[A/N] So, I've been flitting around this idea for a fic for a while now, and just decided to do something 'bout it. So, read on, and enjoy! Also, before you people flame me, I've never seen Romeo and Juliet. I've never seen it performed, never read the script, and have no clue how any of it goes, so EXCUSE ME if and when I get something wrong. Also, props if you find the Doctor Who reference uncleverly hidden in the story.
Anyway, without further ado…
Wherefore Art Thou, Luke?
He was on the stage. He was on the stage in his goofy looking costume and he didn't know what to do.
He looked across the stage, at her, and felt his throat freeze up.
Oh, Gawd, she was walking over!
This can't be happening! This isn't happening!
He leaned in, and…
Luke Triton woke up in a cold sweat. "This is not gonna be a good day."
The school play… No, this was not going to be a good day.
He had tried out for his first school play. The first one for him, and the first one for the school.
The play, of all things, was Romeo and Juliet. He had only tried out for a small part, a bit part. Start slowly.
Instead, he got cast as the male lead. That was great and all, but the female lead… It wasn't Martha, or Rose, or even Donna, any of whom he would have been fine with.
That's right, the female lead, the Juliet to his Romeo, was Flora Reinhold.
Flora, the girl who the Professor had adopted from St. Mystere. The girl who had been with them every step of the way on their adventures. The girl who was like a sister to him.
The girl who he was to kiss at the climax of the play.
Oh, he liked Flora well enough. He liked her as much as any other girl. Maybe a bit more; the two were quite close. But not like that, or anything even close. Luke liked Flora as a close friend, as family. Not in the way that would make a kiss arise between the two.
Sighing, resigned, Luke put on his slippers and got out of bed. Maybe a late-night snack would help clear his head.
He quietly walked out of his room, careful not to wake the Professor. Then he realized that he shouldn't worry; the Professor was a surprisingly heavy sleeper.
He had to walk past Flora's room to get downstairs, but something made him stop, open the door a crack, and peak into her room. He cringed when he heard the door creak, and froze, desperately trying to think of a reason why he was looking into her room. He heard a noise. He wanted to make sure she was sleeping well. But as it happened, he wouldn't need to use any. Flora was fast asleep, and didn't even stir.
When the Professor let Flora move in to his house, she got to choose what colour to paint her room. It was festooned in bright colours, oranges and pinks and yellows, so bright that Luke was surprised it didn't glow in the dark. But here, as he actually looked at her room in the darkness, it seemed soothing, comforting. He could tell why she picked those colours for her room.
Careful not to let any light into the room, Luke crept into Flora's bedroom and, taking a calculated risk, quietly sat on the bed. Flora still didn't wake. He looked at her. Just looked; nothing weird, nothing creepy, just looked at Flora under the covers of her bed. He smiled, and reached out to touch her cheek. His fingers lightly brushed against her skin.
That did it. Flora awoke, groggily.
"Pro… Professor? Is it m-morning already…?"
Luke froze, in fear. Flora noticed him, and her eyes shot open. She screamed, at the top of her lungs.
"Flora! Flora! Sshh! It's early in the morning! The professor's still asleep!"
"What are you doing in my room?!" Flora hissed. She was quite angry, but had enough sense in her sleepy state to listen to Luke.
"N-Nothing! Nothing, I swear on it!"
"What do you think gives you, Luke Triton-" he cringed when she used his full name; "-the right to just walk in my room while I'm asleep?"
"I'm sorry, Flora!" Luke whispered frantically. "I shouldn't have done that! I was just going to pop downstairs for a snack! I had this dream, and I thought a snack might clear my head, and-"
"What was the dream about?" asked Flora. It was an innocent question, asked in an innocent way. That's what Luke liked about Flora; she was quick to forgive him when he made a mistake.
"Well, you're awake, too, now," he said. "Do you want to come downstairs with me and have something to eat?"
"Sure." Flora carefully pulled the covers off of her bed.
The children crept downstairs in their pyjamas, as the professor slept. Flora got out some biscuits, and Luke set to work making the tea. He still had some leftover ingredients from their time in Folsense.
When the tea was brewed and the biscuits were hot, they put it all on a plate and sat at the table.
"So, Luke, what was that dream about?" Flora asked,
munching on a biscuit.
"Well, I dreamt that we were performing the play onstage, and we were right at the end of it, see. At that part where-" he swallowed; "-where I'm supposed to kiss you."
Flora looked a bit surprised at that. "You were dreaming about… kissing me?"
Luke thought about it for a second, and came to the conclusion he was afraid to draw. "Y-yeah, I guess I was." He started to feel heat on his face.
"Well, Luke, I'm going to ask you two questions. And I would like you to answer with the brutal honest truth. Number one, do you like me? Do you like -like me?"
Luke gulped. "W-well, Flora, I can't say that I do. I like you as family, and as a very close friend, but not like that."
Flora nodded, as if she were expecting that answer. "Alright. Second question, would you prefer if I dropped out and someone else had to do my part instead?"
"No! No, Flora, of course not. You play that part better than anyone. I wouldn't want to have anyone else in that part. I wouldn't want to kiss anyone else. With you in that role, it makes it less awkward."
She looked a bit surprised at that. "You think it's less awkward kissing me rather than someone else?"
"Yeah! Of course! If I had to kiss some other girl that I barely knew, I wouldn't know what to expect, what to do, anything. With you…" He trailed off, unable to think of anything else to say.
"Do you want the kiss to not be awkward, Luke?"
He nodded.
"I have the perfect way to remedy that, then."
Luke was confused. Flora had just moved closer to him. She had said that last sentence in an… odd way. A different way. A very un-Flora-ish way. She flipped her hair out of her face, turned Luke toward her, and, very slowly, leaned in and pressed her lips against his.
Approximately ten million thoughts were running through Luke's mind at once. The one that won out over the rest when she pulled away was "Um. W-why, exactly, did you just… do that?"
"Well," said Flora. "I thought that if it happened more, it would become less awkward for you. Was I right?"
"Um," Luke said. "I'm not… I guess so. That felt… nice."
"If that's the case, let's try again," said Flora.
This time, though, he was ready. They leaned in together, and shared another kiss. It lasted longer than the other, but not by much, because at that point, they didn't realize how long they had been up, and the Professor was awake by then.
He came downstairs and opened the door, and the two jolted apart.
Luke could feel his face start to burn up. He quickly tried to think of a reason for why they were down there. It's not like the Professor would believe anything, though; but luckily, the biscuits and tea were still on the table. The professor could easily think they were just hungry.
"What are the two of you doing up so early?" Layton asked. "Both of you are usually still asleep at this time!"
"We were just hungry!" they said in unison.
The Professor seemed to accept that without a word. Luke could see a bit of doubt in his eyes, but it quickly disappeared, and Luke went back up into his room to change out of his pyjamas and into his usual clothes. Still thinking about what just happened, he packed up his things and got ready to go to school.
The day was all a blur to Luke. He had set his mind on autopilot, answering questions, writing papers, everything as usual. But all he could think about was what had happened that morning, and what was going to happen that night.
The show wasn't until six thirty, so Luke had some time to wind down before it would all happen. Luckily, the fair happened to be in town that day.
"Professor! Can we go to the fair until it's time for the play to begin?" Luke said. What he was thinking, though, was Please, please, please say yes. I need something to take my mind off of Flora and the play.
"Of course, my boy!" said the Professor. "But you should get your costume for the play ready so we don't have to drive back here."
Luke quickly got his costume together, shouted something about the fair and her costume to Flora, and ran downstairs.
"Did you tell Flora we would be going to the fair?" asked Layton.
"Yes…" replied Luke, somewhat out of breath.
In the span of about ten to fifteen seconds, the Professor and Luke heard Flora clomping down the stairs, with her costume hastily shoved into a shopping bag. Luke starting laughing, and even the Professor let out a chuckle.
"What?" asked Flora. "What's so funny?"
"Your dress is inside out," laughed Luke.
Flora looked down, and noticed that it was. A bit red in the face, she quietly excused herself to go back to her room for a moment.
When she came back down, her dress was on right, and she was very much ready to leave.
"Well," said the Professor. "Let's head out, shall we?" The Professor locked up the house, made sure the windows were covered (in case Rosetta tried to sneak in), and hopped into the Laytonmobile.
Luke and Flora were quite excited about the fair. They bought a few sweets, rode the Ferris wheel together to get a better view, and noticed that the school was right next to the fair.
When Luke finally got his painting back from the caricaturist (Flora had joked that it didn't look like Luke at all; he wasn't nearly that macho), they started to make their way to the school.
"Hey!" someone shouted. Luke didn't stop to think of it; people were always shouting at each other at that fair.
"Oy! You! Kids!"
That got Luke's attention. He turned to the shouter, a rather plump, bearded man in charge of the merry-go-round, and pointed at himself, and then at Flora.
"Do you see any other kids around here?"
The man had a point. Luke, Flora, and the Professor (who had noticed it by now) walked over to the man.
"Would you two happen to be in the play?"
"Um… yes…" Luke replied, slow and uncertain.
"Well, how would you like to have a ride on the merry-go-round? Free of charge, if you're in the play."
"Free?"
"Yeah, sure, my daughter's in the play. She asked me if anyone else came around here who had a part, to let 'em on for free."
Luke turned to the Professor.
"Go ahead, you two," he said, smiling. "We should have time for one ride before it begins."
Luke and Flora cheered, and ran up to the merry-go-round. After finishing their ride, they were about to leave for school, when they noticed a familiar face.
"Psst!" said a voice. "Down here!"
Underneath the cover of the merry-go-round, they saw that she was a girl from school.
"Samantha!" said Flora. "What are you doing here!"
"That's my dad," said Samantha.
They looked back at the man at the control stand, and saw a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
"Anyway, everybody in the play goes through here to get to school! We sent a secret note to the parents about it."
Now they looked at the Professor, who seemed to have the same look as the man at the merry-go-round. He started to walk away.
"Don't worry," said Samantha. "Now come on! The show starts soon! I'll explain it all on the way."
Luke, Flora, and Samantha walked through the tunnel. It was surprisingly tall and well-made, for something that had just happened over a couple of days.
"Someone had the idea to make this tunnel as a cool way to get the cast into backstage. I must say, it really was. It gives the whole play thing a cool feel, hm?"
Luke and Flora stayed silent the whole way. When they got to the end, Samantha disappeared.
"Samantha?" they called. "Where'd you go?"
No quicker than the said so, Flora disappeared, too, with a scream.
"Flora?" asked Luke, starting to get a bit scared now.
He stumbled forward, and suddenly he was falling, tumbling down a slide, feet first, thankfully. He noticed a light at the end, and landed on some pillows and sheets. He was surrounded by people, students and teachers. He saw Flora with a bewildered expression on her face, and realized instantly that they were in the auditorium. On the stage.
He ran into the change room, hurriedly changed into his costume, and just got into his spot on the stage before the curtain came up.
He was at rapt attention the entire time. No more autopilot for the rest of the day, now he was… well, paying attention. He almost forgot his lines at some points, but he was pretty sure that no one else noticed but him.
Now he was at the very end. The play was almost over. There was just that last scene. That last line.
That last kiss.
She had finished her last line. They met in the middle of the stage.
He leaned in, changed his mind, leaned back out. Flora looked confused. A bit hurt, but mostly confused.
He embraced her, put his hand around her waist, and swung her around so he was above her, and planted a long kiss right on her mouth.
When it was over, they ran to the back of the stage. There were no words that needed to be said. They watched as the rest of the cast and stage crew ran to the front of the stage, took their bows, and joined on the sides. Luke and Flora were last, running up to the front of the stage. Flora did a small twirl in her dress, and they bowed.
The rest of the cast came up beside them, and they all held hands. As one, every member of their cast took a tremendous bow, and the audience applauded wildly. When the curtains closed, Luke and Flora leaned back in, and shared another kiss. They broke apart, smiled, and went backstage to change out of their costumes.
[A/N] Oh. My. God. I can't believe that I wrote that! It was so perfect.
First of all, before anything else is said, I already know that Romeo and Juliet does not end with a kiss. But when your school put the play on, didn't they exclude all the death and stuff? My school did. And I wasn't lying when I said I didn't know anything, I was sick the day they performed the play at my school!
Second of all, the most amazing thing about this fic is that I didn't even plan for it to be a romance. It was originally going to be a hurt/comfort/family thing. I might post another fic about what it was originally. But I actually had a dream about how it was going to end, and I just decided to follow my… well, dreams. I hope you all enjoyed the story! There will be more to come.