Disclaimer: I own no Yuri! On Ice characters, only the OCs...but I don't really care for the ones in this story so, :p
The setting of the story is in a high school, that is very supportive of the arts. Viktor and Yuuri (and maybe others in the future) are in a performing arts class together, hence the play. However, I have not read Hamlet, seen Hamlet, know very much about Hamlet, so have mercy in that aspect, it would be much appreciated!
Please read, enjoy, and disregard any spelling or grammar mistakes where ever they may be.
"Student! We are going to be putting on a play!" Groans reverberated throughout the classroom.
"Stop your complaining! We will be putting on Hamlet!" Yakov Feltsman said so strictly, it almost felt threatening. But the students were used to this tone so they ignored it. The teacher also had his doubts about the play, but he was sure this year's group of student's had the talent to be able to pull off this Shakespearean work of art.
"But teach!"
However, just because they had the skill to pull off the play, didn't mean his students were quiet ready for making the commitment and effort. Unnecessary work was definitely not something they searched for. Lazy children these days.
"NO BUTS! Participate or I call home and say you are being a bunch of rebellious sons of a-" "TEACH! KEEP IT PG!" The students interrupted, conveniently breaking the fourth wall.
Mr. Feltsman looked over the group of the moaning group of ingrates er- students, and grunted, " Very well. But Hamlet is not going up for debate. It's what we will be putting on, and you will like it! Or at least pretend. Those who convince me get extra credit," he really didn't feel like having to deal with a whole class of miserable looking kids for longer than he got payed for, but this opportunity could not be wasted!
"For those of you who don't get cast, you will be assigned as stage hands. Also, after the last play we put on we got complaints that we left the place a mess so if we repeat the same thing, I doubt we will be allowed back. So we are going to need a few people to form a clean up crew."
The groans grew in volume and length.
"I THOUGHT i ALREADY TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP! The play will be in 4 months! Auditions will take two weeks and we will start two days after the results are posted. We will be practicing in the Cersi Center of the Arts so you will be able to be comfortable performing there from the get go and not have to grow accustom to it during the actual show."
The class murmured among themselves for a bit, then one by one, let out a sigh of reassignment. This was going to happen whether they liked it or not, and they already knew what the casting was going to be too. They knew there was no real need for auditions, and they might as well get used to it. For the sake of extra credit.
*2 months before the show*
"VIKTOR! What are you doing?! You are supposed to be portraying Hamlet! Where is the emotion?! You seem like you are just reading off of the script! Which, would be fine if this was only the first month of practice. But it isn't. In fact it's the beginning of the third!"
"Sorry sir." The silver haired teen looked down at his shoes, at the wall, the ground, any where but his teachers piercing eyes.
This was so embarrassing. He had been in theater productions before, been the lead role before. What was so different? It should be a simple task, it used to be. Becoming the character had come so natural to him, his parents had thrown him into as many performances and productions as they could. The teen was only 16 years old, but he was already pretty well known. So why was this play messing with him?
"Hn," his teacher noticed the look in his lead's eyes. He wasn't going to do any better today, and he might as well give everyone a break. He couldn't ask anyone else to preform if the lead role was excused. This was going to be a minor set back...
"All right everyone, let's call it in early today." Mr Feltsman said with a sigh. Everyone cheered. Alright! More time at home! Studying, doing homework, and more likely surfing social media, and reading fanfiction for all the nerds (not to say only nerds read fanfiction of course)! Yes!
"Yeah yeah! Tomorrow we'll be back at it. Hopefully, we'll all do better after a little break," a glance was passed to Viktor, and the meaning of it did not evade him. He gave a curt nod in response to the silent demand. He would do better tomorrow. He had to.
As everyone started to file out of the center, Viktor walked off the stage and down the stairs. But instead of heading for the doors, he flopped into one of the comfy chairs in the front row, frustrated. His hand sliding down his face, eyes closing in concentration.
"Viktor? Aren't you coming?" A tentative voice asked.
"Ah, I'm just going to stay behind for a little bit. I gotta think this all over." Viktor replied, not even bothering to look at who had called out to him and rubbing the back of his neck. He heard the person hesitate for a moment, then foot steps heading towards the door after everyone else.
Finally alone, Viktor growled quietly to himself. No, at himself. This was stupid! It shouldn't bother him this much, heck it shouldn't have to bother him! It should be easy! The low growls grew ever so slightly in volume, until eventually Viktor was practically snarling at himself.
To relieve some of the frustration that was gradually building, Viktor threw the script he had been holding rather roughly across the aisle in front of him into the base of the stage. It made a satisfyingly loud bang against the wood, then fell to the floor landing on its pages and bending them.
Though, while the vicious toss had been stress relieving, there was already more stress already filling in the vacated spot in Viktor's mind. He growled again, then let his head fall back on the back of his seat with a groan and closed his eyes again. There had to be a reason that this play was messing with him. As it stood, this didn't make any sense, he had never run into a road block like this. What was preventing him from accurately portraying the emotions needed for Hamlet?
There was a sound that interrupted Viktor's musings, but it was faint so he ignored it. However the sound had broken the silence he was using to think and Viktor tried to remember where his train of thought had been on, with very little success. His growl came back to his throat, growing more and more frustrated every moment that the answer didn't come to him. He snapped his head up, eyes flying open to glare at something rather than to just see the inside of his eye.
...Only to meet with a pair of wide brown ones behind blue rimmed glasses, rather the stage like he intended. I twas an unexpected sight to say the least, and it drew a surprised yelp from Viktor's lips. But despite however surprised the silver haired teen was, the owner of the startling eyes seemed to get even more scared. Said person cried out in alarm and flew back, slamming into the stage behind him. His back slapped against the hard wood with a reverberating crack! The large sound of the impact made Viktor wince in sympathy pain. The being crumpled down on his knees, hands flying to his side.
"Oh god!" Viktor immediately stood up and went over to the person, "I am so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, you just startled me! Are you okay? Oh god..." Viktor trailed off in worry. He tried to inspect the the person who he could now see was a dark haired male, but he held up his hands in defense.
"Its fine!" He said loudly. He got to his feet and stood up straight, a bit to straight to be realistic, "I shouldn't have hovered over you like that, I mean who does that right? Anyway, uh, here's your script," the man, no teenager, roughly shoved the retrieved script that Viktor hadn't even known he had, into his hands. The teen's eyes were hidden behind his glasses and a glare, but Viktor gave him a hard look.
"You seem familiar," He commented squinting. God, he was really terrible with faces...but, "I know you right? You're in my performing arts class aren't you?!" Viktor beamed at him, happy he remembered. That's why he was familiar!
"Could be, uh, I'm not sure," the teen said quickly, his head turned away avoiding eye contact. Okay, he was lying, that was obvious. But why would he? There was not reason to, and who wouldn't Viktor to talk to them? He was in fact the most popular person in his class, maybe even the school, but to say the least he was well known and a person often sought out.
"Why are you lying? You're..." the silver haired teen scrunched his nose in concentration. "Yuuri!" He cried in triumph as the name finally came to him. He had noticed this guy before, he sat in the back and typically got only good grades. But he was on the clean up crew, so Viktor didn't spend any excess time with him.
Hold on, he was in the cleaning crew... so what was he doing here?
"Why-?" Viktor never got the chance to finish his question. With the sound of his name being said, Yuuri snapped his head up and gotten a rather scared look on his face. He pivoted on his heels and walked towards the end of the stage and up the stairs.
"I hope you manage to fix your mental block. Good day." He tossed over his shoulder to Viktor, walking backstage.
The Russian stood stunned. He didn't entirely understand what had just happened. Had he been...brushed off?
And that's chapter 1! Actually chapter 1 and 2 used to be one large chapter, so unlike my other stories, this is one has a written chapter 2, and even 3! Amazing! This is my most thought out story so far! X3 Please review to tell me opinions, suggestions, corrections, or what ever you feel in the mood for. Its all appreciated!
~ a simple fanfic writer, 525Clouds