a teeny tiny band ✧

d

cast

"It's... glorious." Brandon gasped as he stared at the object in front of him, at awe at the height of it.

"I've never seen anything like it," Christian whispered, Andrew nodding in agreement beside him as they all took in their view.

David Rockwell, the set designer of Falsettos, smiled at the cast. "I'm glad you guys like it."

"Like is an understatement, my friend. This thing is stupendous!" Tracie commented, walking around The Block.

One would think that this prop of theirs was nothing of importance; simply another object used in a show. The cast knew better. They all knew just how important it would come to be when they start staging the story. They don't know how David did it, but the fact that the block could be broken down and used as furniture amazed the company.

"Why... Why is there a hole in the middle?" Anthony asked, his small frame wrapped in Stephanie Umoh's, one of the understudies, loving arms.

Before David could begin explaining, James Lapine walked towards the group with the missing piece. The director frowned. "No reason."

Stephanie Block took a step forward to speak, but William Finn shook his head. The composer wanted the child to find out in his own time.

"Well then, I think we'll need to play with it for a while. Get used to the weight and all that," James announced, taking one of the top blocks and handing it to Betsy. The woman's eyes widened when she realized how light it was than expected.

The show's choreographer, Spencer Liff, took part in the discussion. "Moving the block is going to be heavily implemented in the choreography, so I hope you guys won't find it too difficult to catch up. There are a ton of movements you guys have to do with this thing."

They first tackled the top of Act 1, since they all needed to practice with The Block as much as possible. Four Jews alone was a really fast song, but that added to the choreography was a whole lot of crazy.

Often times Brandon would hit Andrew in the middle of the song. They were all accidents, for sure, but the amount of times the curly-haired man did it was ridiculous. Instead of letting him apologize when it happened once again, Andrew said, "Stop blocking my way!"

Christian and Anthony turned to look at the two men glaring each other down. Tension was in the air.

"That's how it's gonna be, Rannells?"

"What do you think, Uranowitz?"

Brandon scoffed and turned on his heel. Before he walked back to his spot, he said, "We should go back to our blocking, now, guys."

Andrew cracked his neck before doing as suggested. "Fine."

—

So the amount of puns thrown during the rehearsal process was way more ridiculous than the choreography. The one that threw off Andrew the most was when Brandon called for Stephanie, and as if Christian were in on it, he asked, "Which one?" to which the Jewish man answered, "Block!"

Thankfully, their lunch break of the day neared and Christian and Brandon made coincidental plans to buy some cookies at Schmackary's. Before they left, Andrew ran up to the two with a few dollars.

"Hey Chris, would you mind buying me an iced coffee while you're on your way out? I have to stay to discuss something with James for a bit."

"Yeah, sure." Christian grinned. "And, keep it. It's on me."

"Love you, Borle." Andrew smiled, grateful. "Oh, and one more thing." The tall man stared at Brandon right in the eyes before he continued speaking, though it was clear that he was talking to Christian. "Make sure to put a lot ice cubes in it, please."

Brandon sucked in a breath when Andrew finished speaking. "You want to get punched, Andrew?"

"You mean do I want to get boxed, right?"

The eldest of the three rolled his eyes but Brandon pushed him out the door before anything else came out of Andrew's lips. Any more of his puns and the youngest man was sure to explode.

"You guys and your games. Your puns are horrible as they are hilarious." Christian spoke with a smirk tugging at his lips, walking up the busy street so quickly that Brandon struggled to catch up. He must have the same cravings I do, he thought.

"Thank you for that well-needed comment, Christian Dominique Borle. Now help me make up some more. I'm running dry and it seems like that evil man has a lot up his sleeves."

The 42-year old chortled at Brandon's words, walking on with the latter trailing behind him. It wasn't long before they reached their destination, and Christian breathed in the scent of freshly baked cookies before walking to the display.

"That looks good. Oh, God, but that looks good too. Uh," Brandon's mouth practically watered at the sight of so many cookies. He had difficulty choosing. "I'll go with that one. Wait, no, this one. No! Um,"

"Jesus, Brand."

"Patience, boy! Leave me and my cookies alone!"

Christian raised his hands up in surrender before taking a step back. It took a few minutes, but when Brandon was finally able to choose, he was told by the cashier that his friend already paid for him. On top of that, Christian absentmindedly left a $10 tip before they left the store, walking away with drinks and food in hand after as if nothing happened. Brandon was frozen for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure before catching up with his castmate.

"You're really generous, Christian. Thank you." Brandon beamed, wrapping his friend in a tight embrace. "You're such a saint."

"Shhh, I have my narcissistic reputation to hold up."

"Whatever you say, Chris. You the man."

—

When the two arrived at their rehearsal space and started practicing later on, the Block pun war just turned into a full-on insulting match. Andrew and Brandon weren't even anywhere near each other in Marvin at the Psychiatrist yet they still found ways to piss each other off with their awful puns.

"Do me a favor and be like my friend, will you? He ran elsewhere."

"Ura-no-witz. And, I didn't realize you had so many friends!"

"Fuck you!"

Christian had enough. "Holy shit, will you two please calm the hell down?"

Stephanie slowly covered Anthony's ears even when the men were finished speaking.

In a matter of seconds, Andrew burst out laughing, Brandon following. Tally and Colin, the 2 understudies for the men of the show, held in laughs and raised eyebrows respectively. James and Bill were amused.

"Sure, whatever. I'm sorry for insulting you, Bran." Andrew stated, patting his castmate on the back.

"And I'm sorry for insulting you, Andy. You're a good human being who smells like dreams and definitely doesn't need to be insulted."

Andrew bit back the urge to slap the man on his head. "You wanna go on a double date with me and Mike tonight?"

"Sure! Why not?"

Everyone seemed satisfied with their weird interaction, so they all clapped and cheered. "No more drama! Yay!" was what Peyton, the understudy for Jason, exclaimed.

"Be there or be square!"

Brandon's eyes widened at Andrew's words. The cast's jaws dropped. "Oh no..." Courtney, an understudy for the women of the show, whispered.

"Fucking hell—!"