for staygame: no other show like it ‘round here

[bangtanmod]

Title: no other show like it ‘round here
Recipient: staygame
Pairing: J-Hope/V
Rating: PG-13.
Word count: 3.2k
Summary: Hoseok wasn’t even going to stage manage this year - and now he’s responsible for some weird kid who can’t remember his lines.
Author's notes: Hope this is anything close to what you wanted!

Namjoon dumps a three ringed binder, two inches wide and the same faded red plastic it’s been every other year, on top of Hoseok’s textbook. Hoseok already knows what’s in it - a cast list, a copy of the script with margins large enough for Hoseok to scribble in, sticky arrows to bookmark important bits and pieces. “Have I ever told you I love you?” He says as he does so, pulling out the chair across from Hoseok’s at the library table and plopping down in it.

“Earlier this week when I agreed to this, but it doesn’t hurt to hear it again.” Hoseok caps his highlighter and pulls the binder closer, flipping it open.

Hoseok is patient, wonderful, indulgent and one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for, honestly. Namjoon doesn’t deserve him. He’s spent the last few years graciously stage managing every play their community theatre has put on, every single one since Namjoon decided to take over directing them. That’s including that god-awful and too ambitious modern adaptation of Leader of the Pack they did last season. The one where Namjoon changed all the characters as members of a hip hop collective, then cast all his friends (who had little to know experience) in the roles. Namjoon had convinced himself it was going to be his magnum opus - despite it being a nightmare from start to finish. Hoseok had spent the production a glorified babysitter.

This season they’re putting on Alice in Wonderland, which Namjoon has thankfully left untouched and not rotting in it’s former glory. That wasn’t supposed to matter to Hoseok anyway, though, because Hoseok was never supposed to be involved. He had told Namjoon he was taking a season off - half from being exhausted after coming off a performance so draining and half because school is about to kick Hoseok’s ass. And Namjoon had pouted but he had agreed and Hoseok had been relieved so have some time to himself.

No suck luck because not two weeks after production has started and here Hoseok is - assuming old and familiar responsibilities he could have easily left alone in favour of abandoning responsibilities that are going to matter in like, five years. Because he’s one of the best friends anyone could ask for.

“We were basically under casted,” Namjoon explains, “there are so many roles, I basically had to cast everyone who auditioned. Which isn’t too bad, I guess, since they're all still drama club kids but -”

Hoseok knows what’s coming next. This is the part where Namjoon sets Hoseok on some impossible task that’s going to have him nearly rip his hair out before opening night. “What?”

“There’s this one kid, Taehyung, he’s weird but he’s cool,” Namjoon leans over to point out the boy’s name on the cast list, printed in neat letters underneath The Mad Hatter. “And he does improv, mostly, so he fits the role. He just -”

Namjoon stops again. “What?” Hoseok repeats, annoyed.

“He can’t remember any of his lines.”




Hoseok meets Taehyung for the first time at their first run-through of the tea party scene. They always pool actors from the local schools drama clubs. High school and college-aged kids mostly, depending on the average age they’re looking for. Hoseok recognizes some familiar faces because of this. He knows Jimin, who’s on stage right now wearing a bunny-ear head band to match his role of the March Hare and Seokjin, their usual vocal coach, sits at the back of the room with Namjoon. Seokjin’s probably here to poke fun more than anything else, though.

Taehyung is a relatively new face, though, wearing a towering light blue top hat. Hoseok’s seen the other boy around campus before, bright orange hair and a personality as large as Taehyung’s hard to miss. Hoseok thinks he’s the same year as Jimin, can guess by how chummy they’re acting on stage right now - but he’s not sure of anything beyond that, can’t even tell you what kind of classes Taehyung might take.

He greets Hoseok enthusiastically despite. “Hi!” He calls, hopping off the edge of the stage, “I’m Taehyung, you’re Hoseok, right?” The hats tipped down a little and Taehyung’s eyebrows have disappeared behind the brim. If Hoseok wasn’t dreading the work he was going to have to do with this kid, he would almost find it cute.

Hoseok nods and then Namjoon’s ordering a run-through of the scene from the top, Taehyung zoomed back up on the stage before Hoseok has a chance to say anything.




Taehyung ends up being as awful as Hoseok suspects. Or, maybe a little less. He forgets most if not all of his scripted lines but he’s done improv in the past, it’s his main experience, so the stuff Taehyung manages to pull out of his ass time after time is a little impressive.

But that’s not how theatre works. Taehyung forgetting his lines isn’t something that will go largely unnoticed by the audience - not if the stuff he pulls out of his mouth instead would make Lewis Carroll role over in his grave. They go out for food afterwards and after a long slurp of his milkshake Taehyung looks at Hoseok and says, “I’m pretty awful, aren’t I?”

Beside Taehyung, Jimin nearly chokes on a mouthful of hamburger. “I mean,” Hoseok starts. Taehyung’s blinking at him curiously, Jimin now watching and waiting for a response just as eagerly as Taehyung is. “No - no, you’re not that bad,” Hoseok insists, “at least, I’ve seen worse. I’ll help you out.”

Taehyung seems satisfyingly placated and sticks his straw back between his lips. The look Jimin is sending to Hoseok tells him Jimin is less convinced. A sentiment which Hoseok echos himself.




Hosek is right, though, however unlikely it had seemed. Taehyung takes some time but Hoseok works with him diligently and the days Taehyung doesn’t have to show up for rehearsal of his own scenes, he spends them with Hoseok, somehow balancing school work and furiously drilling every single one of his lines into his brain.

“This would be a lot easier,” Taehyung says one day, “if anything this guy said made any sense.”

Hoseok pulls his coffee cup away from his mouth slowly, eyebrows raised. “Taehyung,” He says incredulously, “that’s kind of the point. He’s the Mad Hatter.”

Taehyung has laid his chin on the open pages of his script, leaning against the table with his bangs in his face. He angles his breath upwards and blows at them a little. They disperse slightly from in front of his eyes. “I mean, yeah but - Jimin’s lines make much more sense.”

“Should have auditioned for Jimin’s part then,”




A month before opening night and the cast meet every night now - for hours on end - to do one or two full run-throughs of the entire play at a time. Hoseok sits beside Namjoon in front of the stage as they watch, mostly silent and taking small notes as they go. He’s needed less and less now, mainly he’s here to perch on Namjoon’s shoulder and make sure everything is running smoothly. And tug Namjoon back down into his seat when he shouts about projection and articulation at some of the mousy cast members.

Taehyung rarely falters now. His body language suits his role and his projection is fine and now that he can remember most of his lines, his occasional stumble into add-libbing seems less jarring and out of character.

“We’ve really connected,” Hoseok hears him say to Jimin one day, cradling his pale blue top hat to his chest. Yoongi, their costume designer, has also fit him with a bright purple suit jacket and ugly green pants. Jimin still wears the bunny-ear head band, a waist coat and brown slacks completing the look. “Me and my character - we are one, now, Jimin.”

Hoseok can see Jimin raise an eyebrow and nod slowly, “whatever you say, Taehyung.”




Opening night gives Hoseok the same headache that it always does. Namjoon nearly always has some sort of panicked aura around him the entire night, which makes him impossible for any cast member to talk to. And so Hoseok is suddenly responsible for everyone - and every little mishap or ripped costume piece they might come to him with. In the span of five minutes it feels like at least half of the cast members have come to him with loose hair pins, smeared make-up or some, like Jung Jungkook, having ripped the heart symbols off of their Playing Card costumes.

Taehyung seems relaxed, which Hoseok can at least be thankful for. He feels a little proud, he’ll admit, that he turned a blubbering mess of an actor into someone who can spend all his waiting time backstage lounging around with his head in Jimin’s lap. He looks cute, with the way his hat keeps slipping and the way he keeps tapping against Jimin’s thigh asking when they’ll finally be on.

Taehyung even still looks surprised when Hoseok tugs him up and out of Jimin’s lap, ushering them to their respective stage entrances as their scene approaches closer and closer. “You’re okay?” Hoseok whispers to Taehyung in the dark, stage lights illuminating just the edges of the others face. “Not too nervous.”

Taehyung shrugs, “I’m okay, I guess.”

“You’ll do good,” Hoseok insists. On stage, characters begin to make their exit and soon, the lights will dim so that the stage hands can move around props to change the setting and their Alice will re-enter to find Taehyung, Jimin and their tiny Doormouse on stage waiting for her. “Get ready.”

The lights turn off and next comes to the distinct shuffling that comes with deassembling one set and then assembling another. Hoseok puts a hand on the small of Taehyung’s back, ready to push him forward onto the stage to his spot.

Suddenly, just before he’s about to step out there, Taehyung spins around. Hoseok takes a step back, surprised, but then Taehyung grips him behind the neck. It happens so fast - like the lights turned off and suddenly Taehyung was facing in the span of a nanosecond and then a nanosecond later Taehyung is kissing.

And then a nanosecond later Taehyung is gone, taken his spot on stage, and the bright and hot stage lights are turned back on. Hoseok stands backstage, perplexed at the feeling of warmth of his mouth from having someone else’s lips on his own. He’s so stunned, momentarily, that a stage hand has to tug on his sleeve to remind him his job for the night is not done.




Hoseok makes an effort to talk to Taehyung after he leaves the stage but he ends up just as crowded around before, nervousness filling up the cast members as the closing scene of the show draws closer and closer. Jimin keeps high-fiving Taehyung and logically, it’s probably because of Taehyung’s performance, but the thought that it might be for something more makes Hoseok blush.

Before anything else, Hoseok wants to understand what Taehyung meant when he kisses him. Because for all the times Hoseok entertained the idea that Taehyung was cute, a little foolish, maybe, but cute and hard-working, he never got the idea that Taehyung felt anything remotely similar for him. It makes it hard to process.

The very last scene of the play, Taehyung leaves Jimin to go on stage without him, as the script dictates he does. Jimin has rubbed off the tiny nose and whiskers one of the make-up girls had drawn on him and he now clutches the bunny ears in his hand. When he approaches Hoseok though, he affectionately drops it on Hoseok’s own head before the older boy can protest. “Hey,” Jimin smiles.

“You did good tonight,” Hoseok returns the expression. He has a clipboard still clutched in his hand, an overview of which cast member is needed for which scene printed on it and a roughed out schedule of at what time each scene will start, which he abandons now that the production is nearly over. “We should go stand near the stage door,” He explains, “they’ll be doing curtain call soon.”

Jimin nods, following Hoseok out the backstage door along with a handful of other cast members. “So, listen,” Jimin starts as they all shuffle quietly towards the stage door, “Taehyung, he’s -” a lump forms in Hoseok’s throat at the mention of Taehyung and, somehow, he knows immediately that Taehyung has told Jimin about what happened just before their Mad Tea Party. “Taehyung’s really forward. Not because he means to be but just because. Because he’s not really sure how to talk about certain things. Which makes no sense because he does improv but kind of does because he’s, well - he’s Taehyung. He doesn’t make much sense to begin with.”

Hoseok nods slowly, but he can’t help the question that slips from his mouth. “Why are you -”

“Just,” Jimin interrupts. The stage door is open, cast members quietly filling in. Hoseok can recognize the lines coming from the open door, carrying with flawless projection and ease to them. They’re Taehyung’s. “I’m just telling you. I just wanted you to know.” Jimin’s gone after that, zoomed up the stairs with his fellow cast members. Hoseok left alone behind him.




They’re at Namjoon’s apartment, the party he normally hosts after every opening night. Last season’s had been a mess - someone had broken a full bottle all over the floor, a stain Namjoon now hides with a strategically placed rug, their had a been a noise complaint, and half of the cast had been so hungover the show they were supposed to put on the next night nearly didn’t happen.

It’s much more toned down this year. Their a pleasant, excited buzz in the air. They’ve finished their first show without too many problems and most of the cast are eager to get back on the stage tomorrow. Hoseok has a beer and he’s lost Namjoon in favour of the other boy having Seokjin sit in his lap - and suddenly all those rehearsals Seokjin was present at for no reason make much more sense. Hoseok relishes in the idea of getting to tease him about it.

Hoseok scans the party and slowly, his eyes land on Taehyung. He’s standing by Jimin (of course) at the snack table, Jimin keeps stuffing handfuls of pretzels into his mouth. Hoseok watches for a few moments, before Taehyung is purposefully turning his head to lock eyes. Hoseok gulps, caught. It’s all he can do not to get up and slip away when Taehyung shoves Jimin off into the direction of people playing beer pong and begins walking towards Hoseok.

The seat beside Hoseok is empty and Taehyung takes it. “Hi,” he says, and it sounds so much like the greeting he gave Hoseok the first day they met. The condensation from his bottle cools against Hoseok’s palm. “I was talking to Jimin and he was saying - he was saying maybe I was being too vague.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Taehyung slides forward on the chair, his knee pressing against the side of Hoseok’s. “That I was really nervous about kissing you like, so nervous, even more than going on stage. And then I did and then I realized Oh crap! He has no idea why I did that! So then I got nervous again. So then, finally, I talked to Jimin because I always do when I’m nervous.”

Hoseok is speechless for a second, the party seems to have gone quiet around him, even if that’s not the case. He manages to find enough of his voice to ask, “what did Jimin say?”

“He told me I should tell you that I kissed you because I like you,” Taehyung explains, “and that I want to kiss you again.”





This isn’t the first time Hoseok has made out with someone in Namjoon’s bed and chances are it won’t be the last. Taehyung has him wrinkling the pillow cases, pressed against the head board as he straddles Hoseok’s thighs, mouths working against each other.

Hoseok feels like he should have asked Taehyung more questions, before they jumped to this. Like why Taehyung likes him, how this started, when he decided he was going to ambush Hoseok with a kiss in the pitch dark. But Taehyung kept talking about kissing, over and over he just kept saying kissing, kissing, kissing and something about the way Taehyung’s mouth moved around the word made Hoseok wanted to put his own mouth against it.

So here they are.

Hoseok lifts his hands from where they rest at Taehyung waist up to fist in his hair when all of a sudden, Taehyung breaks away from him. “Wait, wait,” Taehyung whispers. He’s still so close that Hoseok can feel his lip moves in the way they graze against his own lightly. “I need to tell you something first, okay? I just need -”

The door slams open. It’s Namjoon, illuminated by the light in the hallway. Seokjin is peeking into the room from over his shoulder. “Gross,” Namjoon wrinkles his nose.

“Um,” Taehyung giggles, “oops?”
Namjoon rolls his eyes. “Honestly, I would have appreciated tmuch more if you would have gotten your act together sooner and avoided making out on my bed.”

Hoseok assumes Namjoon is talking to him, opening his mouth to protest, when suddenly Taehyung is speaking again. “I was nervous!”

“What.” Hoseok deadpans.

Taehyung turns his attention back to Hoseok, biting his lip. He shrugs sheepishly. “I might have just auditioned for the play so that I could get to talk to you.”

Hoseok blinks at Taehyung. Turns to look at Namjoon, then back to Taehyung, then back to Namjoon. “What.” He says again.

“This kid,” Namjoon speaks, a little slurred and clearly annoyed now, “auditioned because he had some gross crush on you. And then when I told him you weren’t involved he made me promise to get you involved. I mean, he was god awful at remembering his lines anyway - but I could have had somebody else work with him. But I did him a favour and got you.”

“You’re not mad are you?” Taehyung asks. His hands are on Hoseok’s cheeks, turning his head to face him. “I still really like you. You’re a good kisser. You still like me, right?”

Hoseok takes a moment to evaluate his feelings. He’s surprised, yes but - he finds he’s not angry. If anything, he’s a endeared. That Taehyung would go to so much trouble just to have an excuse to talk to him. To Hoseok. “Yeah,” Hoseok finally replies, “I still like you.”

Taehyung looks like he’s about to squeal with delight but instead he leans down and kisses Hoseok again, wriggling a little in his lap.

“Well, that’s all well and good,” Namjoon grumbles, “but can you please get out of my bed before you have sex in it?”