A/N: Wow, I can't stop writing Gakuen AU lately XD Maybe its cause school's been especially tough lately. I love writing about my school's play, because we had the best time goofing off and I'd like to see Alfred and Arthur do half the stuff we did. Sort of my first attempt at a not overly explained beginning, so bear with me if it's spotty in parts XD
The sweet spring breeze blew pink petals across the grounds of Hetalia International, a school famous for its incredibly bright and diverse student population. Despite the pleasant mid-afternoon sun in the sky, hardly any of the senior class was enjoying the outside. Most, instead, were inside the auditorium. It wasn't unusual to see the students in the auditorium this time of year, mostly due to the yearly play being produced by the school. A surprising number of seniors were helping out this year, meaning that of course, only chaos could ensue.
Alfred F. Jones was one of those seniors. The ones with a trick up their sleeve and never without a hidden secret. He'd gotten the part of a jester this year, perfectly fitting his naturally joking personality.
Except, only one thing was on his mind as he slumped in a blue plastic chair stage left, just staring at the floor and finding a little comfort with the presence of his caring brother.
"So…um Alfred?" Matthew said, comforting the distraught American. Alfred was abnormally gloomy, which frightened his brother.
"Yeah?"
"Y'know, I…uh…get this way too, about Francis, I mean." Twiddling his thumbs, Matthew gave his best comforting technique.
"Hm?"
"W-well, uh, yeah, and…I just sorta…" Matthew blushed, then stood up and started moving across the empty stage, hidden from the empty auditorium by thick red velvet curtains, worn from the many years of productions. The Canadian held out his arms like he was dancing the waltz with a partner and swept across the floor tentatively, but with more confidence. To all the world, he looked like he was sashaying with an invisible partner. "It's silly, I know, but-"
"No, it's not." Alfred watched, marveling at how his brother could bear this pain so long. He knew for a fact Mattie had started liking the Frenchman last year, how could he have gone this entire time, walking alongside him, talking with him, working with him, without breaking from sheer hurt? He'd been in love for a year too, and he was about to crack.
It made him realize how strong Matthew actually was.
Getting up, Alfred picked up his own invisible dance partner and spun around the floor himself. It seemed like the epitome of loneliness, but it made him feel just a bit better, a slight occupation of his fragile heart and confused mind. Listening to the soft tones of the vocalist, Alfred sighed lightly.
Suddenly, a blond head of hair emerged from the wings, walking up in a king's costume, right into his unrequited lover. "Oh! Mon Dieu!" Matthew bumped into him, immediately turning around and apologizing, "Sorry…"
"Non, non, it's fine, I'm just here for a mic check," Francis jerked his thumb at their strict German director on the other side of the wall, "C'est impossible! That mad man wants a check every five minutes!"
"This is tech time, Frenchie," Alfred smirked, "it's kinda what we do here."
"I'll…um…get the soundboard ready…" Matthew slipped into the chair behind a panel of switches and buttons, flipping a few and connecting a cable, "Uh, try it now."
"Testing, testing," Francis said, his voice creating a double effect for Alfred as it simultaneously echoed throughout the auditorium, "Un, deux, un, deux…" Matthew turned off the mic, nodding slightly.
"S-Seems fine." He stuttered as Francis waved a casual hand, "Merci, I'm off then."
"See ya." The brothers said in unison. Alfred whipped around quickly, "Jinx! You owe me your firstborn child!"
"Alfred!" Matthew winced, "Aren't you just supposed to ask for a soda or something?"
Alfred winked mischievously, "This way it's better, 'cause you probably won't have to pay me back if you and Fran-"
"Shhh!" The Canadian hurriedly hushed his brother, then sat back down at the panel, glasses reflecting the lit-up LEDs. "Go find someone else to bug. Tell Arthur I said hi."
"Aw Mattie, you're no fun." Alfred stuck out his tongue jokingly, heading backstage to get his makeup on.
The unlucky Brit in question was sitting near the side entrance to the auditorium, working on a commission for costumes. Even if he wouldn't admit it publicly, he was pretty good with a needle and thread.
Alfred sneakily walked up behind him. "How's it going?"
The sudden, new voice caused Arthur to jumped, "Bloody hell! Don't just startle someone like that! I bloody well would have gotten myself impaled if you'd shouted early, you git!" Fuming, Arthur turned back to sewing.
Alfred chuckled. "Nice to know you're glad to see me."
Arthur scowled down at his needlework. "Likewise." A wry smile stretched across his face as the American left to get his makeup.
Sitting down in front of a rather excited Elizaveta, Alfred closed his eyes as she applied a white base to his forehead. Arthur usually came by to comment on his makeup, directing attention to some of the mistakes made. He had a surprisingly good artistic sense.
"Hm, points here and there, and touch up the white by the cheekbones." A familiarly accented voice said, properly correcting the job. Alfred opened his blue eyes, which stood out against his now pale face.
"Heyah Artie."
"Stay still, you incompetent old codger. Makeup has to fix your face."
"Sheesh." Alfred said, closing his eyes as the Hungarian girl made corrections, feeling slight touches of the brush, laden with bits of grease paint. He wondered why Artie always came over to check his face paint, but he knew the Brit always laughed off to the side after seeing it, so maybe it was just because he looked funny.
When he looked in the plastic handled mirror, Alfred made some faces at his reflection, a blond, blue-eyed jester. "Okay. Thanks Liz."
"Anytime." The girl said back, quickly moving on to add green to an ogre's face, dabbing the paintbrush with a new color.
Alfred had already gotten on his costume, a patched, colored joker's motley with an utterly ridiculous ruff sewn out of coffee filters. He smiled. His hat was his favorite part, mismatched tacky fabric with only one bell. Climbing up the stairs out of the cluttered greenroom, he nearly bumped into a frazzled Arthur.
"Hey, Artie, what-"
"Can't talk. I've still got to get the props, why the bloody hell did no one tell me that show time was in twenty minutes?"
"Ar-"
"Busy! Go practice your lines with Feliciano, I'll have your prop in a bit!" Arthur disappeared among the piles of props and costumes that had been in the plays of Hetalia International since its foundation.
Alfred sighed. The grumpy Brit had a point, they had a scene they wanted to work in for the Sunday show. Why was he rushing anyways when it only took him five minutes to put all the props in the right place? Well, he was new to the play, unlike himself who had been in the production last year. It was funny how bright his eyes got when he was nervous-
"Heyah! Alfred, we need to fix the line here, right?" A cheery Italian said, popping up beside the American, jolting him from his reminiscing.
"Oh yeah, let me get the script." Picking up his neon-green copy of the play, he flipped to page 48. "Okay, so you start with your part and I'll read Wanmei's part for her."
"All-a-right! I'm Dopey!" Feliciano did a funny pose, getting ready to act his heart out in front of a crowd. Alfred smiled, wondering if he could ever return to being that carefree, if he could ever have Arthur. Well, as they say in show business, break a leg.
Ten minutes until curtains open….
A series of claps rang out in the back hallway. Like they had been trained into doing the past few weeks, the entire cast and crew that wasn't busy clapped back, copying the pattern until the corridor was quiet.
Their German director, Ludwig, barked out at the crowd. "Now, we'll start our traditional chant before the performance. Everyone knows it, I take it?" Heads nodded. "Good."
Arthur rushed in from stage right. "Terribly sorry, I was just fixing the props," he apologized, quickly catching his breath, "What'd I miss?" He said quietly to Alfred.
Alfred shrugged. "Not much. They'll start Sito Rita soon."
"What's that?"
"It's kinda like this thing we do before every play, like a victory chant. I don't know, it's like Celtic or something…You'll see, just echo what the directors say."
"In a circle, everyone!" The huddle of people spread out into a relatively round shape, "Sito Rita Meta Mater!" Ludwig said.
"Sito Rita Meta Mater!" The crowd echoed.
"Ringo Jonah Tito Marlon!"
"Ringo Jonah Tito Marlon!"
"Jack La Toya, Janet Michael!"
"Jack La Toya, Janet Michael!"
"Dumbledora the Explora!"
"Dumbledora the Explora!" The crew finished strongly.
Whispering out of the corner of his mouth, Alfred muttered "Every time we do that it's like summoning the dead". Arthur snorted, wondering how his friend could get so scared over ghosts and the like. The entire team disbanded and everyone scattered, talking nervously and adding finishing touches to everything. Matthew was retying Francis's cape, which had come undone, but had to dash back to his beloved soundboard to check the prelude music.
"Got my prop?" Alfred asked unnecessarily as Arthur threw him a goose puppet.
"Indeed I did, as you can see, being the pretentious git you are. Try not to break it with your idiot strength, we haven't got more." Arthur breathed deeply, mentally checking off the list of props in his head.
"We've got everything. Make sure you-"
"Don't lose it, I know."
"No, you interrupting wanker, that you don't make a bloody mess of it." Arthur scowled and clapped the taller boy on the shoulder. "as you foolish Americans say, 'Break a leg'."
"Thanks Artie. See you at scene changes." Alfred exited the hallway to backstage, darkened for the anticipating audience. The bell on his hat softly jingled as a breeze of air from the closing door shook it, signaling the actors who were frantically studying their scripts in the light of their phones to look up. Waving, Alfred got into position on the stage.
The first scene went by smoothly enough as Alfred watched from the wings. The stage right door opened, letting a thing, blond boy slip in. He was hard to make out because he was wearing all black, but Alfred would have recognized him anywhere.
Giving a quick and quiet "hello" to the Brit, Alfred turned back to watching the performance. He was glad that the darkness of offstage hid his blush. Arthur was leaning back against the covered piano, closing his eyes and saving his energy for the next of many set changes. The Londoner had constantly groaned about the number of times the mill became the forest, the castle became the dungeon and so on. Even though he could leave for backstage between changes, he usually stayed.
Alfred listened for his cue word as the lights went off and the curtain was pulled over the princess and the mill boy. Following his fellow jesters, they walked onstage. It was like a million invisible eyeballs were focused on his, but being a natural performer he kept his cool. The spotlight nearly blinded them when it focused on the trio, but Feliciano quickly recovered.
"Hello, everybody! I'm Dopey!"
A/N: Hah, I feel Mattie here cause I owe my friend six of my firstborn children from jinxes. I'm loosely basing the play off of the one that we pulled off at my school this year, so if I accidentally violate a copyright, which is hard to do cause I'm purposefully being vague, forgive me OTL. Speaking of violations, both the name of the fic and the song lyrics come from the song "Enchanted" by Taylor Swift. Plus, the chant is England's from Episode 13 of Hetalia, which also does not belong to me. R&R, imaginary cookies to those who do! XD Daily updates for this one, I promise...