Broadway For Marcomina Week

Title: Rehearsal Rooms, part 2

A/n: Here's part two, which I admit was probably the funnest thing to write in this entire series. Oh, and waffle points if you read Thomas's dialogue in the character's Abridge On Titan voice.

Enjoy, review if you'd like, and more waffle points if you get the broadway jokes, even though I made them as obvious as hell.

One would be surprised to see how quickly the two had intertwined themselves in each other's respective lives. Especially with once a week lessons.

The only classes Marco was taking was his theory classes 3 times a week and not much else, since the degree did not require too much at the academy. Had he gone to a more prestigious school for the degree, his schedule would have been packed to the brim.

Besides going to classes, attending Mina's vocal lessons in exchange for one meal, and balancing that job in a music store to pay the rent, one peculiar thing Marco added to his schedule was this odd extended walk of his he would do once his theory classes ended to seek out the company of a certain pigtailed girl pursuing a musical theatre degree.

Mina's degree required more work than Marco's, therefore, whenever he did find Mina, she'd either be walking out sweaty from either a stage fighting or dance class, somewhat hesitant to speak after a rough vocal class, or her mindset suddenly spewing new facts out theatre history from the lesson learned in that respective class.

It did not deter them from hanging out if she had some seconds to spare. Over the time, there had been occurrences of them walking off into the streets in search of lunch, as well as Marco actually joining her when he provided the promise payment for each single vocal lesson.

Mina admittedly got used to his presence rather quickly. It did not take too long for Mina's opinion on Marco to go from a jerk-ass who stole her rehearsal spot one time, a dork who actually took her offer for singing lessons seriously, to an admittedly still dorky baritenor who seriously wanted to make music a career for him.

His effort was what surprised him the most. She assumed from school rumours that theory students were nerds, but the title of nerd did not give the idea that one student could be so determined to make music a career for him that he would accept second-rate lessons at a school that was primarily for things like acting and dancing. Heck, there were better places for him to go if he wanted theory lessons. But perhaps it was the St. Sina music Conservatory's status as one of the most competitive music schools around to get in with it's rate of accepting 45 students a year that truly deterred him.

RAPA was easier to get into, even with just one audition, and many people did choose this school over others for the flexibility factor. Had it not been for the fact that one can easily take part in other important projects as long as their term's current exam was passed and done for, some of Mina's friends would not have been able to be where they were today.

If only Mina could join some of them at one point or another...

As the case may be, there was a chance that actually completing her musical theatre degree would improve her chances of achieving her dreams of the broadway stage rather greatly. Same with getting an agent, but Mina had no idea how to do that. And none of these factors guaranteed success.

The fact was, Mina would accept any chance to get onto a professional production in the world's quickest heartbeat, degree or not. Finding that chance was hard as hell, but in reality, there was not much of a need to rush it. Besides, at the moment, she was a junior with about 3 semesters left to go before she was awarded with her degree. If broadway was going to wait before popping into her life, Mina was just going to have to let it be and hold on until it came.

And at the moment, there were currently other certain things she had her mind on...

"C'mon! Everyone knows Fur Elise! How can you call yourself a pianist if you don't know it?" Marco exasperated, throwing his hands up in the air rather dramatically as he leaned against the upright.

From the piano's bench, Mina simply shook her head, "Hey, not everyone's had top-notch lessons like you growing up, Mr. Classically Trained. Besides, my grandfather taught me from what he knew, and I doubt he was ever certified to teach."

"But still, it's practically a staple of piano playing," Marco insisted, sitting back down beside her as he pressed on the keys. "You not knowing Fur Elise is like a white guy with an acoustic guitar at a party not knowing Wonderwall, it's cliche, but it's almost awkward when you don't know and it makes you look untalented."

"Don't say that to Nac," Mina warned, watching Marco's skilled fingers and hands move over the keys swiftly and gracefully. "Mylius has been trying to teach him guitar for months and it hasn't worked out. He'd throw a fit if you mentioned that to him."

Wincing, Marco almost chuckle, "Aye, you make your friends sound so weird. But how come I haven't seen them around the academy too much?"

"Because you come here 3 times a week and most of us come every day," Mina explained. "Besides, Annie's a theatre tech major, so she's always in the auditorium, Hitch hangs out with the shakespeare majors whenever it's school time, and Mylius and Nac don't really like spending time with too many other people than each other. They're one of those couples, if you know what I mean. But come on! My friends aren't that weird!"

The hum and vibration of a phone rung through the room, causing Mina to cease her words and reach for the phone in the pocket. When she got a look at the screen, she was pleasantly surprised, "Oh, and speak of the devils, it's Annie. I might need to take this outside."

Marco nodded as his female friend scooted off the bench and approached the rehearsal room door, "Take your time, Mina."

Once she was slipped out of the room, the Carolina clicked the accept call button and spoke, "What'd Hitch do this time, Annie?"

The familiar monotone of the Leonhardt replied in the usual fashion, "It's not Hitch this time, Mina, it's sideburns and Bertholdt's look alike."

Mina raised an eyebrow, "Wait, what?"

"Little Miss Carolina-comma-Mina! Did you forget? The tour ended last week and I'm back in Trost!"

"And I finished filming 3 days ago! Did you not read my email?"

The familiar voices of two males that rang through the phoneline next cause Mina's jaws to drop in utter shock. Which meant two things: Thomas and Samuel were finally back in town, and Mina was on speakerphone.

"Oh my god! No way! Sam? Tommy? What on earth are you guys doing in my apartment?"

"Well, me and Thomas wanted to surprise you with us being back in town by barging on your living space with a celebratory bottle of champagne, but only your roommates were home. Where are you? Don't most junior classes end after 4? Are you taking extra-curriculars?" Samuel Linke-Jackson replied, his voice holding that familiar degree of shyness that it always had.

"I'm helping a friend out with his singing voice," Mina replied, looking back through the door's glass window pane to see Marco still playing on the piano. "It's a bit of a weekly meetings sort of thing."

Thomas Wagner's loud laughter was heard next, "Oh ho ho ho! Did our Mina finally pick herself up a boyfriend? Good for you, Carolina, I knew you'd snag yourself some dick if you stopped putting your hair in those pigtails."

Mina's cheeks blushed a bright red, causing her to facepalm and grumble, "All right, for starters, no, I have no boyfriend at the moment, and as a matter of fact, I've actually gotten lots of compliments on my pigtails once I started bonding more with my actual classmates and not the class's TA."

Despite the fact that it was a phone, she had a sense that Thomas was rolling his eyes, "Whatever. Anyway, what are you doing now? Me and Sammy got loads to tell you!"

"If you didn't hear before, I'm in the middle of helping a friend with his singing voice, but why do you ask?" Mina explained simply.

A shuffling noise was heard, which made it okay to assume that Samuel wrestled the phone away from Thomas, or something along the lines of that. "Considering the fact that the champagne bottle we popped up once the door opened spewed over your apartment's shoe room and is now an un-fizzy mess, we were thinking of stopping by that pub a few blocks from the academy so we can proceed to chat, drink, and regret it in the morning just like we did on your 19th birthday. Remember? What was the name... Upstage?"

Mina nodded rather quickly, "Yeah, yeah, I remember Upstage. You guys had to get me a fake ID the first time you brought me there freshman year."

"I highly doubt that you'll need a fake now, unless you still got that goddamn baby face of yours," Thomas added on, his voice remaining bright and on the bright side. "So c'mon, Carolina! You up for it or not?"

She hesitated to answer for a moment, her thoughts suddenly reminding her being that she was in fact technically in the middle of one of her and Marco's sessions. In the past months of them knowing and hanging out with each other, she had not missed a single lesson to ditched out for any reason. Leaving him right now for the sake of catching up with her old friends would be rather selfish of her, but then again, she hadn't seen Thomas ever since he left on his first musical national tour, and Samuel had been anything but communicative ever since he managed to nab his first professional stunt double gig. All Mina knew is that she was never one to leave people hanging, therefore, she finally replied after some seconds of thought.

"... guys, just hold on for one second."

Mina placed her hand on the end of her cell and quickly entered the rehearsal room once more, only to be greeted with Marco's usual playings of time-tested waltzes.

"Hey, do you have any important plans after this?" she asked him, closing the door behind her shut.

Marco ceased his playing and turned his head at her with a raised eyebrow, "Uh... no, unless you count me trying to block out the noise of my roommates while trying to compose. Why do you ask?"

"Some of my old theatre buddies just came back in town and invited me out for drinks, do you wanna come with me?" Mina explained with a small hopeful grin on her face. "It's at this place just down the street named Upstage, and it's fun there. There's a little stage, a piano, and if you slip the name of a song to the barkeep, there is a good chance that he can play the instrumental version on the stereo system if you wanna perform. What do you say? Up for it?"

Before replying, Marco checked his phone for the time, "Welp, seeing that we only have about 7 minutes left in this room, I see no reason why not." He closed the piano's cover on the keys and pulled himself off the bench, "Besides, I've been dying to meet some of those weird friends you've told me all about."

Mina's face lit up in glee as an excited squeal left her lips, "Eee! Fantastic! You are gonna love Sam and Tommy, they're amazing and I know you'll love them." Almost automatically, she took her hand of her phone and replied to her two dork friends, "Hey, guys, I'll be there. And Upstage isn't too far from my apartment, see you in 20?"

Thomas's response seemed more ecstatic than the most flamboyant Marius Pontmercy to ever hit the broadway stage, "Yeah! Me and Sammy will be there in a heartbeat! See ya soon, Mina!"

With the plans set, a beaming Carolina hung up the phone in utter joy before running over to the corner of the room to gather all of her things.

Marco was a bit ahead of her, his messenger bag settled gently against his leg, "I didn't know you were the type to hang out in bars. You really seemed more like a coffee shop kind of gal."

Mina's experience as a musical theatre major showed the second Marco turned around, because in mere moments, she was dressed completely in her coat with her backpack safely strapped on her back. "It's been a while since I've been to Upstage. Y'know, school, life, these little lessons and all that jazz."

"I suppo- AH!" Marco's agreeing statement to Mina's words were instantly interrupted when the pigtailed girl grasped her hand tightly around Marco's wrist like a vice before breaking off into a dash, pulling the boy behind her in tow.

"Whoa! Eager, I assume?" Marco asked, rather bewildered at her energy. Perhaps it was just a musical theatre major thing.

"Of course! Now lets go, slowpoke! I don't wanna be late!"

Marco would be lying to himself if he tried to believe that he wasn't nervous. Stage fright had been his old friend ever since his first childhood piano recital, but this wasn't stage fright, as opposed to social anxiety. Being quite a social butterfly himself, Marco had no idea he was feeling this way. He hadn't thought of meeting Mina's friends in the past while, considering that the two had only known each other for about a month and a half.

Though, it did happen to be a very excellent month and half.

The only few friends of Mina he did meet were Hannah Diamant from Mina's vocals class and a rather handsome looking lug named Franz Kefka who happened to accompany her a lot. Everyone else were merely mentioned to him, whether it be Annie the apathetic theatre tech majoring roommate, or Hitch the other roommate with a long list of Shakespearean insults.

"Mind giving me some exposition on your friends so I don't come off as completely awkward when I meet them?" Marco requested openly as he and Mina strolled down the city street, past the various shops, facilities and all the jazz.

"You're not awkward, Marco," Mina persuaded, placing her hand on his shoulder assuringly. "Besides, you're just gonna have to wait until we meet them. But if you want to know, I met Thomas and Samuel when I was a freshman. They were both TA's in my classes, Thomas in dance and Samuel in stage-fighting. They're both really cool, I swear."

Marco raised a very questionable eyebrow, "Mina, you call Annie really cool right before making her seem like the world's most lazy and apathetic theatre major that could rip your arms off if you cross her."

Admittedly, Mina could agree to how oddly she described her roommate. Annie was a hard enough book to read already, and explaining the good parts of a tough story to other people to make it sound good was difficult no matter what. "Annie is... a bit of a tough cookie, but she's all right."

Upstage suddenly became visible on a street corner, bay windows exposing the reasonably-sized bar that seemed logically crowded for a thursday night.

Like before, Mina found it quite suitable for her to grasp Marco's wrist and start running once more, "There it is, c'mon!"

"Gah! Why do you always insist on pulling!?" Marco exclaimed as he was suddenly jerked across the busy street.

After a girl with pigtails hauled a boy with freckles across busy traffic, thankfully moving fast enough before any car could hit them, she finally let go of his wrist when they made it to the bar's door. Mina entered the place rather swiftly, Marco following behind her like usual, and suddenly, a good sense of nostalgia overwhelmed the musical theatre major.

The brick walls and dark wooden floors of the bar reminded Mina of her days as a freshmen a RAPA, whether she be practicing stage-fighting with Samuel, practicing projection and comedic timing with Thomas, or even spending hours in tech rehearsal while Annie poked wires through Mina's costume while getting her to stand in place long enough to mark it properly with gaff tape. It was the place where she and her peers would go after a successful performance, or even an excellent tech run-through. The celebration of another day with potential of a performing arts related career in the future revered with a pint of the good stuff.

Among the brick walls were neon signs and posters with the names of broadway shows shining bright in the pub's light. It no doubt had been a while since Mina came here, considering how many new posters and signs had been added in.

Marco found the place rather interesting, finding his eyes attracted specifically to an old poster promoting Phantom Of The Opera, "Hm, didn't know they still made Phantom posters."

Mina's eyes darted around the room, looking for her two friends who promised to be present, "They don't, most of these posters are older than me. But I think they added new ones." Suddenly, she dawned upon the heads of one blonde guy with bad sideburns and another guy with a dark undercut way too overdue for a trim.

Thomas had noticed her first and raised his hand to grab her attention, "Hey, Mina! You made it!"

As an excited squeal left her lips, Mina dashed towards the booth her two comrades were currently standing by faster than a speeding bullet and was happily greeted by the arms of Thomas as he held his friend in a dear hug, not minding the fact that he happened to lift her several inches off the ground as he hugged her.

Thomas laughed in his usual bright and positive nature, "Gah, Mina! Did you get smaller since I last saw you or something, you flippin' hamster!?"

The giggling noise Mina made would be considered cute in anyone's eyes, "Maybe, or did you just get stronger from singing Two By Two 8 times a week?"

Samuel got out of his usual shy demeanour spoke up, "Hey, Thomas, let her go, I gotta say hi too."

Thomas looked hurt and gave Samuel his puppy dog eyes, but seeing as Mina was in fact a human being too, he let his pigtailed friend drop back onto the floor, feet landing gently on the wood surface.

Looking up at her friend, making their height difference obvious, Mina gave Samuel a positive beam that seemed long overdue, "Of course, of course, Samuel, how could I ever forget you, Sammy?" The height difference only became more apparent when Mina had to step onto her tip-toes to embrace Samuel in a hug. "Goddammit, Sam, I think you're taller than I remember."

"Still 6'2, still going strong," Samuel assured, letting Mina go once the hug felt like it had long expired. Across the room, in the spur of the moment, Samuel manage to notice the odd freckled guy watching the trio embrace each other with a rather oriented expression on his face, as if he were waiting for orders or something. Samuel pointed to him with his fingers, "Who's the freckles over there?"

"Oh, whoops, my bad." Hastily, Mina raised her hand and signalled Marco to come over to them, which he complied to with a nod. "Sorry for leaving you waiting there like that."

Marco shook his head, "Naw, it's fine." His eyes quickly darted over to the Wagner and the Linke-Jackson, "Gentlemen, I don't believe we've met." He held out a hand politely for a handshake, "Marco Bodt, nice to meet you."

Samuel reciprocated Marco's handshake first, "Samuel Linke-Jackson, it's a pleasure."

"Sammy over here just came back from filming his first movie, where he was the dashingly handsome stunt double who did all of the dangerous feats while the famous overly-attractive actor got all the credit," Mina disclosed, her honest words being flattering enough to make Samuel blush.

"Stunt double, huh?" Marco stated with an intrigued expression on his face, looking up at the taller man with a positive expression. "Dude, that's amazing."

Samuel's blushing intensified, "Yeah, well, it cost a few scars, but it's my first professional gig, so I guess I should be proud of it."

Marco nodded towards Samuel's statements. After, he would have held out his hand towards Thomas with the same intentions, but the second he detached from Samuel, he felt a large pair of hands wrap around him to pull the guy into a rather suffocating hug. "Gah! Okay, did not expect that!" Thankfully, due to Marco's taller height, Thomas's hug didn't lift Marco into the air. But it did not stop Thomas from squeezing him as tight as possible.

Eventually, when Thomas did cut the hug to a halt and released a very surprised Marco out of his grip, his only explanation seemed to be: "So sorry, but I'm a hugger, I'm sure Mina can vouch for me on that." But, seeing as Marco was so polite before, Thomas reached out and grabbed Marco's hand in the same fashion earlier, "Anyway, the names Thomas Wagner. But go ahead and call me Tommy, I won't get mad."

Mina cut in once more to add some more exposition to the possibly lost Marco, "Thomas got a gig as an ensemble member on the Book Of Mormon national tour and the production finally ended after a year and a half."

Thomas smiled proudly, "Yep. Gotta admit though, touring is fucking hell man. Some days, I felt like the happiest guy in the world performing live theatre every night. But other days, I'd just cringe and say hasa diga eebowaii over and over again in my head."

With wide startled eyes, Marco was still recovering from Thomas's sudden hug in a daze, the broadway reference going right over his head, "Uh... okay." Shaking it off, Marco managed to regain himself in a matter of seconds, producing a friendly smile at the blonde boy in the process, "So uh... shall we sit down?"

"Of course, of course!" Thomas proclaimed, motioning over to the booth that he and Sam were standing by before scooting in himself.

Samuel pushed himself next to Thomas on one side, while Marco moved in right after Mina did on the other, the poofy leather seats proving themselves to be rather comfortable.

Sighing happily, the sense of sentimentality overwhelmed Mina as she took in the aura of the place, "God, I haven't been here in a long time."

"Really?" Thomas asked with an eyebrow raised. "I thought the last time I saw you, you claimed to have enough spare time to do 2 shows and still pass your classes."

Mina blew some air through her lips like a horse and shrugged his statement off, "Thomas, that was freshmen year. I was stupid and dumb, and I hung out with you two all the time."

Thomas pretended to look hurt, his puppy dog eyes showing themselves once more in less than 5 minutes, "Aw, you're so harsh, Mina."

Samuel could sense a possible argument coming up, or Thomas simply being his overdramatic self again. Thinking smartly, he managed to change the subject, "So Marco, what do you do for a living? Are you a student at RAPA?"

Marco looked over to Samuel and gave him a rather assuring nod, "Yes, I'm currently taking theory classes at the academy to help compose for my band."

Thomas looked intrigued at the word 'band', "Oooh! A band, you say?"

"Kind of, that's what I'm going for if I manage to get a few songs written and composed. My friends Sasha and Connie promised to be in it the second I write my first original song with a decent score," Marco admitted sheepishly, shrugging off his coat and letting it lay on the leather seats. Patting Mina on the shoulder, he added onto his explanation, "But in the meantime, Mina's been helping me out with my singing voice, and while she'll probably deny it, she's as much of an excellent vocal coach as she is a singer."

Mina's cheeks went rosy in embarrassment, "Shut up, Marco, I'm not that good! I just tell you what my teachers have been telling me for years."

Thomas looked like he was just hit with the ultimate epiphany and gasped, "Oh! So you're the dude our Mina's been drillin'!" He did not see the possibly double entendre in that sentence. "You're gonna be the lead singer in a band, that's pretty cool."

Marco shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, well, the band is just an idea, and I'm not even sure about me becoming a singer. It would be an honour to perform original stuff at gigs with a band, but maybe I can just get a composing job with my degree, or teach people how to play piano for a living if it doesn't work out. Either way, a job's a job, right?"

Mina looked almost appalled that Marco would say such a thing, "Hey, don't think like that! I'm sure your band's gonna work out." She placed her hand on Marco's wrist, this time as a sign of assurance as opposed to drag him somewhere like before. "Just because it might not happen, doesn't mean that it's gonna be impossible. Look, we never thought that Thomas would get over his audition anxiety, but look at him now: First national production tour done and the Book Of Mormon tucked right under his belt. With any chance you're given, you should be driven as hell."

Marco's eyes looked down to Mina's hand touching him for a split second, then looking back up to her for another brief moment, fighting back what could have been a blush and admiring the desire shining in her eyes, "Well, I guess when you put it that way... wait, are you quoting Legally Blonde?"

Thomas's eyes lit up greatly upon the mention of the peppy production, "Mina, you've taught this guy well."

Mina scoffed lightheartedly, "It's probably because I gave him a list of musicals to watch to find some good songs to practice on."

"And at the moment, I'm done with all the Andrew Lloyd Webber and moving onto Alan Menken," Marco added on, giving Mina a rather playful look considering the fact that this girl would worship the ground the legendary composer stepped on.

"Oh god, don't get Mina started on Alan Menken, she'll bore you to tears," came a monotoned voice with apathy ingrained inside it.

Looking up towards the open end of the booth, Mina smiled upon seeing her roommate standing there with a tray of glasses and one lager filled pitcher, "Oh, Annie! I didn't know you'd be here."

Annie shrugged her shoulders as she put the tray down, "Haven't been to Upstage in a while and I've spent too many hours of this month being sober. Could use a good night out. Your two dorks invited me anyway." The blonde theatre technician poured herself a glass of the good stuff before scooting herself into the booth, finding it rather comfortable on Thomas and Samuel's side. They seemed to remind her of a certain blonde brawny boy and sweaty skyscraper. Without warning, her eyes instantly locked onto the new freckled face sitting by Mina's side, "New guy, what's your name?"

"I don't believe we've met before," Marco started, doing the same polite thing he did earlier to properly greet this girl with a handshake. "I'm Marco Bodt. You must be Annie, Mina's roommate, right?"

Annie looked at Marco's hand as if it had danced with its own master with a expression of distaste, then back up to him with the same glare, "At least Mina was right about you being friendly."

Marco raised an eyebrow at Annie's apparent hostility, but seeing as it would be pointless to focus on it for too long, his response was still light hearted, "I've been told that a lot." He decided to distract himself like a mature adult would and poured himself a glass of lager from the pitcher to enjoy.

Annie's attention quickly went to her roommate, "I swear, Pigtails, if you start another Menken-Sondheim argument, I'm gonna chug this all until I pass out."

Samuel's face twisted into a wince, "Oooh, she's right, Mina. Whenever we dare criticize Menken, you look like you're gonna castrate someone." The composer's fangirl found herself looking down in a mix of shame and amusement at the extremely correct statement.

Taking a long pull from his glass and setting it down, Marco nodded, "I have to agree. I admit that I start fearing for the safety of my balls whenever I say something about how overrated Menken is."

Thomas's throaty laugh made itself audible once more, at the expense of Mina's face subtly heating up in embarrassment, "Dude, true that 100 percent. You do not want to know what happened the last time I called Newsies 'the 90s boyband of broadway.' I swear, the only good thing about that day was the fact that Mina's a flippin' hamster compared to me and she can't hurt me when I place my hand on her head and push her away."

The entire table managed to burst out into laughter, and even Annie produced a small satisfied smirk behind the half-filled glass.

And under her breath, in her blushing state of embarrassment, Mina mumbled to herself, "Hasa diga eebowai."

-OOO-

The night carried on rather well, with Thomas and Samuel sharing more shenanigans and memories involving their pigtailed friend, Marco adding in his own somewhat witty commentary, Annie spending most of the time checking her phone with that confounded game involving a bird that was flappy, and Mina finding it easier and easier to hide her embarrassment as the night carried on.

Seeing as the pitcher was now empty, Thomas volunteered to pay for the next one, considering how better he was getting paid ever since he got on his first professional production gig. Scooting out of the booth, Annie had to push herself out first, followed by Samuel, and then finally the Book Of Mormon ensemble member with terrible sideburns.

"Just note, guys, there is a really good chance that I might finish half the pitcher myself, and might get up on that stage to sing a song," Thomas warned, obviously bringing attention to the small raised portion of the bar's floor with a baby grand popped up on top.

Mina's eyes lit up, "Oooh, a song you say. Let me guess, Rodgers and Hammerstein's?"

"You're gonna have to wait and see..." Thomas teased in a sing-songy voice, walking off with a playful smirk on his face.

Samuel was intrigued by the idea of singing, seeing how long it had been since he last sang and how stunt doubles were only used for their stunts and not voices. "Can we make it a duet?" He followed his blonde friend with a hopeful expression that was so bright that puppies would get jealous of him.

"Oh, Sam..." Mina sighed happily, smiling at the warm familiarity of Thomas's impromptu musical numbers and Sam's desire to sing. "You know, I don't know why I let those two dorks leave in the first place. I can't live without them. Then again though, who am I to stand in the way of their careers, right?" She turned to her side to pat Marco quickly on the shoulder, "Anyway, I gotta use the little broadway nerd's room, mind scooting?"

Marco complied to her request and shuffled himself out of the booth, letting Mina step out before scooting back in.

Mina was about to walk off to the back of the bar, but Annie reached out and stopped her friend for a brief second with the simple motion of grabbing her arm, "Hey, if you're gonna throw up, I'm not gonna hold your hair back this time. This spot is too comfy to move."

Mina laughed, mostly amused at her roommate's blunt statement, though, she did hope it was a joke. "Okay then, I haven't drank too much, but I'll call up Hitch if I need too." She then left the booth with a small smirk on her face, leaving Annie alone with this random freckled guy that at truly did live up to most of the things Mina said about him back in their apartment.

Annie's ice blue eyes glared up to Marco, who was in the middle of finishing the last bit of lager in his glass, "So..." There was way too much proof that Annie Leonhardt was terrible at starting conversations, especially with new people.

"So..." Marco replied somewhat nervously, setting his empty glass down, letting the rather bitter taste slip down his throat. "Mina tells me that you major in theatre tech, am I correct?"

Blunt words were not common from Annie's lips, but Marco was not expecting her to seem so brutal in her next statement, "What do you want with her?!" The look in her eyes was sharper and more cold than an icicle in the world's coldest winter.

Marco coughed in surprise, completely caught of guard, "Uh... I'm sorry, what? Who?"

"You heard me, freckles, what do you want with Mina?" Annie re-stated, retaining that certain element of stinging bluntness.

"I, uh..." Marco stuttered, his mind suddenly racing to come up with a good reply. "I want her to... teach me to become a better singer for my band? That's really it." He had a small sense that being completely and almost naively honest with this girl would end in him being threatened in some sort of matter, but it was the only logical answer he had.

Annie looked displeased, "Tch, fine then, don't tell me."

"No, I swear, that's all I want from her," Marco insisted, throwing his hands up in the air like an infomercial actor. "Wait, what do you think I want from her?"

"Cut the act, freckles," Annie demanded, her glare on him tightening. "I see the way you look at her. I know that look."

It was as if Marco stole Mina's rehearsal room all over again, "Uh... yeah, I think she's alright, who wouldn't, but what look?"

"A look that says I'd laugh enjoy getting into this girl's pants and breaking her heart," Annie accused, wagging a finger at him.

A blush surged onto Marco's face as such an assumption, coating his cheeks red in consideration to what she was implying, "What!? No! I don't think of Mina in that way, or any romantic way!"

This answer seemed to satisfy Annie a little bit, "You don't?"

Marco shook his head quickly, "No, not at all..." Truth be told, among their month and a half of practicing with Mina every week in a small rehearsal room on how to belt better, thoughts of Mina like that barely crossed his mind, as there were other things to focus on at the moment.

But now that Annie mentioned it, Marco's mind started to wonder, did he like Mina in that way?

She was cute, pulled off pigtails very nicely, and was probably one of the kindest girls Marco had ever met, even if one did insult Alan Menken in her presence or steal her rehearsal room time, but so far, Mina seemed way too busy to be good relationship material.

Or was she? She certainly had time to teach Marco how to hone his baritenor in return for a meal, and attend her classes at RAPA, perhaps a special someone could be squeezed into her schedule somehow...

The entire concept clouding Marco's mind ignited a small epiphany in his mind, but seeing as Annie was right in front of him and he only had so much time to think, Marco answered very minutely, "... I think."

This explanation seemed to work well, as Annie nodded her head, "All right then. But just remember this, freckles, Mina's one of my closest friends, you hurt her, you will face me."

Marco nodded very quickly, "Of course, of course. Yes, sir."

"I'm a woman."

Right after she spoke, Mina came back to the table in a typical relaxed fashion, "Hey, did I miss anything?"

Annie shook her head, her usual lone wolf nature rearing its ugly head, "Nope."

Marco did the same as her, forcing his expression to appear calm and collected, despite his head shake being quick and hasty, "N-no! Nothing at all."

The glare Annie gave to him could cut glass.

"What do you want, Marco? I've got an extra-curricular hip-hop class in 15 and a pop 'n lock to perfect. If you need me to give you another phone Trost tour, you're outta luck, buddy."

"It's nothing like that, it's something else, and I can't really talk to Sasha and Connie about it, they can't take anything seriously," the freckled boy explained, his voice holding a small element of desperation.

As expected, Jean said the first thing on his mind, "Oh my god, are you coming out?"

Marco wanted to facepalm himself, "Dude! No! I thought we established this already, I'm okay with you being bi as long as you're okay with me being straight."

Jean chuckled over the phone, "Yeah, yeah, I know, and I still respect your boundaries, bro. No worries. Besides, I kinda have an aryan coconut I grabbed coffee with last week to keep me busy. Y'know the tap major I told you about?"

Tapping into his memory, Marco recalled, "Oh right, I remember. Arlene?"

"Armin," Jean corrected, someone pissed that his best friend barely paid attention to the rare event of the Kirschtein discussing his love life. "Anyway, what do you need?"

Marco made the choice to be straight to the point, taking a deep breath before letting the words leave his lips, "What do you do when you like someone, but you didn't know it at first, their scary friend seemed to accuse you of simply wanting to sleep with them, and then that same scary friend's accusations became the thing that triggered you into feeling something for them?"

Jean's response was as honest as ever, "Jump off a cliff."

The sound of Marco facepalming echoed through the phone, "Be serious, Jean. You're my best friend and the most honest guy I've ever met. What do you do when you realize you have a crush on someone you're really good friends with? Even with the whole scary friend out of the picture."

"Well, since consuming vodka every night for dinner would get pricy, you could always try just being a really damn good friend to them at first," Jean answered, trying to think of something suitable that would work for Marco. "Try being kind to them, try being nice to them, try being gentle to them. People tend to like that stuff, and I know for a fact that you're really fucking good at being kind and shit."

Modestly, Marco did have enough an ego to at least agree with Jean's statements, that happened to be rather true. "Being kind, I can do that. I can try at least."

"Yeah, dude, and here's some advice you should take to the heart," Jean started, some shuffling noises being heard in the background, implying that he was multitasking at the moment. "No matter the circumstances or what'll happen if you do, but if you really care about them, support them no matter what."

Marco nodded quickly, even though Jean could not see him, "Right, right. Be kind, be gentle, and support. Okay, got it. Thanks, Jean."

"You're welcome, my good friend. And hey, if you're still in that state of wanting someone to notice you as more than a friend, don't be afraid if you wanna do something special for them," Jean added on.

"Something special?" Marco questioned.

"Yeah, something special. People like feeling special, like every single goddamn student in my fucking high school. All those fuckers had a bad case of special snowflake syndrome that lasted all through senior fucking year, but I can see why they felt that way. Seniors are special, for some reason," Jean dawdled on, not minding that he was heading into an odd topic. At least all the shallowness and ego of high school got completely destroyed upon college years.

Marco's face took on an expression of confusion, "... Jean, I went to high school with you."

"I know, and you're still a special fucking snowflake in my book, bro," Jean said a little too brutally. Before Marco could reply, the conversation had to be cut short. "Anyway, I gotta jet now. Don't be a dick, don't be afraid to do something special, be yourself 'cause you're the sweetest fucking guy I know, and support them no matter what. See ya!"

"Wait! Jean! Don't hang up when you ju-" Marco lacked the ability to speak fast enough, as Jean had hung up right there. Sighing, Marco took his phone away from his ear and looked at the blank screen. It was nice to know that Jean and Marco still maintained their friendship well, even with Jean's new life up in Stohess taking up most of his time.

Sighing, Marco put his phone back into his pocket and stood up, his mind vaguely remaining certain parts of him and Jean's conversation. Comprehending the words given to him would have been appropriate, but Marco soon realized that the more he thought about the topic of conversation, the more his headache intensified.

Therefore, Marco decided to follow one particular tidbit of advice Jean told him to help him with his situation. But seeing as a cliff was no where in sight, he made due with rolling off the couch and falling face-first onto the floor.

Jean was right, this was a great thing to do when dealing with new romantic feelings.

Feel free to get #SandriOnlyKnowsEntryLevelBroadwayComposerCuzThey'reTotalFuckingTrash trending on twitter.

And be aware that hasa diga eebowai means 'fuck you god' in Swahili. Have a nice day!