(Author's note: The next two chapters encompass a rehearsal of Bryce Coleman's production of Romeo and Julian from start to finish. I attempted to quote only enough of the Shakespeare to convey the storyline and essential scenes, but it is still ridiculously long, and may be challenging to follow if you are not already familiar with the play. As much as I enjoy the Luhrmann movie, it is much truncated. You can watch the 2014 Orlando Bloom Broadway production on the Broadway HD channel on Amazon, if you pay for it. The 2013 Carlei movie is available on Youtube for free. At the very least, you may wish at several points to refer to the original script to Romeo and Juliet.
Last caveat about R&J: I do not teach British literature, nor have I ever performed this show, so forgive me any errors in analysis, interpretation, or staging.
There is no greater confusion in this story about names and identity than Kurt and Noah experience in these two chapters. Please know every choice of which name to use for whom (throughout the whole story, really, in every scene) is deliberate. -amy)
Noah successfully avoided talking to Kurt for the rest of the afternoon. Bryce, Noah, and Anthony were all absent from masterclass. Trinity had them run through some familiar small group activities, but no one was really focusing very well on them. The gossip about Chris ranged from disturbing to profane, and a lot of it involved speculation about Noah.
At least some of the concerns were easy to dismiss. At break, they were joined by Teresa, one of Trinity and Ian's close friends.
"How can Bryce expect him to learn the part of Romeo that quickly?" she asked. "Opening night is in five days."
"He already knows it," said Kurt. "Every word."
Teresa looked justifiably skeptical, but Asher added, "Even if he doesn't know all of it, he memorizes really fast. I don't know what Bryce is going to do about preparing for Earnest if Puck has to do blocking rehearsals for two shows in the same week, but honestly, if anybody can do it, it's Puck."
"Don't you think it's a little suspicious, though?" Teresa shook her head. "Ending up with both lead roles? Especially after what he did to Ian."
Kurt shook his head. "What… did he do to Ian?"
She looked surprised. "Three summers ago, I think? Puck made it his personal mission to make life a living hell for Ian. Everything from practical jokes to outright ridicule."
"That was Ian?" Kurt jerked his head up. Across the room, Ian frowned at them, and Kurt lowered his voice again. "Chris told me that story, but… he never told me it was Ian."
"It's not a secret. Although I don't think he enjoys having Puck back at camp. I know he's your boyfriend, Kurt, but I don't think anybody really likes him all that much, no matter how good an actor he is."
There was an uncomfortable silence, during which Kurt thought about fifty things he could say, most of them mean to at least one person, but eventually he settled on, "That was a really horrible thing he did to Ian."
Asher stayed close by Kurt as the class ended.
"Do you want me to come with you to rehearsal?" he asked quietly.
"I don't need a bodyguard, Asher." Kurt shook his head in annoyance. "You've been rehearsing with him three nights a week. Tell me you feel unsafe around him."
"Honestly?" Asher looked at him steadily. "I haven't made up my mind yet."
They walked out the door and headed in opposite directions on the path, Kurt toward the theater and Asher back to Laura Keene. Asher watched him walk away with the rest of the cast without another word.
On stage, Bryce was sitting downstage left on his customary stool. Noah, Trinity, and Anthony were on stage together, walking through the blocking. As Noah watched and nodded, Trinity pointed at the tape lines on the stage, but when Kurt climbed the steps to the stage, everybody stopped and looked at him.
"You ready to do this?" Noah demanded. "With me instead of him?"
"We're two actors," Kurt replied. "We can make the audience believe anything we want. Right?"
Noah frowned, but he nodded. "Just thought I should ask."
Anthony looked even more wrecked than Kurt felt, but he joined the whole cast on the stage as they gathered. It was hard not to feel safer, surrounded by all the people Kurt had come to trust over the past five weeks.
Except you thought Noah was one of them, he reminded himself.
Everyone kept sneaking glances at Noah, but Noah's attention was on Trinity.
"Tonight's the stumblethrough," she said. "The goal is to see how it feels when we put all the scenes together, as well as to time the total length of our production. It's not going to be clean, but that's okay; just don't stop. Any questions?"
"Any word about Chris?" asked Grace.
Trinity shook her head. "Any questions about the show."
"What if I forget my lines?" asked Joel nervously. He was the freshman taking over Noah's part of Tybalt.
"Normally in a stumblethrough we wouldn't be pausing for any reason, but obviously things are going to be a little different tonight. Just say line and I'll feed it to you. Puck, I'll call out the blocking for you. The rest of you, don't let the changes throw you or alter your pacing." She gave them an encouraging smile. "Trust me: you've been practicing, and even if you don't know it yet, you've got this. Places."
Kurt moved to his place in the semi-circle, ready to recite the prologue as part of the chorus.
"Stand next to me," he murmured to Noah, gesturing to the open space.
Kurt took Noah's hand as Grace took his other one, and was taken aback as he felt Noah shaking. He sucked in a breath and turned toward him.
"Don't," Noah said, cutting him off, staring at the stage. He was almost begging. "Don't say anything. Just let me do this."
Kurt wished he could pause the situation around them long enough to pull Noah close and kiss away his desperation, to tell him how amazing he was, that Kurt had no doubt in his mind that Noah would be able to pull off this role. But there was nothing close to enough time to accomplish that before they began. All he could do was nod, and squeeze Noah's hand, and take a few long, slow breaths through his nose before Trinity called, "Curtain."
"Two households, both alike in dignity…" they all said in unison. Noah recited the opening words of the opening chorus right alongside them. His delivery was quiet and understated, but Kurt knew he was listening to the way they were doing it, and would do it precisely that way the next time. He felt, not for the first time that summer, a rush of pride in Noah's skill.
As Peyton and a junior named Adam conducted the opening comedic dialogue between Sampson and Gregory, Noah retreated to the wings to stand next to Oliver, the sophomore playing Benvolio. Kurt was close enough to hear them whispering about their upcoming scene.
"So Benvolio's already aware of Romeo's thing for dudes." Noah raised an eyebrow. "But he never really comes clean about who he's into?"
Oliver definitely looked a little nervous to find Noah standing that close to him, but he nodded. "Benvolio's the first one to figure Romeo out, though he doesn't really know for sure until Romeo tells him, in his—uh, your first scene. And Benvolio might kind of like Romeo, but… I mean, he's really in love with Mercutio, right?"
"Okay. Thanks."
They watched Joel, the replacement Tybalt, scowl as he approached the skirmish between the men of Capulet and of Montague. Oliver entered the scene from the wings to confront him.
The fight scene choreography was rough, but Kurt's attention was on Noah, standing offstage. As Quentin, the tall junior playing the part of the Prince, informed the assembled Montagues and Capulets that they had better stop fighting or be put to death, Kurt watched Noah's expression gradually shift, losing every bit of its familiar cocky tension. It was fascinating to witness. By the time Lord and Lady Montague came in looking for their son, Noah's posture, his manner, his entire being was different. He had become Romeo.
"Good morrow, cousin," said Oliver-as-Benvolio as Romeo approached.
Romeo looked around himself with complete bewilderment. "Is—is the day so young?"
Benvolio smirked. "But new struck nine."
"Ay me," Romeo murmured. "Sad hours seem long."
It wasn't exactly the way Chris had played Romeo, but Oliver seemed to handle Noah's stylistic changes just fine. And whenever Noah got the blocking wrong and ended up standing in the wrong place, Trinity would call, "Right three," or "Down two," and Noah would immediately adjust his position without missing a line.
Romeo's first conversation with Benvolio was a revealing one, full of contradictions. "Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! / This love feel I, that feel no love in this." Romeo shook his head, running a hand over his forehead, and glanced at Benvolio with a glum sigh. "Dost thou not laugh?"
"No, coz, I rather weep, at thy good heart's oppression." Benvolio regarded Romeo with wary concern. "Tell me in sadness, who is that you love?"
Romeo's eyes flicked across the stage as he hesitated, and averted his eyes. "In sadness…" Kurt watched him swallow, then glance back up at Benvolio. "I love not a woman."
Benvolio paused, taking this in. He nodded slowly. Then he offered Romeo a tiny smile, and replied, "I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved."
Romeo's face flushed with relief as he let out a breathy laugh. It was as convincing a coming-out scene as any Kurt had ever witnessed.
As Romeo described "fair Reginald" to Benvolio, employing that deceptively intimate tone that still somehow managed to carry across the theater, Kurt was reminded of the first scene they'd performed together from The Merchant of Venice, last year in Mr. Tracy's British literature class. Noah had sounded just that way when he'd played Bassanio, describing the love he felt for Portia—and it had prompted in Kurt the same mad feeling of jealousy.
About a fictional person, Kurt reminded himself, loving another fictional person. He had to roll his eyes.
In the next scene, Bryce had recast the suitor Paris as "Alice." An older noblewoman petitioning Lord Montague for Romeo's hand in marriage was a bit archaic, given the contemporary setting, but Yvonne played the part well enough. And, Kurt thought, if Romeo had truly been avoiding marriage because he was gay and refused to marry without love, it could have happened that way.
Romeo and Benvolio returned in the next scene, trading jibes and snickering about the servant who couldn't read the invitation to the Capulets' party. The two actors had excellent chemistry already. Watching them play their parts, it was easy for Kurt to imagine that Benvolio was harboring a secret crush for his handsome cousin Romeo—or maybe it was just Oliver admiring Noah's acting.
Benvolio nudged Romeo as the servant departed, relaying his plan for helping Romeo forget Reginald. "At this same ancient feast of Capulet's / Sups the fair Reginald whom thou so lovest. / Compare his face with some that I shall show / And I will make thee think thy swan a crow."
Romeo looked startled. "One fairer than my love!" He snorted, shaking his head. "The all-seeing sun / Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun. Uh—" He cleared his throat, glanced up at the directors, and he was abruptly Noah again. "His match."
"Go on," said Bryce, waving his hand.
Oliver smiled sadly. "Tut, you saw him fair, none else being by / Himself poised with himself in either eye, / But in that crystal scales let there be weigh'd / Your gentleman's love against a maid / That I will show you shining at this feast, / And he shall scant show well that now shows best."
Noah's brows went down, as though he was about to argue with Oliver about this. Kurt could almost hear his complaint: You actually think beer goggles are going to make chicks look good to me by comparison? Finally he sighed.
"I'll go along, no such sight to be shown," he said, with obvious reluctance. As Oliver went offstage ahead of him, he turned to the audience, biting his lip. "But to rejoice in splendor of mine own."
Kurt was so occupied watching Noah that he almost missed his entrance. Thankfully, Bethany, playing Julian's nurse, happened to say his prompt a little extra loudly: "Where's this boy? Where's Julian?" and Kurt hurried on in time, giving his irritated reply: "How now! Who calls?"
Most of Julian's introductory scene required Kurt to stand around rolling his eyes and being embarrassed by his nurse talking about things like weaning him when he was a baby and how he fell on his face as a child. Later, he had to demonstrate his unease for his mother's consideration of Lady Alice, who'd come looking for his hand in marriage.
"Tell me, my dear Julian," asked Grace-as-Lady Capulet hopefully, "How stands your disposition to be married?"
Bryce had chosen to make Julian sixteen instead of thirteen, but even at this advanced age, Kurt felt justified in making a face as he retorted, "It is an honor that I dream not of."
Kurt also appreciated being given license to play up the teenage insolence angle instead of being expected to be a dutiful child, as Juliet was usually portrayed. It made the scene more fun to do—but more importantly, it made Julian's conflict with his overprotective, conservative parents all the more poignant.
"Speak briefly," said his mother, "can you like of Alice, love?"
"I'll look to like, if looking liking move," Kurt replied balefully, "but no more deep will I endart mine eye." At his mother's anxious glare, added, "Than your consent gives strength to make it fly." As though it were propriety that was guiding his reluctance to marry!
Romeo and Benvolio were joined in the street by their brash friend Mercutio, all carrying flashlights, on the way to the Capulet's costume party. Anthony played a pitch-perfect Mercutio, not leaning too hard on the dick jokes that peppered his long speech about partying and dreams, but Kurt thought it was Benvolio who stole the scene, reacting to Mercutio's witty repartee with silent, lovesick admiration.
Romeo stayed to himself, professing his contentment to "hold the torch" while everyone else would dance. He did drink from the flask that Benvolio passed around before they went to the party. Every time Mercutio flirted with Romeo, Benvolio got a little more desperate and encouraged them both to drink more. By the time they entered the party, it was obvious all three were more than a little intoxicated.
Kurt's favorite bit of interplay was when Benvolio and Mercutio, in the course of their jibes, came face to face, then broke out laughing as they attempted to go around one another. Instead of moving, Benvolio bowed, and Mercutio grabbed him in a brief, joking waltz that left Benvolio breathless and yearning after his kinsman. Romeo watched the interaction, flashlight in hand, supplying a kind of spotlight as they danced, but when Benvolio was revealed to be clearly embarrassed by his fit of emotion, Romeo relented and turned his flashlight elsewhere.
For the first half of the party, both Romeo and Julian were on the stage together, but Bryce's stage directions had them continually passing by without noticing one another. Kurt had never seen the staging from the audience, of course, being part of it himself, but in his mind's eye, he could see the way the two characters moved in symmetry. Since it was a costume party, Romeo would be dressed as a pirate, and Julian would wear a glow-in-the-dark skeleton costume. For now, this not being a dress rehearsal, Kurt simply wore a black hoodie to simulate the cowl of his costume. The black and white contrast of their two outfits would make it easy to find them among the other garish colors on the stage, and lighting was used to good effect to make each of them stand out as they mirrored one another's movement. Each also continued to imbibe, becoming more and more obviously drunk.
And then, as Julian was flirting with another guest dressed as a knight, the action on the stage ceased, except for Romeo. One spotlight shone on Julian, frozen on one side of the stage, and a second on Romeo on the other side as he performed his monologue. Kurt could not see Romeo the way he was facing, but he could hear Noah's hoarse, astonished voice speaking. He sounded lovestruck again—except this time, he realized with tingling arousal, Romeo was talking about Julian. About him.
"Did my heart love till now?" Romeo whispered. "Forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
Movement returned to the stage as the cast resumed their revels. Joel playing Tybalt attempted to beat Romeo up and toss him out of the party for being a Montague and daring to show up, but Curtis as Lord Capulet instructed Tybalt to leave him alone.
While Tybalt's argument with Lord Capulet continued, Julian began to notice handsome Romeo pass by, watching him as he made his way across the room to the bar to get a drink. Each time Romeo attempted to catch Julian's eye, however, Julian looked away. This went on for Tybalt's entire scene, until finally, suddenly, their eyes met across the room. Noah froze, his eyes wide, as Julian caught him looking.
No, not Noah; it's Romeo, Kurt thought, staring back at him. But in that moment, it really did feel like it was simply Noah, his expression so much more vulnerable than anyone but Kurt ever got to see.
Romeo began to push his way through the crowd, trying to get to Julian, but people in the crowd seemed to arrive just in time to thwart him, moving across his path and blocking his way with each step. For a while, passage appeared impossible.
At long last, Romeo emerged from the midst of the party, face to face with Julian. The rest of the stage was still vibrant with movement, but Kurt knew all eyes would be on the two of them.
Romeo glanced behind him, making sure neither Tybalt nor anyone else was watching them. Then he opened his mouth—and paused.
Kurt glanced at Trinity, wondering if he should prompt for a line. But then Romeo appeared to summon his courage and crossed in front of Julian, moving further downstage and onto the proscenium.
It wasn't what the stage directions prompted Noah to do, but Julian took Romeo's lead. He glanced behind him as Romeo had done, to be sure they were alone. When he joined him downstage, Romeo weaved a little, almost falling off the stage, and without thinking, Kurt held out a hand to catch him. Romeo grasped it, staring into his face.
"If I profane with my unworthiest hand / This holy shrine," Romeo said in the earnest manner of the very drunk, "the gentle fine is this: / My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."
Kurt gaped at him, then laughed in surprise. They were the words Romeo was supposed to say, it was true. But in that moment, Kurt could only remember Noah, kneeling naked over him as he spoke those same lines weeks ago, while he was attempting to teach Kurt Juliet's motivation. It felt like such a long time had passed since then.
As Julian laughed, Romeo let go of his hand and backed away in embarrassment. Julian felt a sting of dismay. Romeo must certainly have thought he'd read Julian incorrectly to be laughed at like that. He thinks I'm not gay after all. That I'm not interested.
Before Romeo could go too far, Julian called, "Good pilgrim," and Romeo immediately turned back around. "You do wrong your hand too much, / Which mannerly devotion shows in this." He held out both hands in a whoa gesture, then turned them palm-up, reaching for Romeo. "For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, / And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."
Romeo licked his lips, then ran his eyes over Julian from head to toe. The action made Julian shiver and catch his breath. At his reaction, Romeo's smile grew at once both more hopeful and more daring. He took Julian's hands, drawing him in to loop both hands around his waist. They swayed together, their hips colliding, like they were dancing to the music filtering out from the party.
"Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?"
"Ay, pilgrim, lips," Julian agreed, teasing, "that they must use… in prayer."
Romeo hooted amusement at the innuendo. He steepled his hands together in mock prayer, his face pouting and pleading. Julian giggled—then gasped in shock as Romeo knelt in front of him. His hands slithered down the front of Julian's sweatshirt and came to rest in the waistband of his pants.
"O, then, dear saint…" he murmured, "let lips do what hands do."
A voice from across the stage said, "Whoa."
Before Julian could speak a word of protest, Romeo was grinning wickedly up at him.
"They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair." Of course they pray; what did you think I meant?
By now, Noah's interpretation of the scene was so far removed from what Bryce's stage directions told them to do that Kurt wondered if he should stop, but neither Trinity nor Bryce was saying anything. He stared down at Romeo, waiting on his knees—essentially begging Julian to let him blow him, right there on the back porch of his parents' house.
It was pretty clear drunk Julian would have let him, but Kurt was not about to, not on stage, in front of the parents of a hundred campers. Instead, he gave him the finger while Romeo snorted laughter.
When Julian tried to tug him to his feet, Romeo shook his head, still smiling up at him.
"Oh, saints do not move?" Julian said, raising his eyebrows. "Hmm. Though grant for prayers' sake."
Romeo drew Julian down beside him, until they were both crouching on the ground. He framed Julian's face with both hands. "Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take."
He kissed Julian thoroughly, smiling as Julian let out a surprised moan, then leaned back with a satisfied nod.
"Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged."
Julian touched his own mouth. "Then have my lips the sin that they have took."
"Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!" Romeo leaned forward until he toppled over to land upon Julian, both of them laughing. "Give me my sin again."
This time Romeo swept Julian's hood off to run a hand through his hair. Julian stared up at Romeo, kneeling over him, and smiled in drunken pleasure. He balled his fist in Romeo's shirt collar and hauled him down until they were nose to nose. "You kiss by the book."
"Young sir," called Julian's nurse from within the party.
Immediately Romeo scrambled off Julian, helping him to his feet. They both staggered apart, gasping with laughter and loudly shushing one another. Romeo pressed his back flat against the wall, hiding himself from the sight of Julian's annoyed nurse, who appeared just feet away.
"Your mother craves a word with you."
Julian followed his nurse, glancing backward over his shoulder at Romeo with a smile. Romeo smiled after him, his eyes alit with amusement and desire. He took a few stumbling steps toward the house. Eventually he caught up to the nurse.
"What is his mother?" he demanded.
"Marry, bachelor," she said, frowning, "his mother is lady of the house."
From across the stage, Kurt watched as the excitement and pleasure, so plain in Romeo's face, drained away, leaving only dismay. He wanted to demand how do you do that? But he schooled his own face, tucking his hair back into his hood as Julian longingly watched Romeo and his friends get ready to depart.
"What's he that follows there, that would not dance?" Julian asked his nurse. "Go ask his name." He drummed his fingers against his leg. "If he be married / My grave is like to be my wedding bed."
Kurt had decided Julian had some experience with married men already, but this was the first time he'd ever wanted something more than a quick roll in the hay. Finding out the answer to the question so, is he married? felt more fraught than it had the last twenty times he'd asked in this scene.
His nurse hurried back to him, looking scandalized."His name is Romeo—and a Montague."
Julian put his hand to his chest, feeling the weight of the truth. He closed his eyes. "Prodigious birth of love it is to me / That I must love a loathéd enemy."
As Kurt exited stage right to where Noah and Oliver were standing with Anthony, the rest of the cast formed the semi-circle to perform the chorus's opening of Act II.
"He could have, but he didn't," Noah was saying to Anthony, who looked apoplectic.
"Kurt, tell Puck he can't simulate fellatio on stage," Anthony said through gritted teeth. "At summer camp."
Kurt raised an eyebrow to Noah, but who was already scowling and turning away. "It was—okay, yes, a little over the top, but…"
"Places," called Trinity.
They all hurried away except for Noah, who would not even look at him.
"I thought it was inspired," Kurt said.
Noah clenched his fists. Then he sighed. "He's right, though."
"No, not that, I mean… Romeo and Julian going outside to make out. I could almost see that screen door banging behind me when you pulled me stage left." He touched Noah's shoulder, but Noah jerked his arm away. "I hope Bryce lets us keep it."
"Look, would you go the fuck away and let me get into character?" he snapped.
Kurt took a step backward, feeling the breath come quick and shallow between his lips.
"Sorry," he whispered, and fled.
The sudden sick feeling in the pit of his stomach left him barely able to focus on the scene between Mercutio and Benvolio outside the orchard wall, and it was his favorite. In character. How could he have been so stupid to mistake what Noah was doing for anything other than what it was? He was acting, plain and simple. Whatever he was saying or doing, it had nothing to do with him. Not with Kurt.
But acting: that was what he was here for, too, wasn't it? He'd said as much to Asher and Chris. He wasn't at Usdan to get laid; he was here to perform. If he was only able to do that when he was feeling good, or in love with his partner—or, worse, when his partner was in love with him—what kind of an actor could he claim to be, anyway?
He climbed the ladder and positioned himself just inside the second-floor window above the Capulet's orchard, into which Romeo would tumble. For the hundredth time that day, he thought about Chris at the hospital, and felt a pang of desperate unease.
"Spot on Julian," called Trinity, followed by, "spot on Romeo."
The contrast of the spotlights made the rest of the auditorium recede into darkness, but Kurt could still see the figure sitting on top of the orchard wall across from the balcony. He looked exhausted, a little wobbly—but he was undoubtably Romeo.
"He jests at scars that never felt a wound." Romeo peered over the wall to the right, where Benvolio and Mercutio were looking for him. He ran his hands over his face, scrubbing tired eyes, then turned to the left to gaze at Julian's balcony. "Can I go forward when my heart is here? / Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out." He squinted suddenly, shielding his eyes as Julian opened the door to the balcony, letting the light spill out into the night. "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?" He dangled his feet over the wall, weaving back and forth, mesmerized by the brightness he saw. "It is the east… and Julian is the sun."
Kurt paced back and forth on the small balcony, struggling to get back into character. At least his consternation served Julian's mood well enough. He put a hand to his forehead, rubbing it as though it ached. No doubt, if he'd really had that much to drink.
"See, how he leans his cheek upon his hand!" Romeo made a tentative whimper. "O, that I were a glove upon that hand / That I might touch that cheek!"
"Ay, me," Julian groaned.
"He speaks!" Romeo startled back, nearly falling off the wall. Someone laughed offstage. He clambered to his feet, balancing precariously on the wall on one foot as he leaned forward. "O, speak again, bright angel!"
"O Romeo…" Kurt sighed in frustration, appealing to the night. "Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? / Deny thy father and refuse thy name; / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love / And I'll no longer be a Capulet."
Romeo was practically horizontal at this point, straining to listen. "Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"
Kurt launched into his monologue, in which he declared roses might smell as sweet by any other name, but it was almost drowned out by the laughter of the cast in the wings. They were reacting to Romeo's acrobatic comedy routine as he attempted to make his drunken way down to the ground.
"Noah," said Bryce, gently.
Noah froze where he was, then hopped down to the stage. He didn't look at Bryce. "Pulling too much focus?"
"A bit."
"Got it."
"Moving on. Kurt, from Romeo, doff that name."
Kurt said the line mechanically, but Noah was somehow, immediately, Romeo again. He staggered toward the balcony and leapt onto the picnic table, putting his head even with Kurt's knees, which dangled between the posts of the balcony's fence. Kurt jerked back with a little shriek as Romeo appeared before him. He tried for the same motion Romeo had made on top of the wall, but he just felt wooden and fake doing it.
"I take thee at thy word," said Romeo, spreading his arms wide in a brash flourish. "Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; / Henceforth I never will be Romeo."
Kurt peered over the edge of the balcony. "What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night / So stumblest on my counsel?"
Romeo was clearly at a loss. He laughed ruefully. "By a name / I know not how to tell thee who I am." He stood on tiptoe to touch the balcony's edge. "My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself / Because it is an enemy to thee."
Kurt put a tentative hand through the posts to touch Romeo's fingers. "Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?"
"Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike," Romeo swore. "With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls; / For stony limits cannot hold love out."
With each line they spoke to one another, Kurt rose up a little higher from his crouch, feeling a little less suspicious and fearful, until by the time he asked Romeo, "By whose direction found'st thou out this place?" he was hanging over the edge of the balcony, leaning on his folded arms.
Romeo answered boldly, "By love," and Julian smiled for the first time.
"Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face," Julian said, "else would a proper blush bepaint my cheek / For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night. / Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny / What I have spoke, but…" He shrugged and swung his leg over the edge of the balcony. "Farewell compliment!"
As Romeo took a startled step back, snatching his hand away, Julian paused where he was, his legs swinging free. He held open his arms, as Romeo had done, but in challenge.
"Dost thou love me?" he demanded.
When Romeo nodded, Julian tutted and wagged a chiding finger before swaying forward. Romeo rushed forward to catch his apparent drunken fall, but Julian dove over him, executing a perfect drop-and-roll from the balcony onto the stage, and ending up flopped onto his back beside the picnic table. He had worked for hours on that move.
He reached up a hand, and Romeo leapt off the table to help him to his feet. Suddenly, they were nose to nose, just as they had been at the costume party.
"I know thou wilt say Ay," said Julian, "and I will take thy word."
Romeo nodded again, more fervently this time. His hopeful smile broke Kurt's heart, but Julian was having none of it. He put a flat hand in the center of Romeo's chest.
"Yet if thou swear'st, thou mayst prove false." He poked his finger into Romeo's face. "At lovers' perjuries, they say, Jove laughs."
Romeo clasped Julian's hand in both of his, drawing it to his lips, then to his cheek, and finally put both hands on his face and kissed him.
Kurt had always thought the way they broke up this monologue with kissing was too melodramatic, but something about today's pacing—or, okay, maybe the actor—made it feel intense, almost frantic. They grappled for one another, sprawled against the picnic table as Romeo kissed his neck, until Julian finally managed to climb over the table and tear himself away from Romeo's embrace. He staggered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he faced Romeo from the other side of the yard.
"O gentle Romeo," he said, panting hard, "if thou dost love… pronounce it faithfully."
He watched confusion, then wariness come over Romeo's face—and no wonder. Romeo didn't know what to do with the idea of gay marriage any more than Noah Puckerman did. They both stood still, gazing at one another.
Then Julian shrugged, sighing, and smiled at Romeo again. He put on his best fake flirty queen voice.
"Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won, / I'll frown and be perverse an say thee nay, / So thou wilt woo?"
Romeo laughed, making a face. Julian nodded. He'd suspected as much Romeo wasn't interested in those kind of games.
"But else, not for the world." He scratched his ear, embarrassed. "In truth, fair Montague… I am too fond."
When he held out a tentative hand, Romeo reached across the picnic table and took it. Julian faced him, his confession plain for the audience to see.
"And therefore thou mayst think my 'havior light / But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true / Than those that have more cunning to be strange." He shrugged. "I should have been more strange, I must confess, / But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware, / My true love's passion."
As Julian begged Romeo's pardon for being too forward with his declaration of love, Romeo tugged on his hand. At that prompt, Julian stepped up onto the seat of the picnic bench, as Romeo did on the other side. Then they both took another step, until they were standing on the table across from one another.
Without taking his eyes off Julian's face, Romeo knelt, still holding Julian's hand. There was no mistaking what that meant. Julian's eyes widened. Holy shit, when I said "faithfully," I didn't think he was really going to go through with it.
"By yonder blessed moon I swear—" Romeo began.
"Swear not—by the moon!" Julian interrupted frantically. "The inconstant moon / That monthly changes in her circled orb? Lest thy love prove likewise variable."
Romeo wasn't giving up. "What shall I swear by?"
"Do not swear at all!" Julian tore his hand away, staring down at Romeo in desperation. He grasped his arms with his hands, turning away, but Romeo immediately got to his feet and wrapped arms around Julian from behind.
Julian's eyes closed as Romeo held him, rocking him slightly back and forth. The shushing sounds and calming words Romeo was whispering into his ear sounded an awful lot like the ones Noah had said when he'd visited Kurt in his basement, all those years ago. It was working just as well on Julian.
He sighed, sinking back into Romeo's embrace. "Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self / Which is the god of my idolatry, / And I'll believe thee."
"If my heart's dear love—" Romeo began again, whispering into his ear, and Julian jerked away with a groan.
"Do not swear," he warned again. "Although I joy in thee, / I have no joy of this contract to-night: / It is too rash, too—unadvised, too sudden…"
With each word Julian spoke, Romeo's hand slid further down his front, until it paused on his stomach, his thumb resting on Julian's zipper. Julian turned his head to look at Romeo's face over his shoulder, with barely enough breath to say his lines.
"Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be / Ere one can say 'It lightens.'"
Now Romeo's hands were mapping Julian's body in a frankly pornographic manner. When Romeo's teeth found his neck, Julian tipped his head back and let out a desperate groan. It echoed in the silent theater as Kurt realized exactly how many eyes were on them.
"Sweet," he said urgently, and then, when there was no response, he added, "Noah."
The name seemed to hit Noah with the force of a blow. He flinched, then he too looked at the empty auditorium in front of them, and then finally at Kurt, his expression quickly devolving into panic.
"Come on," Kurt whispered fiercely. "Don't stop now. You can do this."
Noah hitched a breath, then gave Kurt a little nod. They were several beats late, but still, neither Trinity nor Bryce were saying anything. Kurt pitched his voice to carry, and went on.
"Sweet, good night! / This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath / May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet." He turned, gathering the hands that had rested on his body, and focused on them, giving them a kiss of promise before letting them go.
When he looked up, it was Romeo's face looking back at him, alight with love and desire. It was almost too much to behold.
Your part, Kurt told himself firmly. Play it.
Romeo sighed in frustration. "Wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?"
Julian tossed his head, looking him up and down with disdain. "What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?"
"The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine," insisted Romeo.
He reached out to grab Julian's hand, but Julian snatched it away.
"I gave thee mine before thou didst request it," he snapped.
Romeo reached for him a second time, drawing him close before Julian could pull away again. They stood there on the picnic table, centered on the stage, their eyes full of one another. Julian rested his hands on Romeo's hips. It was as though he was hearing for the first time in his head the meaning of the words he'd spoken, dozens times over, in the past month.
"And yet," he admitted softly, "I would it were to give again."
"Wouldst thou withdraw it?" Romeo rested his hands on the small of Julian's back. "For what purpose, love?"
Julian laughed, making an unequivocal pelvic thrust. "But to be frank, and give it thee again."
Romeo—he couldn't be sure this time it wasn't Noah—looked astonished. Then he grinned, his eyes glittering with amusement. Julian smiled back.
"And yet I wish but for the thing I have." He rested a hand on Romeo's heart. "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / The more I have, for both are infinite."
As Romeo moved to kiss him again, they heard his nurse call from the balcony, "Julian?"
Julian bit his lip, stepping back. He touched Romeo's lips. "Stay but a little, I will come again."
He'd practiced this move, too, but it still took some strength and scrambling for Julian to get from the picnic table to the ledge of the balcony. He swung his leg over the rail just as the voice from within called again.
Romeo watched him go in consternation. "O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard. / Being in night, all this is but a dream, / Too flattering-sweet to be substantial."
Bethany, his nurse, met Kurt on the other side of the balcony door. She turned him around, whispering, "Oh my god, Kurt, you are killing it. Go."
It was jarring to hear her speaking to Kurt, not to Julian, but he gave her thumbs-up, then hurried back out to the balcony again.
"Three words, dear Romeo?"
Romeo spun back around to face Julian, smiling hopefully. Julian gripped the balcony rail and inhaled.
"If… that thy bent of love be honorable…?"
Romeo nodded quickly.
Julian gulped. "Thy purpose… marriage?"
Romeo let out a breathless laugh, but he nodded again, his hand on his heart.
"Then send me word to-morrow, / By one that I'll procure to come to thee, / Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite." Julian blinked away unexpected tears. "And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay / And follow thee my lord throughout the world."
"Good sir!" called his nurse again.
"I come, anon," he called over his shoulder, but turned back to Romeo with determination. "But if thou mean'st not well, / I do beseech thee to cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief."
"So thrive my soul," Romeo vowed.
"Tomorrow I will send." He stepped back again through the balcony door, beaming. "A thousand times good night."
He let Bethany turn him again, waiting for Romeo to speak his three lines of monologue. They both watched him through the doorway of the balcony.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said. "I think. Yeah."
She gave his shoulder a little squeeze. "Scene's almost over. Just a few more lines."
Romeo had already climbed back onto the wall by the time Julian called to him again. He turned to sit on the balcony, facing Julian in parallel across the stage.
"At what o'clock to-morrow / Shall I send to thee?" asked Julian.
"At the hour of nine."
"I will not fail." He gazed across the stage at Romeo. "'Tis twenty years till then." Then he paused in confusion. "Um… I have forgot why I did call thee back."
Romeo just grinned at him. "Let me stay here till thou remember it."
Julian grinned back. "I shall forget, to have thee still stand there, / Remembering how I love thy company."
"And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget," Romeo agreed gamely, "forgetting any other home but this."