/= [DAY 3] =/

"Hey, Rizal. Can you help us?"

He turned around and noticed that Magnus was standing a few feet away, waving at him from afar. He barely recognized him as one of Ivan's few friends, and whoever was next to him didn't look all that amused at the guy that was there. He concluded that it was one of Magnus' friends.

"Sure. What's going on?"

"Me and Lukas need to move this to the auditorium. They're starting their audition for their fall musical."

"Oh, I heard about that. Ate told me about it." Rizal blinked. "Les Miserables, right?"

"Yeah, that one." The other man answered. He barely remembered that his name was Norway. "Magnus here keeps insisting on auditioning."

"Hey, I have a great singing voice!"

"Says you." Rizal lifted up the box. "Where am I putting this?"

"Just follow Berwald there."

The Filipino walked after the Swedish man just as there were people pouring into the auditorium. He could barely see Charice and Feliciano walking in from the back, chirping and talking so loud that Rizal could hear them from the other side of the auditorium. She was barely teetering to her Obsession mode. God, they were loud.

"Oh yeah, Rizal!"

"Yeah?"

"We need someone to work with the lights for the auditions." Magnus grinned. "You want to do it?"

"I might as well…" He shrugged. It almost guarantees that he won't be forced into auditions. "I'll just test the buttons and whatever. Tell whoever's running this to tell me when they're ready."

"Can do~"

Rizal quickly hid himself in the shadows and snuck around the actor-wannabes toward the light stands. He sat behind the stand and couldn't help but stare at the millions of switches and buttons that were before him. While he tried to figure out what was safe to manipulate, he heard Francis start talking, mentioning something about how everyone should draw numbers to get the order of auditions. Maybe he'll figure out the machine…

"Rizal?"

"Gah!" He turned his head around to see a familiar face. "Oh…Ludwig…geez, here I thought you were someone else."

"Like who?"

"Someone who's…not…normal." He shrugged. "Like anyone else?"

"Rizal, I've been with these men a lot longer than you have been. I know for a fact that most of them are serious when they have to be-"

"Dammit, Alfred! Will you start to at least cooperate with us here?"

"I am, dude! I'm just making the audition more awesome than the rest of you!"

"BY BRINGING IN AUTO-TUNE?"

"Hey! Will you two release your sexual tension somewhere?" Charice screamed out of nowhere. "And for the love of God, PLEASE DO SO IN FRONT OF US."

"WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!"

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"Does this count?"

"N-not in the least."

"Yeah…" Rizal turned to him. "Are you auditioning?"

"Hm?" Ludwig looked at him. The lighting (or the lack thereof) made shadows cross his face. He looked extremely handsome when that happened…

"…are…you…auditioning?" He pushed out of his mouth to make himself sound normal.

"Oh…yeah, unfortunately." The German sighed. "Feliciano and bruder kind of shoved me into it."

Huh…I wonder what he would sound like when he sings? "OK, you see what you should have done? You should have avoided both of them until this day was done."

"I tried that…I even tried to get Matthew's help, since he's so good at hiding…" He sighed.

"…but…?"

"…I…I can't seem to find him."

There were not enough hands in the world to facepalm that statement.

"B-but I'm right here…"

"Did someone say something?"

"I'm righ-"

"AND -!"

"Wrong audition, dipshit!"

"Hey! No calling idiots dipshits, Lovino!"

"You can't tell me what to do, Frenchie!"

"Oh shit…" Ludwig sighed. "Will you two stop it?"

"Just go." Rizal shooed him off. "They're only going to listen when you're up in their face about it."

"I might as well…"

Rizal turned in his seat and watched as Ludwig headed down the aisle to chew on the director, just as Alfred continued to sing whatever the hell he was singing at the time (it was so butchered that Rizal had no idea what he was saying at the time). But apparently trying to blind him with bright lights was not helping at all.

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"You need a hospital, Matthew?"

"I…I just need to get out of the room…"

/=+=/

Despite what he had thought, Matthew did a pretty good job singing a rather sorrowful version of "Empty Chairs" (Charice shed some rather loud tears). And the fact that Ludwig had the deepest singing voice he had ever heard made his ears ring with shock when Rizal finally left the auditorium. From the corner of his eye, he could see Francis and Kiku talking to each other.

"So I guess we got our cast together, then." Kiku straightened the edges of the paper. "We have the usual?"

"Of course." Francis nodded. "We must definitely have him for Marius."

"Who?"

"Oh, um…" Francis rubbed his chin. "What was his name…? Was it Alfred?"

Rizal had to facepalm at that statement, quietly trying to pass them without being detected. Sometimes, he wonders if their stupidity over that great nation was legal ground for bullying. Unfortunately, his prayers were unanswered.

"Oh, Rizal! This is good timing on your behalf!"

Fuck. "Yeah?"

"Do you know that guy who was singing that one song about chairs?"

"A few of them were singing about chairs."

"Yes, but…" Francis shook his head. "You know…the one with the blond hair?"

"You mean Matthew, don't you."

"Matthew?"

"Canada."

"Oh…oh!" Francis clapped his hands together. "Right! Him! Now I remember!"

Jesus.

"Thank you, Rizal! Now I know our perfect Marius!"

He could only roll his eyes as he headed to his dormitory for the night. After those auditions and hearing Gilbert screech out his lines, Rizal only needed a good night's sleep…and some acid to the brain. A lot will suffice.

/= [DAY 4] =/

THE LIST OF CHARACTERS

[JEAN VALJEAN] – Roderich Edelstein

[FANTINE] – Elizabeta Hedervary

[COSETTE] – Feliciano Vargas

[JAVERT] – Ludwig Beillschmidt

[MARIUS] – Matthew Williams

[EPONINE] – Arthur Kirkland

[MR. THENARDIER] – Antonio Hernandez Corriedo

[MADAME THENARDIER] – Lovino Vargas

[ENJOLRAS] – Gilbert Beillschmidt

[GAVROCHE] – Yong Soo Im

He was surprised that he saw this coming. He was never good with predicting cast members.

Rizal was the first person there when the cast listing came up. The fact that Ludwig was in the cast (as a villain, no less) wasn't the most surprising thing that he saw: it was the fact that Matthew was in the cast. Like, at all. He was surprised that Francis remembered him long enough to write his name down on the paper.

"I-I'm in the cast?"

"Yeah. Marius, whoever he is." Rizal pointed at the list. "Do you know?"

"No, not really…but I heard he's a rather important character."

"It also means you have to speak up during the rehearsals."

"B-but I can speak up!"

"Matthew."

"Eh?"

"You're whispering right now."

"Oh, right…um… how about now?"

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"Stick to whispering."