was how their rendition of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet came to be performed by an all-male cast.

As soon as Alfred heard that the play would feature and all-male cast, he decided he'd try his darnedest to get the role of Juliet. He figured he might finally be able to get his romantic moment with Arthur (because of course Arthur would audition for and receive the part of Romeo, since he was English and all that...tea and crumpets) after years of being too shy to approach the class president.

However, the day the roles were posted was a day of sore disappointment. He got the part of Juliet, but his Romeo was not Arthur. He looked at it again, hoping that he'd just misread it. He even put his finger to the paper, following the line from Romeo's name to Francis' over and over just to check.

"Oh God," Alfred muttered. "Francis is my Romeo. I have to kiss him. On the mouth. Shit."

"Bad luck there, mate."