Stage crisis (COWT10, week 3, m3)

[hakurenshi]

Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Prompt: Omegaverse/Teatro/”Stop texting me weird stuff so late at night” (M3)
Parole: 955 (carta dolce miele di Melek)
Warnings: modern setting, creepy theatre scripts

Linhardt and Caspar have been childhood friends since forever, so of course they have always known almost everything about each other. They have done things together all the times, be it going to school - and they are still schoolmates even now in college -, try out some acting, discover each other second gender. Not even the medical results managed to separate them: despite them being an alpha and an omega, they have never thought about staying away from the other.

But going back to the theatre and the acting. Linhardt is sitting on a chair, on the stage; it’s Sunday in the morning, he gave up his precious sleep to help Caspar. Tomorrow is the first day of their small group performance and his best friend still hasn’t memorized the whole script. Crossed arms against his torso, when Caspar stays silent without the slightest idea about how to finish his line, Linhardt frowns and looks at him, eloquently. 

«Caspar» he calls «this is the third time you stop.»

Caspar growls, quite literally, frustrated more than anyone else, hands on his face «I know.» he almost cries, stomping on the stage with his foot. Linhardt gets, at this point, that they can’t go on like this if he wants to go back to sleep before midnight.

«I don’t get it!» Caspar exclaims «How am I supposed to act as an omega? I’m an alpha!»
«Well, I act as an alpha.»
«Exactly! Why?! We could have just done the opposite!»
«Aaaand goodbye to acting.»

Caspar looks at him, dumbfounded for several seconds; then, as if some dots just linked in his brain, he looks offended: «Are you saying I can’t act?!»
«Well. So, your omega.»
«You traitor! Doesn’t our friendship mean anything to you?!»

Linhardt stares at him, like he’s trying to mentally tell him “are you for real?” and then he just remembers that Caspar has a lot of qualities, but “being perceptive” is not one of them.

«I’m here, ten in the morning, to help you. I could have slept until two in the afternoon. If this is not enough friendship for you, Caspar...»

They stay quiet for a bit; Linhardt can tell that the other is trying his best, but Caspar has never been one to memorize stuff - which makes it even more incomprehensible why he chooses to take that acting class, but whatever - so of course it’s so complicated for him. Especially this time, since he has to act as someone completely different from him. Linhardt sighs: there is no other way.

«Let’s do the scene again together.» he offers, standing up from the chair; Caspar beams with gratefulness and joy, closing the distance between them with two big steps.

«So, the scene where we talk about texts, right?»
«Right! You really are my saviour, dude!»

Yeah. Dude. 

*

Caspar shows him the screen of his mobile phone, a text Linhardt knows way too well almost staring back at him; it’s something he sent during the night - at least his character did, Linhardt uses his nights for two things: studying stuff he is interested in and sleeping. What’s with people texting at two in the night? - and as he moves his gaze between the screen and Caspar’s face, he’s not fazed at all. 

«You have to stop.» Caspar says, frowning and worried «This needs to stop.» he adds as he search for some kind of reaction on Linhardt’s face. He doesn’t find any.

«I don’t see the problem. I was thinking of you so I texted you.»
«Reason aside, it was two in the morning, man!»
Linhardt looks at Caspar - the childhood friend, not the character he’s acting as - and sighs «Caspar, “man” is something your character definitely doesn’t say.» he points out.
Crap, he hears the other whispers, apparently to himself, before clearing his voice with a couple of small coughs.
«Reason aside, it was two in the morning!» he repeats, sticking to the script this time. So Linhardt goes back to act as well: «So it would be okay for me to text you if it was during the day?»
«That’s not the point!» Caspar replies and, wow, he can sound almost believable «Stop texting me weird stuff so late at night!»

Linhardt pretends to be confused, as if he doesn’t understand what’s so weird about it. Seriously, though, this script is awful and clearly a delusion; nonetheless, he keeps acting «What’s so weird about it? Is it because I wrote that I think about you, that I can’t forget about when I saw you change clothes? How I understood myself for the first time or is it about me wanting you to be my mate?»

Urgh. That’s pretty creepy. And that’s when Caspar frowns again, opens his mouth to speak and yet only manages to gasp. Linhardt can see him blush slightly and he knows it’s the end of this even before Caspar gives up.

«Urgh, that’s so embarrassing!»
«Well, you alphas are kind of embarrassing anyway.»
«I’m not???»
«Not so creepy, yeah. Also you don’t text late at night.»
«You wouldn’t answer anyway...»
«Oh?» Linhardt replies and thinks: does he want to spend some energy to make more fun of him? Or would it be better and wiser to just finish with their rehearsal and go back to sleep at home? 

«So you wanted to text me about the fact you can’t forget when I changed clothes in front of you?» he makes fun of him because, well, more than ten years of friendship and you more or less do everything together at some point, be it while naked or dressed.

The desperate sound Caspar lets out echoes in the empty theatre.