Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE PREVIEW PICTURE! IT BELONGS TO SweetasTea ON DEVIANTART! I also do not own any of the characters. All I own is the storyline.
Word Count: 7038
AU: High School Theater AU
UAs: None, although Jack has dyed white hair and blue eyes in this, not brown hair and brown eyes
Prompt: Everyone Can See It
"Elsa?"
The costume crew chief looked up to see Flynn Rider standing at the entrance to the dressing room, holding a red shirt with several undone seams in the left shoulder.
"A hole ripped in my Gaston costume again," he explained. "Would you mind sewing it up?"
"Oh, sure." She smiled at him as she took his costume from him, trying not to let it show how drained she was. The week before the show was called Hell Week for a reason.
"How are rehearsals going?" she asked as she turned the sewing machine on and slid the shirt under the needle.
"Pretty good," he replied. "Everyone's finally got their lines memorized. Although I must say…" He smirked a little. "I'm pretty glad Lumiere and Bimbette #3 aren't in any scenes together, or else I'd be a bit worried about the audience picking up on the palpable sexual tension between a candlestick and a prostitute—or whatever it is the Bimbettes are supposed to be, anyway."
"Flynn!" Elsa scolded. "Jack and Rapunzel aren't like that!"
Flynn snorted. "Seriously? They've been making googoo eyes at each other the entire production!"
Elsa sighed. "All right, that may be accurate enough, but I'm sure that their feelings wouldn't bleed over into their characters! They're good enough actors to draw some sort of line, don't you think?"
"Oh no, Else. You don't understand." Flynn shook his head, grinning. "The romantic atmosphere going on here transcends the lines of in-character and out-of-character. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Jack and Rapunzel started making out with each other on show night right after they bowed."
Despite herself, Elsa laughed. "Now wouldn't that be a riot! Kind of unlikely, though. If they haven't gotten the guts to tell each other how they feel by now, what makes you think anything's going to change in a week?"
Flynn shrugged. "Well, all that pent-up sexual tension's going to reach a peak and explode at some point, isn't it?"
"Or not," Elsa retorted. "They could just stay in the dark forever about the fact that they like each other. You know what my sister told me?"
"What?" Flynn asked.
Elsa smirked. "Rapunzel told Anna she quit choir and joined the theater department just so she could spend more time with Jack, and she still doesn't seem to realize she has a huge crush on him! Said it was so she 'could be better friends with him' or some nonsense like that."
"Ha!" Flynn snorted. "As if! They're so in love it's painful."
"Agreed," Elsa said.
"And honestly I hope they hook up sooner rather than later, because they're super cute together and I'm getting real tired of seeing them shoot moony looks at each other across the room and it never leading to anything."
"They are cute!" Elsa chimed in. "It's a shame they're both way too scared to admit their feelings. I wish there was something we could do to speed up the process, because I think we're all getting tired of waiting."
"Well…" Flynn's lips curved up into a conniving grin. "Maybe there is."
"What are they doing?" Tadashi peeked out from the lights booth at the still-lit stage. "Dress rehearsal ended 15 minutes ago!"
"What is who doing?" Hiro rushed to the window and followed his older brother's gaze. Two familiar figures were sitting on the empty stage, hugging their knees with their waists just a little too close to one another. They were looking down into the orchestra pit and seemed to be talking to someone down in it, but made no move to scoot away from each other to get closer to the pit.
"I suppose the two lovebirds wanted a little alone time, huh?" Tadashi turned and gave the freshman a knowing look.
"I'll say!" He glanced over at the light controls, and his mouth curled up into a mischievous grin. "Hey, Tadashi…"
"Hmmm?"
"Light A16's the one with the pink gel in it, right?"
"Yep, it is. Why?"
Before he had even finished the statement, Hiro was over at the controls, dimming every single light shining onto the stage.
"Hey!" Tadashi glared at him. "What do you think you're doing, you knucklehead?!"
"Juuuuust setting the mood!" He turned Light A16 up to full power and then adjusted the angle lever so that it shone directly onto Jack and Rapunzel. "There!" he said, grinning triumphantly. "Now all we need is a heart shape."
His brother rolled his eyes. "You know you're going to have to put all of those back the way they were," he grumbled, but a smile was tugging at his lips as he watched Jack and Rapunzel squirm apart, looking around in confusion and shielding their eyes from the bright light.
Hiro chuckled. "Well, not before they finish their little date!"
"Once-ler, come on. We need to pack up."
Once-ler ignored Kristoff's voice, instead flipping anxiously through the sheet music sitting on his bandstand. "Just a minute," he said. "I just need to look at my music."
Kristoff sighed, and Once-ler spared his fellow pit orchestra member a glance. "Come on, we've rehearsed dozens of times by now," the blonde boy said, desperately trying to shove his enormous cello into its case. "I'm sure you practically know everything by heart. You'll be fine."
"Yeah, but…" He trailed off as he caught wind of two distinct voices drifting down from the stage, one male and one female. He soon recognized them as Jack and Rapunzel, talking animatedly about life and forcing just a little too much laughter at one another's bad jokes.
Once-ler smirked. "You know what?" he said. "You go on and head out. I just need to run through one song I'm having trouble with."
Kristoff shrugged. "All right, but Mr. North wants us out by 9:30." He finally managed to get the stubborn cello in its case, and began to painstakingly drag the huge thing away.
Once-ler hastily flipped through his sheet music until he reached the music for Something There That Wasn't There Before. Picking up his bow and violin, he started playing the melody as loudly as he could.
Jack leaned forward and peeked over the edge of the pit, looking puzzled. "Uh…Once-ler? What are you doing down there?"
"Oh, nothing!" he replied, giving him his sunniest smile. "Don't mind me! I'm just practicing this song that I'm having so much trouble with."
Rapunzel's blonde head popped up behind Jack's, looking equally confused. "Really? Because in rehearsal earlier, you sounded great!"
"Oh, did I?" He paused his playing to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "Well, in that case, I guess I just thought it was an ideal time to play the song!"
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Er…why?"
"No particular reason! Just a feeling in the air, I suppose."
He resumed his playing, and an awkward silence fell between Jack and Rapunzel. Finally, Rapunzel smiled uncomfortably, glancing between Jack and Once-ler. "Well, any time is a good time to play Something There That Wasn't There Before!" she said cheerfully.
As he finished the song, he noticed it was getting gradually darker around him but didn't pay much mind to it. Rapunzel suddenly let out a squeak of surprise, and Once-ler looked up to see a pink spotlight shining down right onto Jack and Rapunzel.
"What are they doing up there?" she yelped.
"Ah, probably just testing a few lights last-minute," Jack replied nonchalantly.
"But look!" Rapunzel scooted over a couple feet, and Jack followed suit. The pink light followed them movement for movement. They scooted back the other way, and once again the pink spotlight moved right with them.
"What's this all about?" she asked. "Are Hiro and Tadashi just messing with us?"
Once-ler smirked up at her. "I suppose they just thought it was an ideal time to shine a pink spotlight on you two!"
"But why?" Jack and Rapunzel chorused, looking down at him expectantly.
Once-ler shrugged. "I have to head out, it's almost 9:30 and I wouldn't want Mr. North yelling at me," he said casually, slipping his violin swiftly into its case and walking briskly out of the pit.
"Hey, wait!" Jack called after him. "What's going on?"
"Yeah, why is everyone acting so weird around us?" Rapunzel added.
Once-ler turned, smirked at them, shrugged, and continued on his way.
"Okay, now suck your cheeks in like a fish so I can do your contouring."
Anna and Mavis watched as Rapunzel leaned in with her makeup brush, and Jack started moving his pursed lips and making loud, ridiculous sucking noises before she could mark anything on his face. She giggled good-naturedly instead of snapping at Jack for making her job harder, as any other makeup crew member would have.
Since her role was relatively minor, Rapunzel had volunteered to help makeup crew. No surprise, of course, that somehow she always ended up doing Jack's.
"Okay, okay, hold still," she said, and Jack reluctantly complied. She carefully painted on two brown streaks along his cheekbones, holding his head gently in place with one hand and using the other to blend in his contours. Anna noticed that she seemed to be enjoying touching his face far too much.
"And…there!" She took a step back and looked at her work proudly. "Wow, you look great with makeup. I should give you a makeover some time!"
Jack grinned. "Could you make me pretty?"
"So pretty!" she replied enthusiastically. "In fact, I could put a wig on you and some fake boobs and you'd pass as the most beautiful girl in town!"
"Yay!" He struck a feminine pose and patted his hair.
Rapunzel leaned in and smiled playfully. "Would I be a handsome boy?"
Jack snorted, like it was the most evident fact in the world. "Well, of course! You'd be that super classy guy who wears tuxes and goes to galas all the time and makes all the girls swoon by holding doors open for them and kissing the back of their hands."
Rapunzel beamed. "That's so overly specific and I love it!"
"Could they be any more obvious?" Anna whispered in Mavis's ear.
Mavis turned and smirked at her friend. "Doubt it. If they were any more apparent, the Obvious Police would kick down the door of the dressing room and arrest them both."
"Weewoo weewoo, you're under arrest for still not confessing your undying love, even though everyone knows you've wanted to forever!" Anna hummed.
"Officer no, you don't understand!" Mavis twirled her hair around her finger, imitating Rapunzel's noticeable nervous habit. "We're just friends!"
"Well now you're in even more trouble, missy!" Anna said gruffly, pointing a finger gun at Mavis. "Lying to a cop? The nerve!"
"What are you guys talking about over there?" Rapunzel turned and gave her fellow makeup crew members a puzzled look.
"Nothing, Punz!" Mavis sang.
"Just seems like you really like doing Jack's makeup, is all," Anna added, smiling innocently.
"Well, of course I do!" she exclaimed. "His makeup is the most fun."
Mavis shot Anna a smirk, as if to say oh, sure that's the reason.
"Hey, curtain's in a few minutes, so I should be going," Jack said.
"Okay! See you after dress rehearsal!" Rapunzel waved gleefully at him as he bustled out of the dressing room. With the rest of the actors already out on stage and the rest of makeup crew in the other dressing room, Rapunzel, Anna, and Mavis were left alone.
Mavis heard Rapunzel let out the smallest sigh as Jack shut the door behind him. "What was the sad sigh for, Punzie?" she asked.
Rapunzel exhaled sharply. "Can I…can I tell you guys something?"
Both girls nodded. "Of course!" Anna said.
"I, uh…I think I like Jack. A bit."
Anna snickered briefly before bursting into full-out laughter. "Well, no duh!" Mavis teased.
Rapunzel's cheeks grew bright pink. "Wh—what?"
"It's just funny because you act like it's some big controversial secret, but literally everyone already knows you have a thing for Jack," Anna giggled.
Rapunzel gave them a small smile. "Wow…am I really that obvious?"
Anna nodded. "Yeah, you kinda are."
The blonde let out another malcontented sigh. "Well…not like it matters," she muttered. "There's no way he could like me back."
"Are you kidding?" Anna's eyes widened. "He's totes crazy about you! Remember when you were super stressed about your homework and you were trying to do it backstage but you were also really cold and stressed about your lines so he gave you his hoodie to wear over your costume? And the rest of his doritos? And his script, even though he was trying to memorize stuff too?"
"He was just trying to be a good friend!" Rapunzel insisted. "I mean…why would he like me? He's super hot and super funny and a super good actor…he could do so much better!" She buried her face in her hands.
"Well, you're also super hot and super funny and a super good actor!" Mavis retorted. "So why wouldn't he like you?"
"Because there's just a thousand girls out there who are so much more beautiful and also great actors and singers and just have this magnetic personality. There's no way out of all those, he's gonna fall for his weird dorky art club friend! Come on, I am so far in the friendzone it's not even funny."
Mavis snorted. "More like you're so far up in the clouds, you can't see that the kid's been giving you moony eyes for god-knows-how-long."
"You should confess to him at the cast party!" Anna piped up.
"What? No!" Rapunzel's face went full-on red. "I've already told you, he doesn't like me. And it would just make things so awkward…"
"Not if he feels the same way," Anna retorted. "Come ooooonnnnnn!"
Rapunzel crossed her arms defiantly. "No."
"Do it!" Mavis goaded.
"No!"
"Do it!"
"NO!"
Mavis winced, not expecting the normally soft-spoken Rapunzel to raise her voice. "Come on Punzie, you can't just wait around forever and hope something'll happen!" she said. "He's probably just as scared as you are to admit how he feels."
Rapunzel shook her head. "He doesn't feel anything for me. And I'm not telling him I like him. That'll just…mess up our friendship."
"I think you'd both be a lot happier if you messed it up," Anna replied with a smirk.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and a panicked Jack ran in. "Crap, forgot my candlesticks!" he panted, snatching up the felt hand coverings from where he had left them on the dressing room table. He offered Rapunzel a meek grin, and she gave him a shy wave as he bolted back out of the door.
Mavis turned and smirked at her. "I'll bet you he purposely left those in there just so he would have an excuse to see you again." Anna giggled, giving her friend an approving high five.
Rapunzel shot them both a steamy look. "Shut up!"
"You really should tell him how you feel, Punzie," Mavis urged. "Before it's too late, and he decides to get over you."
Rapunzel shook her head, unmovable as a stone pillar. "No way."
The black-haired girl shrugged. "All right, suit yourself."
Anna gave Mavis an accusing look, seemingly in disbelief that Mavis would give up that easily. In response, Mavis gave her a knowing wink.
"Don't worry, I'm sure there are other ways to get them together," she whispered to her.
"What are you whispering about?" Rapunzel asked, frowning.
"Never you mind, Punz!" Mavis crowed.
The deafening applause rang in Thiana's ears as she stood in front of the line of actors, hand tightly enveloped in Aster's and ruffled yellow skirt squashed up against his long blue prince jacket. The audience whooped and cheered, and she could feel the smallest teardrops pricking her eyes. Happy tears, but tears nonetheless.
Don't get emotional, she scolded herself. Not in front of 200+ people, for goodness' sake!
Thiana leaned down in a neat bow in unison with the rest of the cast. The curtain began to lower, and she shook a lock of shoulder-length dark brown hair out of her face. It still looked strange without the multicolored tips that had become so ingrained in her identity over the past few years, but the director hadn't exactly been down for a rainbow-haired Belle.
She felt Aster's hand starting to slip out of hers, but she pulled the burly Australian boy into a tight hug before it could. He let out what sounded like a surprised grunt, but didn't seem to mind the sudden burst of affection.
"Oh my gosh, it's just been so much fun working with you!" Thiana gushed. "You were so great to co-star with and this has all been so amazing and I can't believing it's ending and…" She could feel the waterfall of tears waiting on the other side of her eyes, and she was determined to do everything in her power to stop it. "I just…you were so amazing out there, Aster!" she practically sobbed.
Aster hugged her back, and she felt herself relax in his muscular arms. "Ah well, you weren't too bad yourself, Ana," he said gruffly.
"Th—thank you!" Oh no. Here came the dreaded tears. She pulled away slightly to give him an apologetic smile, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "And…wow. Sorry I'm getting so emotional. I thought I could hold myself together but I just…can't believe it's all over!"
"I feel you, sheila." He grinned. "But don't be sad. Just think about what a ripper of a job we did!"
Thiana sighed contentedly. "Yes, we did. Not every day you see that many people give a standing ovation! Although…" She smirked. "I think we all know who the real stars of the show should have been."
She gestured over to where a certain candlestick and a certain Gaston-pursuing airhead were still holding hands from the curtain call, using their free hands to tap and brush each other just a little too intently as they teased one another lightly.
Aster snorted. "What, those two? Jack Frost's a right pain in the arse, he is! Like that little drongo could ever handle being a starring role! I'll bet he'd just goof off, and—"
"You know what I mean," Thiana cut him off, smirking a little more. She lowered her voice. "I mean, talk about onstage chemistry!"
"Ah!" His dark green eyes suddenly glowed with understanding, and he smirked back.
"Maybe if they got to kiss in a show, they'd realize how they really feel about each other," Thiana reasoned. "Because it's pretty clear they're not going to fess up to each other in real life!"
"Yeah, bloody oath on that," he muttered. "I reckon we'll all be long graduated by the time those two lovebirds finally have a root."
"Well, I hope not!" she said cheerily. "They're so cute together! I want to see them get together already."
Aster sighed. "I'm poised to say that blonde sheila's way too good for him, but who knows? Maybe she can convince ol' Frosty to be a little less of an arse."
"They're just so perfect!" she squealed. "I mean, they complement each other perfectly and they care for each other so much and they make each other laugh and even their hair even goes well together and they just need to get married right now!"
Aster smiled warmly down at the excited girl. "Well, I wouldn't hold your breath. But that would be nice, wouldn't it?"
"So how many times this week did yeh say yeh saw Jack starin' at Rapunzel backstage?"
Merida asked the question in between plowing her power drill into the set, tearing apart board after board and drenching the stage in wood shavings. Astrid had noticed Merida was quite handy with a power drill. She constantly reminded herself never to get on the redhead's bad side.
"147," Astrid replied, not even skipping a beat. She drove her own smaller drill into a doorframe, being able to easily talk over the much quieter whirr.
"No wee number!" Merida remarked. Continuing to dig her drill into the set, she continued. "And how many times did the lass stare at him?"
"125."
"So I suppose ol' Frosty's the more lovestruck one, eh?" she pondered with a smirk.
"Well, not by a huge margin," Astrid replied, grinning. "Honestly, though, this is getting ridiculous."
Merida rolled her eyes. "Ah, don't make me laugh! It always has been ridiculous."
Astrid shrugged. "All right, I'll grant you that. But it's getting worse. Now it's like every time I turn around, they're shamelessly flirting and giving each other moony eyes. It's…kind of gross, really."
"Amen to that, lass!" The Scottish girl stuck out her tongue, putting down her power drill. "If Ah see them givin' each other those irritatin' pining looks one more time, Ah'm gonna vomit!"
In response, the blonde made a gagging noise. "Really, though, I wish they'd just hook up already," she added. "Then we could all take a breather."
Merida snorted. "Yeh really think that them gettin' together is going tae make their mushy-gushy interactions any better? They'll prolly start using baby voices and callin' each other 'shmooky-poo' or something daft like that!"
"Well, sure, but we all know they're going to hook up eventually!" Astrid pointed out. "And I'd rather it be sooner than later, because I think we're all getting tired of just waiting around indefinitely."
"Are you guys talking about Jack and Rapunzel?"
A third voice joined their conversation, and Astrid looked over to see Hiccup had paused by the piece of set they were taking apart, his arms full of props. He was presumably on his way to put them away, but as would be the case with anyone in the Milton High School theater department, talk of the theater's most prevalent potential couple had deterred him.
"How'd yeh guess?" Merida teased.
"Stab in the dark," he replied cheekily.
"I was just saying how I'd wish they'd just shut up and make out already," Astrid explained. "It's been way too damn long, and no way am I waiting for him to ask her to senior prom!"
Hiccup grinned. "Well, you're in luck then, because it just so happens that I was just talking to Flynn, and he's got a plan to get them to finally confess. Tonight."
"Count me in!" Astrid exclaimed.
Merida looked more hesitant, crossing her arms defiantly. "Come on, there's no way Ah'm participatin' in any of Rider's crazy schemes!"
"Shocking as it is, he's actually thought this one out pretty well," Hiccup said.
"Come on, Mer!" Astrid urged her. "No matter what happens, it'll be entertaining. You know Flynn!"
"Besides, since they obviously don't have the guts to just tell each other they're crazy about each other, this might be our only hope to ever get them together," Hiccup added.
Merida considered for a few seconds, and finally let out a groan. "All right, fine. Ah guess if Punzie's gonna drag me intae this dumb theater in the first place so she can woo her crush, it's gonna be all for naught if she doesn't get with his stupid arse."
"Hey, look! There is a hopeless romantic buried deep down inside that ice-cold heart!" Hiccup teased her.
"SHUT IT, HADDOCK!" she roared, causing the brunette boy to laugh so hard he nearly dropped all of his props.
This was undoubtedly the most confusing post-strike hugging session Jack had ever experienced. And he had experienced a lot of post-strike hugging sessions.
It was a theater tradition that on closing night, after strike was finished, all of the cast and crew would walk around hugging each other, congratulating each other on their great jobs, exchanging emotional words about the show, et cetera et cetera. Jack knew how they went down. They lasted a solid 20 minutes, and there were usually a handful of people who broke down in sobs, a handful of people who exchanged awkward handshakes and forced congratulations, and a handful of people who huddled in the corner doing nothing because they were either uncomfortable with physical contact or just flat-out had no friends. To someone who had been doing theater for as long as he'd been at this school, they were very routine and very predictable.
So it was very easy for him to tell that this particular post-strike hugging session was very weird indeed.
The exchange of hugs, congratulations, emotional words et cetera et cetera had seemed very rushed, only taking about 10 minutes. After that, the entirety of the cast and crew aside from himself and Rapunzel had quickly gathered into a huddle on Stage Right, whispering amongst themselves like they were in some sort of weird cult meeting.
Whenever either Jack or his friend approached the group to try and figure out what all the whispering was about, someone would break casually away and start a conversation with them in an overly friendly manner, getting them talking with each other until they were so preoccupied with the new conversation that the person who had distracted them in the first place could slip unnoticed back into the crowd.
After their latest distractor-induced conversation had simmered out, they both shot puzzled glances at the throng of their fellow theater participants.
"What the hell is going on?" Jack muttered, crossing his arms.
The blonde's green eyes widened in horror. "Oh no…what if they're talking about us?" she whimpered. "What if they secretly hate us and they're talking about how terrible we are and how they're going to kick us out of the theater forever?"
Jack elbowed her playfully in the side. "Come on, I'm sure that's not it!" he said with a reassuring grin, although if he was honest with himself, he wasn't so certain.
"Why else would they be leaving us out, though?" she asked.
"Well, maybe it's just bad luck that we never seem to get into their little huddle…thing," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. "You know, just bad timing that whenever we want to go in, some chatty asshole suddenly wants to talk about some weird topic with us right then. Could be coincidence, right?"
"Yeah!" She nodded enthusiastically, seeming to like that conclusion. "Just crazy coincidence. Like how we kept running into each other everywhere a week after we met!"
"Right." He nodded. "Exactly like that. So!" He smiled mischievously. "Would you like to break this particular chain of annoying coincidences and figure out exactly what they're up to over there?"
"I'd love to!" she replied, beaming. They linked arms importantly and strode over to the cluster of theater kids.
As they approached the group, Hiccup turned slightly and appeared to catch them out of the corner of his eye. Before they could get any closer, he rapidly strode over to them, overly cheery smile plastered on his face.
"Hey, guys!" he greeted them. "So I have a really important question, and I was hoping you could help me with it. Who do you think would win in a fight? 3 trillion dragons or the sun?"
"3 trillion dragons, no question," Jack replied breezily. "The dragons could make fireballs that would probably react explosively with the hydrogen and helium in the sun and cause it to blow up into a supernova. What are you guys talking about over there?"
Hiccup completely ignored the question. "Really, you think? Because I'm not sure fire can actually be formed in space, so the dragons would have to drag the sun into a huge oxygenated environment in order to win and so—"
"Hiccup." Jack cut him off, his voice a little sharper. "What are you guys talking about?"
"But the heat of the sun might prove to be too much for the dragons, even if they are pretty heat-resistant otherwise because—"
"HICCUP." Rapunzel joined in, her voice sounding sterner than Jack had ever heard it.
Hiccup winced. "Okay, fine," he sighed. "We were just discussing…uh…taking the lights down. Mr. Mansnoozie told Tadashi to get the word around that…ah…you know…everyone was expected to participate, so he and Hiro were just letting everyone know about that and we were…uh…deciding who would take what light down. It was really boring. Buuuut!" He gave them both what had to be the most nervous, uncomfortable smile Jack thought he'd ever seen. "The good news is that he exempted you two for some reason! So you don't have to worry about any of that weird stuff. And I…ah…just got done being told what my assignment was, which is why I'm talking to you."
Sanderson Mansnoozie, the theater teacher, was a cheerful tubby blonde man who would no more order the entirety of the theater department to climb up on rickety ladders and take down heavy, expensive lights than pour magic black nightmare sand into people's eyes before they went to sleep. Not everyone was going to be comfortable with taking down lights, and it was obviously Light Crew's job.
"Really?" Jack raised his eyebrows. "So every other actor and crew member has to do it?"
"And if that's all it was, why didn't anyone say so before?" Rapunzel added.
"Uhhhhhh…" Hiccup looked away for a bit before turning back to them and beaming. "Well, you see, we didn't want you two to get the bighead seeing as Mr. Mansnoozie seems to be giving you special treatment and whatnot. So we thought maybe we could keep you in the dark forever. Silly us!"
"But the other crews and the cast have never had to take down lights before," Jack pried.
"Well…ah…it's a new thing," Hiccup said quickly. "Yep, Mr. Mansnoozie wants us all the help from now on. Forever and ever! Except for you guys."
Jack noticed that the gossiping cluster was starting to disband, the whispers starting to louden into talk of carpools for the cast party. Hiccup glanced behind him, and also picked up that this was the case.
"Oh, would you look at that!" he exclaimed. "Looks like light assignments are all figured out! Well, I'd best be on my way. Gotta make sure Elsa knows I'm riding in her car!"
He scurried away before Jack or Rapunzel could ask any more questions, leaving the two to exchange an utterly perplexed look.
"Oi! Rapunzel! C'mover here, we need to talk tae yeh!"
Rapunzel barely had time to react before Merida was dragging her away from her conversation with Jack, so forcefully that her sprite was sloshing around in her cup as she was pulled across the floor. She awkwardly waved goodbye to the white-haired boy before she was yanked into Anna and Elsa's dining room, the door being slammed shut behind her. Inside, Anna, Mavis, Thiana, Astrid, and Elsa were standing in an expectant circle, all either giggling or wearing a smug grin.
It was the first time all night Rapunzel had ventured into the dining room, and she had to admit it was quite lavish. The table was long and polished, and several wooden cabinets with fine china lined the walls. It had been the natural decision to have the cast party at the Arendelle sisters' house, given that a few years ago they had inherited a small fortune from a distant relative who just happened to be a descendent of Norwegian royalty. A small fortune that was, conveniently enough, just big enough to get the Arendelles a small mansion the perfect size for parties.
"Punzie, guess what?" Mavis gushed, snapping Rapunzel out of her trance admiring the crystal chandelier. "We came up with a new game!"
"Oh!" Her eyes sparked with interest. "What game?"
"Basically it's like Spin the Bottle, only so much better," Anna explained excitedly. "So how it works is a bunch of guys and a bunch of girls put blindfolds on, and walk around in a big open circle thing. Then, the first person you bump into, you have to kiss for a solid minute! Without taking the blindfold off!"
"And then after the minute's up, everyone gets to see who they kissed!" Thiana squealed.
"Oh, that should be fun!" Rapunzel said gleefully. "I can't wait to see who kisses who!"
"And yeh know what the best part is, lass?" Merida asked.
"What?"
The redhead smirked. "We've all volunteered you tae go first!"
"Wh—what?" Rapunzel's cheeks grew bright red. "But…but why me?"
Merida snorted. "Come on, Punzie, yeh haven't kissed a boy since that wee blondie from that one summer camp when yeh were 12! About time yeh got some more action, don't yeh think?"
"Well…" She rubbed the back of her head, realizing that her friend had a point. It was a bit embarrassing that she was a junior in high school and had still not had her first real kiss. Maybe if this was her chance to have it, she should take it…even if it was with some random person behind a blindfold.
"Sorry Rapunzel, but you're kinda overruled on this one," Astrid said, smiling apologetically. "We've all already taken a vote, and it's a unanimous decision that you should go in first."
She bit her lip uneasily, squirming slightly under all of her friends' expectant gazes. Finally she took a deep breath and forced a smile.
"All right!"
All of the girls cheered, giving celebratory hops and pumping their fists in the air. It was beyond Rapunzel why they wanted so badly for her to go first, but either way, she was sure it would be a fun, or at least interesting, experience.
"I already have the blindfold!" Mavis screeched eagerly, bounding forward waving around a red bandana clutched tightly in her palm.
Rapunzel waited patiently as her friend tied the piece of fabric around her head, asking her sternly over and over if she could see anything at all. At one point she could just barely see through the translucent bandana, and it occurred to her that she could easily say she couldn't see a thing and then have at least some idea who she was kissing. But Rapunzel had never been much one for cheating the rules, so she admitted she could still see and let Mavis adjust the blindfold until there was nothing in her vision but inky black.
Rapunzel felt Anna's small hands begin to turn her in circles to disorient her. Apparently the room where this game took place was supposed to be a mystery as well.
"So are any of you guys going to play with me?" she asked nervously.
Merida laughed. "We're not going tae tell yeh who all is playing! Where'd be the fun in that?"
Rapunzel smiled in what she hoped was the general direction of the Scottish girl, but she felt her stomach twist with nervousness. It would be more comforting knowing that if she was going to kiss a random person, one or more of her friends were as well. But she had no idea if they were even in the game.
Anna started to lead her through the house, first across a room with a cold tile floor and then across two rooms with what felt like hardwood floors. Finally, they stopped in a room with a carpet, where Rapunzel felt Anna's hands clutch her shoulders tightly to stop her and then fall away completely.
"Okay, now don't talk," the redhead whispered in her ear. "It's no fun if the other players can recognize your voice before the game even starts! We're trying to keep it completely anonymous."
Rapunzel nodded, although she couldn't help wondering why this casual kissing game had such weirdly specific rules.
"Oka, so here's how it's going to work!" Anna announced. "Players, the open circle is right in front of you. Anyone you run into in the circle is fair game for making out. If you run into someone on the edge of the circle who's not playing, they'll tell you so you don't shove your tongue down their throat or anything. So is everyone ready?"
Rapunzel nodded, her heart speeding up a little bit.
"All right, GO!"
Rapunzel stepped out into the open space around her, tentatively feeling in front of her. For a long while, there was nothing, no matter how far she explored in the circle. Her reaching hands only grabbed hold of air.
After a while, she started to get impatient, and her tentative feeling became impatient swipes. On one fling of her left arm, she smacked something soft yet smooth, and she realized she had finally found another human being.
Her first instinct was to apologize, but she remembered what Anna had said, and remained silent. Instead, she started to timidly run her hands up the person's waist and across their arms, trying to get a feel for the person she'd be kissing. Her partner soon started doing the same, equally as gingerly. She could feel a thin T-shirt, spindly arms, a narrow waist…and the hands currently sliding over her body had a familiar slight coolness to them. Was it…?
No, probably not. Out of all the people in the theater department, what were the chances? Best not to get her hopes up.
Whoever it was, she sure liked their body type.
When her hands found their face, she decided it was time to just bite the bullet and do it. She grabbed their cheeks and pulled them toward her, making both teenagers' mouths collide heavily.
The kiss started out tentative, but quickly grew deeper and deeper as their lips grew accustomed to one another. The only thought Rapunzel had throughout the entire thing was Wow. This kid is good. Maybe it was just her lack of kissing experience talking, but whoever she was kissing was moving their lips in perfect sync with hers, and when they eased their tongue into her mouth, it didn't feel weird or gross…it felt entirely natural.
As they went on, a strange, tickling sensation filled her stomach, driving her to press her lips even harder and making her want more and more and more. It was nearing a peak when Anna's loud voice snapped her out of the moment.
"Okay! Time's up!"
Feeling the tiniest wave of disappointment coarse through her, Rapunzel pulled away from the other person. She caught her breath, her heart still racing slightly.
"Now, on the count of three, everyone take off their blindfolds!"
This was it. The moment of truth.
"One."
Oh god, what if it was Hiccup? Or Aster? Or Hiro the freshman?
"Two."
Nah, this person was too tall to be Hiccup or Hiro, and too skinny to be Aster. At least she hoped.
"THREE!"
Rapunzel peeled the bandana off of her head to find herself looking into the crystalline blue eyes of Jack Frost. Her face lit up into a delighted beam, and to her relief, his did the same.
"It's you!" he exclaimed happily.
"Y—yeah, it's me." She shyly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Wow, you were really good," he said. "Like, even better than I always imagined you would be! N—not that I spent a lot of time imagining what you would be like…or anything…"
He looked away, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "Ah, sorry!"
She reached out a hand and turned his face back toward him. "It's all right," she told him, smiling softly. "Don't worry about it. You were really good, too."
They were interrupted by the loud cheering of their classmates. They looked way from each other and realized the entire cast and crew of the show had gathered in a crowded circle around them, watching them intently.
Jack glanced around and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, wait a minute…why is no one else in the circle with us?"
"Surprise!" Flynn cried gleefully. "It was all a setup!"
"We did the same thing to Jack that the girls did to you," Kristoff told Rapunzel. Once-ler, Flynn, Hiccup, Aster, Hiro, and Tadashi were gathered in a tight group around him, all grinning.
"Yeah, there's actually no one else playing," Astrid explained, crossing her arms and smirking. "We all just wanted to see you two kiss!"
"See us kiss?" Rapunzel raised her eyebrows. "But why?"
"Do you really not know?" Flynn facepalmed. "Oh my god! Just shut up and confess already!"
"Confess what?" Jack demanded, although his cheeks were growing pinker and pinker by the moment.
"You know what I fucking mean!" Flynn snapped. "Or should I tell them?"
Jack's eyes widened with alarm, Flynn's comment appearing to convince him. His head snapped back to Rapunzel, and he seemed to have to force himself to meet her eyes.
"Rapunzel, I uh…I really like you," he stammered. "Like a lot. Like a whole fucking lot. And I've been wanting to say it for a long but I was so worried you'd say no and—"
"Jack!" She cut him off, glaring at him. "I like you too, you idiot! I have ever since I saw you in You Can't Take It With You last year!"
He smiled meekly. "Heh…I think I started liking you as soon as you compared me to an ice prince, you know, in that first conversation we ever had."
Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "You should've said something sooner!"
"Well, so should you!" he retorted.
"That's what we've all been sayin'!" Merida bellowed, waving her arms around in aggravation.
"Well, cat's out of the bag now, isn't it?" Hiccup added triumphantly.
"You know…you really are a very good kisser," Jack said playfully.
"Encore!" someone from the back of the crowd shouted.
"Kiss!" Thiana shrieked, and before long the entire theater department had broken into a chant. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
Jack and Rapunzel smiled warmly at each other and leaned in, both happy to oblige.
MK craned her neck to see over the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of the kissing boy and girl. When at last she caught sight of them, she smiled, shaking her head.
"I never knew they had a thing for each other," she commented.
Her boyfriend Nod turned and gave her a skeptical look. "Seriously?"
She elbowed him playfully in the side. "Nah, I'm just messing with you. Everyone knew!"
Eyyyy, there's my last Jackunzel week story! High School Theater AU because…why just have regular boring old high school AU when the more specific and interesting High School Theater AU is so much more fun? Like you can put the different characters in different stage crews based on their personality, and cast them in romantic roles in plays depending on who you ship with who and—ah, who am I kidding? It's because I'm too nostalgic for high school theater since I wasn't able to continue it in college, so of course I'm going to make a modern AU one-shot about it XD Also, a bit of theater terminology: for those of you who don't know, a "gel" is the translucent colored thing that you put in a stage light to make it a different color. And I defined this in my Day 5 story so you probably already know, but a "strike" is when the actors and crew members take the set down and put all the props away after closing night.
So this is supposed to be a sequel to my Day 5 "Fate Drives Us Together" story, if you hadn't figured it out already! It didn't start out being that, but the more I wrote on it, the more I realized it made sense for it to be, and it would be cute.
Once again, it was a bit of a pain to find a play/musical with suitable roles for both Jack and Rapunzel, especially since I wanted to give Rapunzel a relatively minor role (seeing as she's only been in the theater for a few months, so it wouldn't make much sense for her to suddenly be getting starring parts. Most people have to work their way up to them). I finally settled on Beauty and the Beast, which my own high school did as their musical the winter of my senior year. Jack is certainly dramatic enough to be Lumiere, and Rapunzel would probably have a great time playing a brainless bimbo, despite her being far from one herself! I'm rather pleased with who I picked for the starring roles as well—the bubbly Toothiana as Belle, the grumpy yet secretly sweet Bunnymund as the Beast, and the cocky Flynn as Gaston. Come on, tell me that doesn't work!
Aaaaand holy shitcakes…I thought that my "She Is Not My Girlfriend" drabble was going to be my longest, but boy, was I mistaken! I topped the 7,000-word mark with this one O_o Ah well, I suppose that's what happens when you put fucktons of major animated CGI characters in one story and try to give them all a fair amount of spotlight XD
Speaking of which, I DID try to add as many major CGI characters as I could, but unfortunately I did also have to leave some out so the story wouldn't be novel-length ^^; So sorry to Tadashi's friends, Hiccup's friends besides Astrid, etc. Just wasn't enough room, you guys! Maybe in a future story. Also, my apologies if the Once-ler and/or Mavis are OOC in this. I haven't seen either of their respective movies, so I was writing them solely based on their character profiles on the Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons wiki and how I've seen them written in other fanfictions ^^; Same with MK and Nod, although they only had a couple lines of dialogue, so that shouldn't be as much of a problem. Speaking of which, kudos to you if you can recognize where that dialogue is from!
Meh…I honestly hope this story wasn't too excessive XD It might have seemed like a bit much that literally EVERYONE was talking about when Jack and Rapunzel were going to hook up, so…maybe I took the prompt too literally ^^; Also, if you're wondering why I shortened "Toothiana" to just "Thiana" it's because…idk, a name with "Tooth" in it is just a really awkward name for a high school student XD Granted, "Rapunzel" and "Hiccup" are also awkward names for high school students, but I can't get away with changing those, now can I? XD
Lol with all of these CGI characters, I was SO tempted to put in ship tease for all of the pairings I ship, but I refrained because I wanted to keep the focus on Jackunzel. Except in one instance, which kinda wrote itself without my knowledge or consent. Hope you guys like Sweet Tooth!
So that's it for Jackunzel week! I've had a blast writing all of these stories, and I hope you guys have enjoyed my submissions!