Happy new year everybody! Hope you´re doing well.
Here is chapter 2 of this new project, hope you still enjoy it a little ;)
Big thanks to RedliteAlexi for contributing a little part once again and to Dekra for helping me with the correction as well!
Beastars – Into the Spotlight 2.0
Chapter 2 – Put up or shut up
POV Leon
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Mark wanted to know when I entered the dorm.
I just came from my last lesson today, and I still had about 45 minutes to kill before rehearsals would begin.
"Waiting for drama-club practice" I told him with a shrug of my shoulders, "What about you?"
"I uh…" the hyena said with a little bit of a chuckle in his voice, "I live here you know? We can't all just go home every night."
"Well, sucks to be you," I told him ironically.
He apparently didn't find that too funny as he just shrugged his shoulders a little.
"…it's actually not too bad to be honest" he said with a little tilt of his head, "The guys are quite alright if you get to know them a little…"
"Nah" I said, "They all hate me anyways, no matter what I do."
This really seemed to annoy him, I was kinda confused about his mood right now.
"Come on Leon" he told me, rattling my shoulders a little, "Where are you going to get with that attitude?"
"It's not about my attitude" I told him, "They all think I´m this spoiled brat rich-kid of a big movie star."
He now grinned a little bit. "Well…are you?"
I always wanted to believe I was not, but as I couldn't really tell what his view on me was right now, I just shrugged my shoulders with an unbothered expression.
"I know you are not" he now answered that question himself, "We used to play in the mud together when we were kids. We did a lot of stupid shit, we've both had somewhat similar childhoods when you think about it. Remember when we got lost in the woods once? When my mom had almost called the police when she couldn't find us?"
I struggled to keep up with what he wanted to tell me here.
"Yeah, and?"
"And I still remember this as a fun adventure and great memory I had with you. That Leon was just a regular guy and a good friend as well. Why does the current Leon have to be any different?"
I just shrugged my shoulders at that again. This was a very uncomfortable topic, even if he did have a point with what he said.
"Also, it's not like your parents are just drowning you in luxury, is it? Didn't you say you had to work on film sets if you wanted to get more money?"
I really seemed to have forgotten a little how well he really knew me. It rarely looked like it, but he actually listened quite well when you told him something. I really struggled to remember any such details about him right now, I felt a little bad for it.
"Did you know there are pictures of Kai in the drama-club hallway as well?" I asked him now, trying to change the topic a little bit, "He really was on stage with my dad back then."
"Duh," he chuckled, "Of course I know! He's my cousin, you dumbass."
"Half-cousin, technically."
"I visited him in Tokyo last month" he mentioned with great excitement in his voice, "He showed me around the filmset he was working at."
I wasn't quite sure what he thought was so special about that, but as I didn't want to be too much of an asshole towards him, I faked a little smile.
"…and you've signed up for a drama-club as well now?" he asked, "I thought you were in the gym club already. What gave you that change of mind?"
I now gestured with my hands as if it wasn't completely obvious already. "They all hate me."
"Oh come on, what?" he asked in disbelief and slight annoyance, "You gotta try a little harder than that man."
"I was trying," I sighed, "But we just didn't get along."
"Come on, Leon '' he told me, putting one hand on my shoulder, "That can't be your excuse for everything. Don't you want to live up to your dad someday?"
I just shook my head to that question. "I never said that."
"Oh, but you know you want to," he chuckled, "Don't lie to me."
"Will you leave me in peace if I say yes?" I asked him with a little sigh.
"Maybe…"
I now nodded slowly and with a faked little smirk, then I threw myself onto the mattress of my mostly unused bed and closed my eyes for another minute.
"Oh, and you should consider staying here for the night," he told me, "Jules and I are gonna cook lasagna for dinner and we're planning a movie night."
"Yeah…" I sighed, faking interest yet once again, "…maybe."
"They´ll like you too if you open up to them a little" he said, going back to his own bed now, "Give them a chance to get to know the real you, I know you´re not an asshole rich-kid."
"Yeah okay…" I sighed slowly, trying to get a moment of silence finally, "…whatever."
POV Legoshi
"So what dis scene about again?" my makeup-artist Stella asked me casually. "…the whole city tryina kill you for bounty and you have to fight three guys at once?"
"Yeah, that's what they told me" I affirmed with a little shrug of my shoulders, "It's quite brutal. I have to kill a guy by ramming a pencil into his ear."
Predictably, she didn't look too impressed by that.
"Oh I've seen worse shit honey" the sassy Doberman told me in amusement, "Now hold still, Imma almost done with da wound on ya neck."
I tried to hold as steady as possible for her, there still was quite a lot to do before we could start shooting the scene.
"How's your daughter doing" I casually asked her, "Is she getting along with her new classmates?"
"She was really scared of her first day at school" she explained, "…but later she was all excited bout her new friends. She no scared anymore now, she really like it I think."
"Oh that's nice!"
"Wat about ya boy?" she asked, "He gettin along? He joined Highschool now, ain't he?"
"Nah, I don't know. Seems like he has a tough time getting warmed up with his new mates."
"You think it's because daddy is a famous movie star?" she asked as bluntly as ever.
She had a good point asking that, sadly, I´ve been thinking about this before as well, and was very well possible that this just was the ugly truth in the end. Fame didn't come with a whole lot of benefits.
"Oh come on, Stella" I sighed with a tired little chuckle, "Not this again."
"Just sayin" she chuckled, "Ya still handsome for ya age. Well in shape too."
"Hey, I only just turned 36" I complained ironically, "What do you mean ´for my age´?"
"Oh I just messin wit you" she grinned, "…but I bet your boy's callin you old already, ain't he?"
"No reason for you to call me old" I bickered, "I still get around more than him you know?"
That comment had her smiling very widely. "…at least that I know of," I added.
"Oh that's probably about to change pretty soon baby" she chuckled with a dirty grin, "…wait until he brings his first girlfriend home. Uh-hm! The walls be shakin all night long if you don't find a way to stop them."
"Yeah, yeah…" I chuckled, "…good thing his room is upstairs, right?"
"Oh as if you have been any better in High School. Don't lie to me hon."
"Nah…" I sighed, followed by a little grin myself, "Probably not."
She just nodded with a contented and dogmatic grin, then she focused on her work again.
"Hold still now, hot stuff" she told me in great amusement, "Almost done here."
POV Leon
"Of course! The only fucking locker that´s left doesn't fucking close properly!" I cursed, slamming it shut for a second time but a little more vigorously now.
I hated this school. Everything was old and shitty and everything about it was getting on my nerves.
I was questioning my decision of coming here already, I shouldn't have agreed to this in the first place.
"My dad could live anywhere he want´s, I could go to the best schools in Japan and yet still here we are in this shitty little city."
Now wearing my new red and white drama-club outfit, I left the locker-room and headed for the rehearsal hall, apparently being a little late since the others already waited there, sitting around in a circle on the floor.
Instead of asking If I could join them and if they could make a little bit of room for me, I took a seat outside their circle and, even though quite a few of them stared at me, tried not to stare back at anybody while we waited.
Luckily, not much later another door opened and the pelican stepped out. It seemed like it was his office and he had just been preparing a few things while we waited.
He now came walking towards us slowly, carrying quite a heavy looking bag with him. He put it on the floor, then he turned his attention towards us.
"Hello everybody" he said, waiting for our soundly response.
"I hope you all got your scripts with you?" he wanted to know.
Most of them took theirs into their hands or nodded to affirm his question.
"Good" he said, sounding more than just a little content about that for some reason.
Then he shocked all of them with one simple question. "Is there anybody here who really wants to do this piece?"
They all just stared at each other in great confusion.
"What?" Lucy asked dryly.
The maned wolf girl already seemed a bit uneasy about that question.
"Just be honest," he told them, "Raise your hands if you really want to perform ´Adler - The grim reaper´ on our stage this year."
This was quite an interesting moment to watch. None of them raised their hands. At first some of them lifted them a little, but when they noticed that the vast majority had no interest in it whatsoever, they quickly dropped them back down to the floor again. The motivation didn't seem very high in general.
"Very well," he said, now seeming even more content for some reason, "Slide your scripts into the middle. All of you."
"But…" Kenji asked, still in slight disbelief, "…after all that rehearsing we did already?"
"We can't deliver a good performance if we don't have fun doing it. Lucy made that very clear last time, and I think she somewhat had a point there."
"But…"
"No buts!" the pelican chuckled, "In the middle, all of them!"
After another short moment of hesitation, they all let their scripts slide into the middle, creating a little pile of paper on the floor.
"And now?" Lucy asked.
Sanu now opened the bag he brought with him, revealing a whole stack of new scripts to them.
"Now" he announced, starting to hand them out to all the members one by one, "…now we do something that's fun and exciting."
When he had given one to everybody in the circle, he still had two of them left in his hands.
"Leon," he called me out, "Would you mind joining us, please?"
I slowly but lazily got off the floor and walked a few steps towards them. They reluctantly made a bit of space so I could join them in the circle. I then took a seat on the floor again.
He handed one of the scripts to me as well, the last one it seemed like he kept as his own copy.
"Of course" I thought to myself when I took a first glance, "Of course he chose that. How fucking predictable."
"Romeo and Juliet," it said on the first page.
Like most of the others, I flipped the first page around to check out the first few lines at the beginning. It was a conversation between the characters of Romeo and Mercutio, his best friend as far as I remember the story.
I had a slight foreboding coming up about this already, but as it said nowhere who was going to play which character, I decided not to comment anything about it for now. Unlike someone else.
"Oh no no no, I won't be holding hands and kissing around with a lion on the stage!" Lucy complained loudly, "That just goes too far!"
At first, I figured Kenji would be somewhat offended by that comment, but it actually turned out that he was thinking pretty much the same way about that too. He nodded in agreement.
"You won´t be kissing around with him," Sanu commented with a dry little chuckle, "He's not playing Romeo."
That left her even a little more dumbfounded.
"Kibi?" she asked in slight confusion.
They all looked towards the black panther sitting to her left now, but the president shook his head once again. "No."
"Haruto?"
They all looked towards the bird I believed was a wandering albatross by species.
The pelican shook his head again and my foreboding seemed to be almost certain reality at this point. He wanted me to play Romeo, even though I basically just joined the club today.
"Are you serious about this?" I now spoke up before anybody else could say something about this.
He didn't shake his head to avert what I meant with that question, he just smiled calmly. That alone was enough to make all of them lose their minds a little bit.
"What?!" Lucy now almost yelled again.
"I didn't even audition for anything properly" I threw in, "What makes you think I could-"
Sanu now just raised his hands and waited until he had the complete attention once again.
"Kibi" he now called him out, pointing at the script, "Page 2, second verse. You´ll be Mercutio. Go."
The panther looked a little overrun by that sudden request, trying to find said page and line of text as quickly as possible.
Just by reflex I searched for the page as well in my own script and found it just in time.
"Uhm…" he said, "Romeo! You c-can´t just fall in love with every nice woman you see! You´ll n-never… you´ll never be happy that way!"
Sanu now looked at me with a challenging smirk. I sighed a little.
"But Mercutio!" I read, leaving a little pause for an ironic comedic effect, "Sophia is the one for me! I´ve never been so sure about anything else in my life!"
"Y-you…" Kibi stuttered, trying to find his next line in time, "…you´ve said the same thing about your last three love interests as well! It never worked out well for you! W-wake up, Romeo!"
I now left another pause and shook my head with a little smirk.
"I'm awake Kibi" I answered, even though it said Mercutio in the text and I´ve never even normally talked to the panther before, "Never been as awake as I am right now. It's that unbearable love for big juicy butts- …sorry, I meant that unbearable love for Sophia that's keeping me awake!"
I wasn't entirely sure why I was trying to be funny right now. I really didn't want to play that role or any role for that matter, I guess I just did that to annoy them and get kicked off the actor's team right away.
But a few of the other members actually laughed and giggled about my silly little improv bullshit, and Sanu didn't look as pissed off about it as I thought he would. He seemed rather amused about it as well even. He nodded contentedly, stopping our reading with a short motion.
"Yeah, that works" he stated without any hesitation, nodding contentedly.
"Kibi, you´ll have to play your role a lot more cynical once you´ve learned the text. Romeo is naïve and foolish, you´re playing his best friend and intellectual counterpart."
He nodded understandingly.
"Lucy" the pelican called her out now, "Page 12, third passage."
She slowly got up and Kibi went back to his original spot.
"This is the first time you meet Romeo at a party with your family. Remember, Romeo is from the Montague family and on enemy turf here. Though in this scene, you don't know that yet. But you´re getting the feeling this is too good to be true already."
With that he nodded towards me, as the third passage actually began with one of Romeo's lines again.
"Oh what do my tired eyes see here? A woman of such beauty and elegance" I read out, gesturing a little bow, "Might I get to know her name?"
"Oh fuck off…" Lucy whispered under her breath, shaking her head in annoyance, still trying to find the lines as it seemed like. I knew how much this annoyed her already, but that somehow made me enjoy it even more. After all that cockiness, she wasn't even able to deliver.
"I-ugh…my name is Juliet" she sighed, "…who might you be, friendly stranger?"
I decided to tease her just a little more now.
"What´s up, I´m Romeo yo!" I now told her, making the motion of a rapper in a music video, "You down to get it on with me or what?"
"Okay" Sanu interrupted with a little sigh, "I see we´re very creative today…but still, the energy is there."
That improvisation he didn't seem to enjoy as much anymore. Lucy immediately used the opportunity.
"Oh that's some major bullshit" she complained, "Seriously, why are we wasting everybody's time here?"
I just shrugged my shoulders with an unbothered expression. My fate seemed to be sealed already, I wasn't even mad about it.
"I liked it," the gazelle girl suddenly giggled with a big grin, "Kinda referencing that terrible 90s adaptation. I think this could be funny and enjoyable."
"Yeah" the red panda girl agreed with her for some reason, "I think Hazel is right! You should give it a chance, Lucy! You two look good together!"
"What?!" the maned wolf now totally lost her mind, "Are you freaking serious? With this clown?"
She was getting really loud here once again, her words echoed through the room as nobody else said anything.
"Why do the hottest girls always have to behave like the biggest bitches of them all? Just what is her problem?"
"Yeah, yeah, I love you too" I sighed ironically.
With that I just wanted to sit myself down onto the floor as I was pretty sure I was done with this auditioning-bullshit right now, but Sanu stopped me yet once again.
"One more thing I want to see, Romeo" he told me dryly, "Page 23 on the very top. Go easy on the improvisations this time."
I nodded with a little sigh, searching for said page in my script.
"Kenji" Sanu called him out in the meanwhile, "This is a scene we´ll have to rehearse quite a few times, mostly when the stage built is ready. You´re going to fall over the edge of a podium after Romeo has killed you in a fight. There will be a mattress on the floor catching your fall."
"Uhm…" Kenji asked in great wonderment, actually having a point here, "Which role do I play?"
"Oh right" Sanu remembered, apparently having forgotten about that completely, "You´re playing Tybalt. Juliet´s uncle, a true blooded Capulet and fiend of anybody from the Montague family. Just by chance also the most aggressive of all these characters."
"Well that's just his role, isn't it?" Lucy commented cynically as some of the other members already chuckled about this as well.
"A good opportunity for him to get out of his shell, isn't it?" the pelican asked in all seriousness though, "Let's go, time is running!"
POV Lucy
I just couldn´t believe any of this. First, he cancelled the piece we were rehearsing for over a week already, then he gave me a lead role, which I had been dreaming about ever since, and then he messed it all up again by giving the role of Romeo to the guy that joined the actors team without any proper auditioning. I just continuously shook my head as we watched the lion trying his hardest to perform the hate-infused lines of his character, still rather sounding like a scared kitten than a fearful lion. This was all just so hopeless.
"I won't allow a Montague into our house" he coughed out softly, "This property is not gonna be soiled in-"
"Give it more aggression!" Sanu told him loudly, trying to fire him up, "flex your teeth, be a lion!"
"I-I…" he stuttered, "I´m trying, but…"
"Leon, switch roles with him for a second" Sanu told him now, "Kenji you´ll be Romeo for a moment!"
They both stared at him in slight confusion, but neither of them asked why for now. They began reading the text again, then Leon began speaking the loudest I´ve ever heard him before. He had a little growl in his voice as well now, apparently getting this right right from the start as well. Sanu already nodded contentedly once again.
"I won't allow a freaking Montague into our House" he growled at him aggressively, pushing him backwards carefully, "This property won´t be soiled in your foul stench, you better keep away from her in the future boy!"
"Eh-what? Hey!" Kenji complained rather than pushing back and saying his lines.
"Come on!" Leon sighed loudly, "We´re acting, I'm not trying to hurt you! You´re Romeo now, what´s up? Push me back and say your lines!"
Even the wolf seemed a little tired about Kenji´s lack of energy in the meanwhile. I hated agreeing with him, but he just wasn't wrong about that. He knew what he was doing, even though I hated to admit it.
"W-why…" Kenji said, now finally picking up his voice a little bit, "Why can't you just put your prejudices aside for once and-"
"She's not getting married to a Montague! Now get out of my sight before I hurt you!" Leon yelled even louder now, raising one of his fists and picking up the pace yet once again.
"Yes, exactly!" the president swarmed about the newcomer once again, "That's what we need! You are these characters, they hate each other! Show em that!"
The wolf breathed heavy a little bit from his yelling while Sanu turned towards us now. "Can we all try to take our roles this seriously from now on?" he asked us, "Make this a show other students will remember and talk about afterwards?"
"Yeah!" Hazel said loudly and in total excitement, "Let´s do that! I like it!"
"Totally," Haruto agreed with her, "We can be boring in the classrooms. Here it should be fun and exciting!"
I just shook my head in slight disbelief. I couldn't understand what was supposed to be so special about that wolf right now.
"Damn Leone you're good at this" Kibi told him in slight awe as well, "You sure you haven´t been on a stage before?"
He just shrugged his shoulders a little about that complement, apparently still rather indifferent than excited about all this. I wasn't quite sure if he was trying to look humble right now, to me it looked just arrogant.
I felt like he was looking down on all of us, just because he had a bit of stage experience and self-confidence. This was just such a disappointment since the rest of him had looked rather promising at first. He was a grey wolf, he was talented when it came to acting and he even had a somewhat similar stature as Legoshi. He was my favorite actor of all time. There were quite a few similarities actually, but he was nowhere near as humble and as gentleman-like as him.
Hazel was right though. We probably really would look good on stage together, but there was just no way I would kiss or even hold hands with him on stage.
Every complement he received right now made me even more angry about it, I just couldn't help myself. Just why does he have to be such an asshole?
Sanu now just remained looking at him with a contented smirk. "Coming back to your earlier question" he told him, letting his gaze wander through the group, "Yes. I am sure."
Nobody but me seemed like they wanted to disagree with him, he somehow had managed to win them over already.
This was just about my worst nightmare right now. In my head I even considered surrendering on the role of Juliet altogether. This joke of a wolf would make me look like a complete and utter fool on stage, ruining my dignity at this school forever with his stupid jokes and with his arrogance.
I already wished Sanu hadn't changed the piece in the first place.
"Hazel" Sanu now called out the pretty, happy-nature gazelle girl who had been nothing but excited about the new drama-club member so far, "I want you to play the nurse."
She nodded excitedly, he seemed content about that reaction.
"You´ve known Juliet ever since she was born, you love her like she's your own child."
She nodded again, holding her script in her paws like it was her most treasured possession.
"Lucy" he then turned towards me, "Page 17. There is a scene I would like you to try and read with her."
"What now?" I sighed, hardly motivated for it at all at this point.
"Yes now" he chuckled, "Let's give Romeo a little break and show us what the ladies can do…"
POV Legoshi
Sometimes I still wished I could switch bodies with Aoba. He still commuted by flying whenever I met him. Be it at film sets, voiceover studios, press-conferences or red-carpet events. He mostly just used his wings to get home at the end of a day.
I, on the other hand, had to stay in hotels way more often than I wanted to. Otherwise, in a case like today, I had an hour and a half long car ride ahead of me.
Today was a Monday, but as my next shooting session was scheduled for Thursday this week, I rather wanted to get home and spend time with my family than bore myself to death in a luxury hotel suite.
My regular cheap four door compact car blended just as well into the afternoon traffic as it always did, not a single reporter or paparazzi recognized me when I left the parking lot.
My head had been completely elsewhere since I'd left the set. I had already forgotten what we just had been shooting, the director was happy with the results and that was all that mattered to me. Having joined the highway, I set the cruise control to the allowed maximum and started my podcast where I left it off the last time.
It had taken me a while before I found one that I liked, but this biologist talking about her jungle expeditions and adventures in various different countries had me hooked right from the beginning. She talked about the differences in flora and fauna, described insects and their differences in size, survival tactics, protective features, procreation and many more interesting points. Every episode helped to quicken my commute wherever I went.
Leon still doubted he would ever be interested in biology and or insects, but I couldn't blame him as he had his own topics of which I didn't understand what their appeal should be. What worried me a little right now was a completely different topic about him. Stella starting that topic earlier had me thinking about it ever since.
He'd rather go home at night than stay in his dorm with his friends. He never showed any signs of romantic interest for anybody so far. From what it looked like, he didn't have a whole lot of grief with other school mates either.
He hasn't been talking to us a whole lot in general I noticed recently. And if he did I had the feeling it barely even scratched the surface of what was going on in his head.
He was a teenager after all, but to me it felt like it got even worse ever since he joined High school.
"Have people already figured out I am his father? Is he getting bullied because of it and just afraid to talk about it? Is that why he isn't staying in his dorm during the week?"
Whatever it was in the end, it had me spacing out over and over again. I had totally missed the last couple of minutes of my podcast already.
"I should talk with them tonight. We haven't had dinner together in quite a while after all. Maybe that´ll help him open up…"
I was thinking of calling our favorite restaurant for a dinner reservation tonight. I was immediately convinced about that spontaneous idea of mine and had already begun searching for their contact on the touchscreen of my center console.
After just two rings I already had somebody on the line.
"Hi, you´ve reached ´La Trattoria Roma´, how can I help you?" a friendly female voice asked me, I believe I even recognized who it was since we went there quite often.
"Hi, this is John Wick" I said jokingly, "I'd like to make a dinner reservation for three please."
"Excuse me?" she asked in slight confusion but with a little chuckle, "Is this a prank call?"
"N-no, it's not!" I said with a little chuckle as well, "I'm very sorry. My name is Legoshi, I was just being childish. I'd like to make a reservation for 7PM for three please. Assuming you still have a table left for tonight of course."
"Oh, right" she chuckled in amusement, apparently having understood my stupid pun, "Let me check for a second…you´re in luck, there is one table left for tonight. Three people you said?"
"Yes, please."
"Alright, I've booked you in for 7PM tonight."
"Thank you very much" I told her, "Have a good time, see you later!"
"Goodbye, thanks for calling!"
I ended the call and felt a lot more content already. I haven't been to that place in over a month in the meanwhile and I was really looking forward to spending time with my family again.
Having cleared that up at least, I now started my podcast again and re-listened to the parts I had missed earlier.
One of my terrariums at home was still empty after all and I was still searching for inspiration of who should be calling it their new home in the future.
POV Leon
Sanu's practice readings went on for almost two hours. At first, I was a little bored by all this, but then the mood amongst the others slowly but surely lightened up a little. We had a few quite funny and entertaining moments come up already. The time flew by faster than I expected it to after all.
The only one who still struggled to enjoy herself was Lucy. It seemed like she for some reason, still looked at me like I was her worst nightmare. The others seemed to have somewhat accepted that I should be playing a lead role by now. She on the other hand still tried to refuse it with all her might.
I hadn't said anything about this yet, but slowly but surely it began annoying me a little bit.
"So, as everybody knows their roles now" Sanu began again after we took a short break, "What should we start with?"
"I don't know" Lucy quietly said, "Not sure I wanna do this to be honest…"
"Oh come on, what?" Kibi asked her in slight confusion, "Wasn't it you who wanted to play a different piece last time?"
"Yeah, but…"
"What's the matter, Lucy?" Sanu asked with a little sigh, being slightly irritated by her behavior as well in the meanwhile, "Are you scared of becoming the number one topic at the school maybe?"
"You'll look great" Hazel told her in a supportive manner, "You'll be the most famous girl of the entire year!"
"I…I…" she stuttered.
"You just don't want to play with me," I sighed, saying out loud what she didn't want to confess, "Don't pretend like there is any other reason."
"No!" she yelled, seemingly really stressed out about it now, "It's just...I…I mean…"
"Because I didn't have to do a proper audition?" I added, tilting my head a little bit.
"Oh stop acting like you're so great, okay!?" she yelled explosively, "Fuck you're getting on my nerves with your arrogance and-"
"Okay, calm down you two!" Sanu interrupted, apparently not having expected the situation to escalate that quickly either, "Nobody is talking down anybody here, okay?"
He now looked directly at Lucy. "If you don't want to play Juliet I'll give the role to Hazel, nobody is forcing you to do anything."
The gazelle now looked at me slightly surprised, it didn't seem like she was too averse to that idea, but I didn't have the feeling Sanu was entirely serious about that. She wasn't too sure of that either as it looked like.
He selected us for this because we were both wolves; or canines at least. Just like it had been with my parents back then, I doubted he wanted to change anything about his lineup now.
"W-what?" Lucy asked in slight shock, now a little more low and fearfully. She obviously didn't like hearing that either, potentially getting demoted to a side actor like that, but there was nothing I could really do to change about that either. I didn't want her to feel like she was in a quagmire here. I felt kind of bad for her in a way, but it annoyed me that I seemed to be her only problem on that matter.
"Why are you in this club Lucy?" Sanu now asked her rather plainly, "No, don't answer, I know why! You told me you wanted to become an actress. You also told me who inspired you to become an actress. Don't be shy, it's really nothing to be ashamed about. Tell us why."
She took a short look left and right, her gaze slowly wandering towards the floor now.
"Because of Legoshi," she said softly.
I had assumed she had already known about me, but it seemed like she didn't, as all the other members now started smiling at me a little bit. Then I remembered that she had left rehearsals early last Friday and wasn´t in the room when I had that fight with Kenji.
Since I hadn´t told her about it either, I guessed she still wasn't aware of who my dad was.
As I wanted to keep it that way though, I just shook my head at the others and quickly put a finger in front of my mouth, hoping nobody would blabber anything. They apparently understood where I was coming from, they probably thought I wanted to surprise her with it later.
"I assume he is one of your favorite actors?" Sanu asked her, now taking a seat on the floor as well.
She nodded silently.
"Oh he's so cool" Hazel said excitedly, "He's my favorite carnivore actor for sure!"
Sanu´s smile widened a little bit as well now.
"He never wanted to be an actor" Sanu now began explaining, "He'd been taking care of the lighting and the stage build for over a whole year before I first dragged him onto the stage. And he would have been happy to do this for the rest of his time he was at this highschool…"
"What, really?" Kibi asked in slight disbelief.
The pelican nodded. "He never wanted to be in the spotlight. He just did it because he didn't want to get suspended from the club, which never would have happened anyway, but he didn't want us to fail either. So he stepped up to the task."
"Who's the wolf playing Juliet?" Hazel asked with great interest, "I've seen the photos in the hallway…"
"Her name is Juno," he continued, "And she had great ambitions back then. She wanted to become the next Beastar at the time. She wanted to unite herbivores and carnivores together."
"…and she didn't want to perform with Legoshi either?" the red panda girl from the art department asked shamelessly.
"No, I believe she actually really wanted to perform it with him," he explained with a little chuckle, "It was Legoshi who didn't understand why we wanted him to do it. I remember he rather wanted to spend time in the gardening club than actually rehearsing."
This was an interesting detail even I didn't know before. Aunt Haru was in the gardening club back then she told me, and she still did gardening work to this day. Maybe that's where my dad liked to hang out when he didn't want to do rehearsals. This old man surprised me yet once again with his stories.
"…and he played so well that he became an actor later?" Kibi asked.
Sanu nodded. "He was an immediate star at the school. The principal praised him, the entire drama club wanted him to play the next lead role as well. And we got to perform in the city theatre. On top of that, we were the topic of the entire city."
"Wow," Kibi said.
"But the most important thing…" Sanu mentioned, "He always stayed humble about it. And so did Juno, she was the most popular girl of the school back then, still always staying loyal to her friends and the drama-club."
"What's she doing now?" Hazel wanted to know.
Sanu seemed a little beat by that question. I could easily answer that of course, but then I would reveal everything to Lucy, and that just wasn't worth it yet in my mind. Sanu seemed to have worked that out as well, I kinda had the feeling he wanted to keep that secret from her too.
"I think she was performing in a real theatre as well" he said, "…I've just heard rumors to be honest."
He wasn't totally wrong with that answer. She still did that from time to time. Mostly, she acted for commercials, sometimes she did some modelling work. She had been asked to play in a TV-series as well, but she had declined that offer for some reason.
Whatever she really did at the moment, I kept my mouth shut about it, as I didn't want that conversation to start all over again. I was hoping the old pelican would be getting to his point sooner or later, this was getting a little exhausting in the meanwhile.
POV Juno (by RedLiteAlexi)
I stepped out onto the sidewalk, pushing the door shut as I departed. A moment later, the gentle sound of the tires pulling away sounds from behind me. I smiled and looked ahead. Even after seeing it over the course of seven years, I still thought the little flower shop was so cute.
The sun was hitting its peak, the late spring afternoon would soon be giving way to the coming night. The door sign still informed me it was within business hours. Shuffling my fingers around a plastic bag in my grasp, I softly pushed into the door.
A small chime was rustled as I entered. I looked around the dull lighted room. I saw no one mulling around and I took more steps inside. The strong scents of pollen and soil breached my nose. The plethora of odors overwhelmed my senses.
"Awchoo!" I sneezed softly.
"Hey…" a voice called out from deeper within the shop. I looked past a few shelves and saw her. Her back was to me as she stood on a small step ladder. She wore worn out blue jeans that lightly held their shape. Highlighting the rabbit's small but round posterior. She was replenishing the shelf with a few small boxes.
"I hope you know what you're looking for, I was actually just about to close up for the night." She said without making eye contact. I gently placed the bag down and felt a mischievous smile come over my face. I sneakily crept over to the rabbit. She was oblivious to my identity as I snuck right behind her. I softly placed one hand on her side and another gently on her rear.
"Guess who?!" I said coyly.
"Agh!" The rabbit shrieked. She whipped her head around quickly and I could see the blushing red skin under her snow-white fur.
"You stupid wolf! You scared the shit outta me!" Haru hoisted a small cardboard box above her and brought it down swiftly on my head with a hollow bonk.
"Bad wolf! Don't touch my ass! Especially when I'm working." She said in a powerful yet slightly playful manner.
I rubbed my head and laughed lightly. "But I thought you were closing up shop soon."
The rabbit rolled her eyes and walked past me. Approaching the door and turning over the sign to closed.
"Busy today?" I asked.
"It's a weekday so it's been kinda slow. Mother's Day is coming up and that's the busiest flower delivery day of the year." She replied.
"So the shop is running well?" I asked.
"Juno, I've kept this place running for seven years and I've nearly paid off the loan Legoshi gave me." She said with confidence.
I felt bad about doubting her. When Haru decided to move out and described her plan to open a flower shop, Legoshi had planned to basically fund her entire operation. The rabbit had declined the offer, instead insisting that it be a loan that she would pay back over time. I had missed the rabbit in our home. At some point over the life of our son, our relationship had become more complex.
Living alongside the increasingly famous Beastar and movie star changed our daily life. In the public eye, our unconventional living situation came under scrutiny. For myself, I was still the beautiful wolf partner to the handsome leading man. Our son was the fruit of our seemingly storybook romance. As inaccurate of a generalization it was, it stuck nonetheless.
Meanwhile Haru was seen as the black sheep of our home. A weird girl that seemed to be a dirty secret or gold digger. A fifth wheel that didn't belong. We tried to not pay such thoughts any mind but over the years it seemed like they took their toll on the rabbit.
"What did you bring me?" Haru said as she was peeking into the plastic bag.
"Lemon cream cake, it's from the commercial studio's catering." I said.
Haru looked at the wrapped cake. "Wow this actually looks really good, I thought Legoshi said most set catering was actually pretty low quality."
She unwrapped it and began to eat.
"TV shows sure, but advertising is different. That's where the real money is." I smiled. Haru took another bite and spoke.
"How's Leon?" She asked.
"Getting taller everyday." I chuckled. "Just wish he wasn't so… gloomy." I said.
"Is he doing okay? He's a Cherryton now?" She asked.
"Yeah, he just started. Already had a little trouble with one club but I hope he's settling into the drama club."
Haru laughed. "You must be proud." She said with a sliver of sarcasm.
"Hey it was his decision, I just hope he makes some friends." I said. "He usually doesn't even stay at his dorm. He spends all of his nights at home. Makes the trip and everything. Isn't that weird?"
"I mean, you know who you're talking to. I wasn't known for loving it in my dorm either." She smiled and finished the cake.
"I guess I just don't understand him. He's actually a lot like you." I said kinda saddened. She looked at me solemnly. I was hoping these emotions wouldn't come up.
"I should talk to him more. More than just on Rexmas and his birthday." She said with a little shame.
"You know he really loves you. You spent just as much time with him as we did when he was growing up." The rabbit walked over to me and held my hand.
"It's funny the way life works out. We really did live together for all those early years. In all that time, I felt the strangest contradiction in my heart. With you, Legoshi and Leon, I felt so much love. At the same time, I felt like this wasn't sustainable. It had too many faults. Like I was floating between being in two incomplete relationships and being a parental figure."
"I guess it happened so fast that I didn't know what I was supposed to maintain. My love for you or my love for the family that was coming together."
I felt a tear well up. "Were you jealous…of us?"
"Haha, it's been 16 years Juno, I think you should know I wasn't jealous of you sleeping with Legoshi, you know I did too quite a few times over our time together. I guess I was more jealous of the fact that no one would ever view our family as my family. It would always be your and Legoshi's family in which I was just a secondary character."
I held her closer, she was still so soft and warm. The glow that I spent years sleeping beside was still radiating from her.
"You should tell Leon that." I said quietly.
She sighed and rubbed my cheek. "You think he'd understand."
"I'm not quite sure I even do to be honest."
She let out a little laugh alongside a sniffle. "Geez, well I suppose I should at least talk to him about it more. I'm pushing 40 and not getting any younger."
I grinned, "Oh shush your mouth, I think the Milf look suits you."
I leaned in and kissed her cheek.
POV Leon
"Great," she said sarcastically, "Thank you."
While all the others went home already, I had to follow Sanu into his office once again after rehearsals were over. He pretty much had confirmed everything I had guessed earlier already. He didn't necessarily want to tell Lucy he was my dad and he didn't really want Hazel to play Juliet either.
While everybody else had left the building already, it seemed like the maned wolf girl had been waiting for me here. She still wore her red and white drama-club outfit, her long brown mane fell over one side of her face. I still somehow imagined she could look really beautiful if she just let her guard down, but that judgmental look still spoiled her appearance greatly. I had hoped I didn't have to see her anymore today. I had hoped she would sleep a night on all this and change her perspective a little bit until the next rehearsals.
"What?" I asked back dryly, "This is my fault now just because you don't want to play? You know he wasn't serious when he said Hazel could play Juliet, right?"
That statement had her thinking for a little moment, but it didn't really change anything about her attitude.
"Just because we're both canines doesn't mean we have to play the loving couple in front of the entire school you know. The old pelican just wants to relive his glory days, it's just so obvious."
This had me a little surprised on the other hand. I had to agree with her here for once, she had figured that out just as quickly as I thought.
Nevertheless, I still thought playing this piece could be kinda fun with this setup. I liked the dynamic I had with Kibi playing Mercutio, I somewhat enjoyed the enthusiasm of the other guys from the club. It seemed like they didn't all hate me after all. And they had actually managed to keep their mouth shut about my parents.
"Yeah, okay…" I sighed, "But even if? What's the big deal about it?"
She just distinctively shook her head, still looking at me like I was the most disgusting thing she's ever seen in her life.
"Why couldn't she just relax about it a little?"
I just raised my eyebrows while inhaling slowly. She couldn't take that well either, apparently. She even found that offensive, even though I didn't say anything. I just couldn´t hide a little smirk about that.
I somehow was hoping this would finally tilt her mood in a slightly better direction, but it was just getting worse and worse, sadly.
"What?!" she asked aggressively, "What's so funny?"
This was getting really old in the meanwhile. She just wanted to provoke a fight as it seemed like.
"I assume it hurts…?" I asked her with an ironic chuckle.
"What hurts?"
"That stick up your ass."
She now stared at me like a deer in the headlights, apparently unable to believe I really just said that. Then, faster than I could even look, she slapped me in the face really hard. The pain quickly faded, but it still left me quite shocked for a moment.
"You know what? FUCK YOU!" she yelled at me, turning around and leaving me stand here, "Fucking prick! Just because I don't want-"
I followed her a few steps.
"Listen, I´m sorry!" I told her, "Can´t you just chill and stop trying to take yourself so ser-"
She wasn't listening to me anymore. She just sped up her steps even more and walked off in an angry manner.
I just stood there for another moment, staring after her in great confusion.
"Have I messed this up completely now?"
I began thinking to myself now.
"Was it really my fault she behaved that way? Or was it just her not understanding my kind of humor?"
The further I thought about this, the worse I began feeling about it. Now that I was all alone, no one here to back me up, I really felt like a dumbass. I still felt the spot on my cheek she hit with her hand, it still emitted a light sting on my skin.
My mom would not be proud of me if I told her about that, and she eventually would find out about it anyway. She found out about everything, especially when it had to do with girls.
When I first told her I was trying with the drama-club she already wasn't to be stopped anymore. She would ask me about my first rehearsal-session tonight already, she would not let go of that topic for a little while and she wouldn't let me get out of this either. This would be just as uncomfortable as it would be undeniable, I had no doubts about it.
A little branch was laying on the ground before me, I kicked it rather vigorously and it ended up in a bush a few feet away from me.
"Just why does she hate me so much? Have I really been that much of an asshole to her?!"
My backpack and the bag with my drama-club outfit now felt even heavier than before. Carrying all this stuff home right now was not that much of an exciting prospect. And at home my parents would be waiting for me, wanting to hear every detail from their little star of the drama-club´.
None of those things seemed appealing right now. This already shitty Monday had turned even worse towards the end.
I looked up and saw the building my dorm was in. The building threw a big shadow in the late afternoon sun, some of the windows were open and I heard voices from multiple students as I walked towards it. It looked somewhat inviting all over sudden. That Lasagna, Mark was talking about earlier, began to sound more and more enticing by the minute.
Other students were still enjoying the sun outside, sitting by the fountains reading books, doing homework on a bench or playing frisbee on the green. The peaceful vibe made me feel a little better.
Then I remembered that I still had all the bed linen I needed on the shelf in my dorm, so this would actually be a possibility. Maybe the hyena was right after all, maybe the guys from my dorms weren't too bad either.
"Oh what the hell?" I said to myself with a positive little sigh, not changing my path when I walked across the square towards the dorms, "Why not. Can´t be worse than talking to my parents tonight."
Here we are, hope you liked it. Tell me what you think, I´m curious!
See you soon for more!
~furr