Outside of the school's auditorium stood a group of students, many of which were standing in their already-formed friend groups. Although they all stood there for the same purpose: awaiting the auditions for the school's upcoming play.

The largest group all formed around the most popular senior, Victor Nikiforov. He was known for his many lead roles in the past performances, as well as his extreme charisma, good looks, and amazing personality.

Around him stood multiple underclassmen. Juniors, Otabek Altin and Christophe Giacometti. Sophomores Mila Babicheva, Georgi Popovich, and Sara Crispino. As well as the only freshman in the group, Yuri Plisetsky.

On the other side of the lobby in front of the auditorium stood a smaller group, only consisting of three people: a junior, Yuuri Katsuki, a sophomore, Phichit Chulanont, and a freshman, Kenjirou Minami.

"Yuuri, what part do you think you'll get?" Phichit asked, his arm wrapped around his best friend's shoulders.

"I'm not really sure. I'm just here because you wanted me to be," Yuuri chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his already messy black hair.

Kenjirou raised his hand a bit as he tilted his head to the side slightly, "Ummm what play are we doing?"

"Oh Kenjirou!" Phichit burst out laughing. "You're so funny!"

"No, Phichit, I really don't know what we're doing," Kenjirou simply stated.

"I think it's some show called The Butler? I've never heard of it," Yuuri said, barely above a whisper.

"Well, this school sure loves doing plays that no one has ever heard of," Phichit pointed out.

"True." Yuuri nodded in agreement.

The auditorium door creaked open as one of the directors peeked out. "Victor, you're up first!"

"Coming Minako!" Victor called out in a sing song voice before saying something to his group. He walked into the auditorium.

Quickly, Phichit pulled Kenjirou and Yuuri into a close huddle, earning a squeak from Kenjirou.

"There he goes!" Phichit began in a hushed voice, "Like he's so good, better than all of us. Bet you he's gonna get the lead."

"But if he's good, shouldn't he get a lead?" Yuuri inquired.

"Yeah..." Kenjirou added in.

Phichit sighed. "I know you both are new to this whole acting and drama thing but it gets kind of annoying when one person continues to get the lead. Some of us try very hard and get nothing. Well, we all get a part, because they do extras... but still."

"But-"

"No Yuuri, it gets really annoying. You're not changing my opinion. We need someone to knock him down a peg," Phichit murmured as the door opened again and Victor walked out and back over to his group. Minako came out and called another name.

"Yuuri! You're up next!" At her words both Yuri and Yuuri started making their way towards the door. The younger of the two glared at the other as Minako realized what was happening. "Oh, sorry, I forgot that there's two Yuris. Yuuri Katsuki." she smiled.

Yuuri started walking to the open door while Yuri reluctantly went to go stand with his group. Yuuri turned to Phichit and flashed him a shy smile. His best friend, along with Kenjirou, gave him two thumbs up in encouragement.

As soon as he walked in, Minako handed Yuuri two pieces of paper, one being dialogue from the script the other being a monolog. The only lights on in the auditorium where the stage lights and a couple house lights.

"Here you go Yuuri. Take a couple minutes to read over the lines and then take the stage when you think you're ready. And just tell us whether you'll be doing the dialogue or monologue first," Minako said as she patted Yuuri on the back before going to sit back in the front row with the other two directors, Celestino and Yakov.

With a gulp, Yuuri looked down at the papers handed to him. His anxiety was slowly beginning to creep back up at the thought of being alone on stage. But his mind flashed to his friends standing outside of the auditorium, both encouraging him. Sighing, Yuuri gathered the courage to read completely through the lines multiple times.

Finally, Yuuri started his way up to the steps leading onto the stage, gripping the papers tightly in his hands. He bit the edge of his lip slightly, and ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to calm himself. It did a little bit in helping him, but he could feel himself shaking slightly. He did his best to steady himself so that none of the directors could see it. He attempted to gather all of his confidence as he began speaking, "I'll do the monologue first."

"Alright," Minako smiled as she nodded, "start when you're ready."

The stage lights seemed impossibly hot and bright. Shutting his eyes momentarily before starting Yuuri gathered himself. With a sigh he began reading a part from the butler character, "This is a hard job, it really is. I have to wait on him," he added an arm motion to emphasize the line, "And boy, is that hard all on its own. But does it stop there? Oh no, of course it doesn't. He just loves to toy with my emotions."

Soon Yuuri found he was losing himself in the lines he was reading. The majority of his anxiety was gone, the only thing he felt was the emotions of the character he was portraying as he continued, "I get my hopes up with the thought that maybe, just maybe, there's a chance he feels the same way about me. Every glance he sends me, his eyes," for emphasis Yuuri added a slight groan, "I could get lost in them. But the only thing that I'm in the position of losing is my job. If I mess up one more time that could be it! Although I'm not sure what he's classifying as a mess-up. But I'll keep going, I'll keep trying."

To him it seemed like the monologue was on the shorter side, although there was the chance that it was one of the longer lines in the play. Which is why it was chosen for the monologue. Either way, Yakov simply stated that they would move onto the dialogue part of the audition. Yuuri would be reading the part of the princely man of the house character and Minako would read for the maid.

"And begin," Yakov huffed as he intently watched Yuuri on stage.

After a moment of hesitation Yuuri began in an annoyed voice, "Is the food ready for dinner tonight?"

"I'm pretty sure?" Minako answered from her spot in the seats.

"You're pretty sure? You don't know?" He let out a loud sigh, "Can none of you do anything around here? What about the water? That has to at least be kind of cold."

"Ummm…."

"Let me guess, you don't have any water. Of course," Yuuri said as he threw his hand not holding the papers up in the air. "I might as well just do everything myself."

"We're trying, we really are."

"Well you're not trying hard enough."

"And we'll stop there!" Celestino called out excitedly as he clapped his hands together, "That was really good Yuuri! This is your first time auditioning?"

"Uh yeah." Yuuri sheepishly smiled and rubbed his neck again. "Phichit convinced me to come and audition, I would have been happy with stage crew."

"You light up on the stage!" Minako added.

"Alright you two," Yakov scowled at the two next to him. "Thank you Yuuri, you're done."

Yuuri simply nodded before quickly making his way off the stage and handing the papers back to Minako before making his way out of the auditorium and back into the lobby. After he closed the door and turned around he was faced with Phichit and Kenjirou throwing their arms around him.

"You did it Yuuri! You got up on that stage and I bet you blew them away!" Phichit exclaimed. Yuuri knew he was referencing his anxiety; that usually in most circumstances got the better of him.

"I tried," Yuuri chuckled but soon became quiet when he noticed that a certain upperclassman was walking towards their little group. He gently elbowed Phichit for him to turn around and look.

"I don't think we've ever met," Victor grinned and held out his hand to Yuuri.

"But we have the same AP history class?" Yuuri questioned as he accepted the hand in front of him.

"Oh do we?" Victor asked as he tilted his head to the side and placed a finger on his cheek.

"I sit in the back so I guess it's only natural you wouldn't notice me." Yuuri shrugged as he looked at the floor.

"Anyway, it's nice to see you joining the theatre family..." He paused as he waited for Yuuri to fill in his name.

"Yuuri."

"Yes! Of course, let me welcome you to our family! And your friend," Victor said as he turned towards Kenjirou.

"Kenjirou!" He excitedly answered as he glanced at the other group to see Yuri looking to see what was going on. "I'm Yura's friend." Kenjirou grinned as he nodded to the blond standing in the other group.

"You call him Yura? That's adorable," Victor chuckled slightly, "and it's nice to see you back again Phichit."

"Of course! Maybe this year I'll beat you for the lead," Phichit said as he placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. "Or maybe Yuuri will!"

"What?! Me? No way!" Yuuri looked at his friend, shocked.

"Who knows? Maybe you'll beat me, newbie," Victor whispered in a sweet voice as he placed a finger under Yuuri's chin. Kenjirou began to turn a shade of red close to the coloured part of his hair from second hand embarrassment.

Victor only moved his hand down and turned away when he heard Mila calling his name. He momentarily stopped to turn and look at the trio again. "May the best actor win." He sent a wink to Yuuri whose turn it was to turn a shade of red.

Quickly he pulled Phichit close and began to whisper, Kenjirou attempting to listen in, "Phichit, I think I'm in love." It simply earned him a laugh from his friend.

"You think you're in love with Victor? You guys legitimately just met each other," he pointed out.

"Actually I know him from AP history," Yuuri corrected.

"Either way," Phichit sighed and shook his head. "This is probably the only time you've talked."

"Phichit." Yuuri frowned.

"Yuuri."

"Kenjirou!" The blond joined in happily, making the other two burst out laughing. Yuuri leaned over to ruffle his hair.

"I'll be your wingman, Yuuri." Phichit stated.

"Thank you so much Phichit!" Yuuri smiled as he threw his arms around his best friend. What made him let go was when Minako popped her head out of the door and called for Phichit.

"That's my call." Phichit gave a small wave to his friends as he walked into the auditorium.

~oO0Oo~

"Attention all drama club members, the cast list is now posted on the auditorium door," the announcement rang out throughout the school, causing many people to run to the auditorium to check the paper that was taped up.

While heading to the auditorium, Yuuri ran into both of his friends who were already walking there together. He also noticed that Kenjirou was walking with the other Yuri. They were both freshmen so he figured they both had come from the same class.

"So, how do you think you did?" Phichit asked as he wrapped an arm around his friend.

"I think I'll be lucky if I get a part as an extra," Yuuri nervously laughed. His anxiety was slowly beginning to rise at the thought of seeing what role he got, although it was more nervous anxiety than anything.

"Well, we'll see, they usually list parts with the leads at the top, and the smaller ones at the bottom," Phichit explained.

Yuuri nodded in understanding, "That makes sense."

He felt a tug on his arm when he looked down to see that Kenjirou had started dragging him and Phichit over to the door with the paper. "Come on guys!"

Sighing, both Yuuri and Phichit let themselves get dragged, smiling a bit at each other. As they approached, they noticed that a crowd had already formed, with Victor at the front of it. The trio pulled to a stop in front of the crowd, with Yuri pushing his way through.

Victor turned around and easily maneuvered his way through the crowd, everyone moving to the side for him, as he walked over to Phichit and Yuuri. There was a slight smile on his face as he stood in front of them.

"You must really be good, Yuuri," Victor said as he took another step towards them, "to have taken the lead like that."

Yuuri thought his heart might pound out of his chest with the way Victor said his name. Phichit grabbed his friend's arm in an attempt to steady him.

"Yuuri you got the lead?!" Kenjirou asked excitedly before bounding over to the paper on the wall. When he read it he let out a slight squeal. "You did, Yuuri! You really got it!"

Incoherent mumbles were the only things that Yuuri say as he attempted to comprehend what was happening. "Me- uh, n-no the- me?!"

"Yes you," Victor grinned as he placed his fingers under Yuuri's chin like he did the previous day, "and if I'm correct you're my love interest."

With that comment Yuuri's mouth fell open. "WHAT?!"

Phichit slowly walked away to go check and see his part, but quickly flashed Yuuri a thumbs up as if to say, 'You got it!' and left him alone with Victor.

"I'm pretty lucky I get to share the stage with someone this cute," Victor added as he ran a thumb over Yuuri's continually reddening cheek.

"Uh wouldn't you um rather it be a pretty girl? Like um," he paused until he saw Mila standing over in the crowd, "like Mila!"

Victor laughed as he removed his fingers from Yuuri's chin, "Oh no! She's with Sara! And she's like a sister to me."

"Oh…" Yuuri trailed off, not entirely sure what to make of the current situation.

The second bell of the morning rang through the building, causing the crowd to disperse. Phichit came back to link his arm with Yuuri's with Kenjirou on his other side. Before he left, Victor turned around and blew Yuuri a kiss.

"Ah, look at you!" Phichit gently elbowed Yuuri in the side. "I don't need to do anything! Looks like you got Victor all by yourself!"

"Mhhm!" Kenjirou hummed in agreement.

"I'm not sure what's going on, Phichit."

"Yuuri, the drama club is a weird place, filled with some weird people. I don't think any of us really know what's going on." Phichit shrugged as he replied to his friend.

Together, the trio walked back to their classes. Yuri hadn't joined them, as he was probably still with his other friend group.

~oO0Oo~

Heading towards the other side of the school, Victor and Chris walked together, leaving the rest of their friends to leave for their own classes.

"So you're not upset you didn't get the major lead?" Chris asked as they walked past hallway after hallway.

"No, I'm fine. I still got a lead." Victor shrugged.

"You also got a serious crush on someone," Chris said as he raised an eyebrow at his friend.

With a groan Victor brought his hands up to his face, "He's just so..." not knowing what to say he just groaned again. "I am so majorly screwed."

Chris just chuckled and gave him a couple pats on the back. This sure was going to be a fun play.

~oO0Oo~

That same week rehearsals began, once again calling the members of the club to the auditorium. The doors were unlocked and everyone proceeded to pour in, filling up parts of the first couple rows of seats. Kenjirou, Phichit, and Yuuri all stuck together towards the left side of the room.

Soon enough Minako was calling for everyone's attention so she could hand out the scripts from the large box positioned on the stage. Phichit grabbed a couple highlighters out of his bag and tossed them to Yuuri and Kenjirou. "For highlighting your lines," he explained.

"Yuuri!" Minako called out, with a script in hand. Both Yuris started to make their way forward before she caught herself. "Okay, so since there's two of you, we're going to call you-" she pointed at the blond of the two, "Yurio!"

"What?!" the one now nicknamed Yurio exclaimed in anger.

"Yep," Minako stated as she placed one hand on her hip, the other still holding the script out, "Yuuri, here you go."

The junior quickly rushed up and quietly thanked Minako before making his way back to his side of the auditorium. She ran through the entire list of names until everyone had their script and began marking their lines, most using highlighters like Phichit had suggested.

The majority of the rehearsal went perfectly fine, except for when everyone was told to sit on the stage in a circle so they could read through their lines. It ended up being more of an oval because, after all, drama kids can't make circles. Although the play itself seemed to have little plot to it, everyone had at least one part where they laughed.

"Isn't he just so handsome?" Mila asked dreamily, as she was acting in the role of the maid, talking about Victor's character.

"He really is," Yuuri added, of course playing the main role of the butler.

There were many occasions when Victor's character would attempt to flirt, or whatever they wanted to call it, with Yuuri's character who either was never paying attention, missed it completely, or was just oblivious.

Overall, it was a fairly uneventful rehearsal, and many of them stayed like that. The most interesting time was during the last performance of their show, closing night.

~oO0Oo~

One of the borrowed classrooms was setup to be able to allow cast members to get ready for the play. Everyone was absent from the room, except for Chris and Victor. Both stood in front of a mirror which had been propped up against a stack of books. They were both attempting to apply their stage makeup as they talked.

"So, are you going to make a move with Yuuri? I mean, you both clearly have a thing for each other. And you're pretty close now," Chris said as he held the eyeliner pencil in his hand and lined his eyelid.

"I was thinking about it. I'm not sure how," Victor sighed as he finished by brushing powder on his face, making both him and Chris cough as it went everywhere.

"Just surprise him, that'll work," Chris suggested as he placed a hand on his hip and turned to face his friend, eyeliner pencil in hand.

"Surprising the audience," Victor nodded and murmured.

"I'm not sure what you're thinking but I think I like it," Chris grinned as both him and Victor started to make their way out of the room, and head backstage. The tails on the coats of both of their costumes flared out a bit as they walked.

~oO0Oo~

Off on the side of the stage Phichit, Yuuri, and Kenjirou all stood together, their voices hushed. Yuuri turned to Kenjirou and attempted to straighten his tie.

"There you go, you look great!" Yuuri said when he was satisfied with the tie's position. All of them were dressed formally: black slacks, white button up shirts, as well as black vests for Phichit and Kenjirou, while Yuuri had a black jacket with coat tails. His short black hair was slicked back, but he still kept his glasses.

Moments after he spoke, the stage lights shut off with a loud noise. It was almost time for the show to begin, so Yuuri went to take his spot on the stage. Gradually, he felt his anxiety beginning to creep back up. He attempted to swallow it down as Victor came on stage to take his place. This was the last performance. He could do it.

In the slight light that seeped through the curtains, Yuuri caught Victor's eye. The senior flashed him a smile that made his heart beat wildly, and his face flush that he was glad there was minimal light on the stage.

After a couple of minutes the curtains parted and the lights were brought back up onto the actors on the stage. And so the play began.

Everything was going great, Yuuri thought that there were only a couple minutes left until the intermission started and everyone got a short break. He continued to tell himself that: just a little more and then the first half would be done. But at the same time his heart rose in his throat. It was the scene where it was just Victor and him on stage, and at one point their faces were so close to each other one would think they might kiss. After all, there is the romantic subplot between the characters.

But Yuuri knew that they don't actually kiss. That wasn't in the script, and that's what he kept repeating to himself as Victor pulled his face closer to his, slim fingers under his chin.

With a gentle smile on his face, Victor spoke calmly into his mic. "Your eyes are absolutely mesmerizing up close."

"Uh- um t-thank you, Sir," Yuuri intentionally stuttered. Coming up, Victor would say his line and Yuuri would quickly back away flustered, then begin to gather some of the props on the table on stage before heading off stage with the start of intermission. Well, that's what he thought would happen.

"I've been wanting to do this for a while," Victor commented as a single thought momentarily went through Yuuri's mind: 'This isn't his line, it isn't in the script.'

But his mind went blank shortly following that when he realized that Victor's lips were on his. He barely registered the multiple gasps that came from offstage, as well as a cheer which was quickly shushed. Although he expected that some of the crowd had their mouth hanging open.

A moment later, the pressure and warmth from Victor's kiss was gone. Hastily, Yuuri attempted to get back into character and bring the show to intermission. So he grabbed some of the props and hurried off the stage, the sound of the curtains closing and the crowd clapping followed. A voice came over the loudspeaker saying something about intermission lasting 15 minutes.

Backstage Yuuri did his best to regain his composure as Phichit and Kenjirou came rushing over to his side.

"Yuuri! What was that?" Phichit excitedly asked.

"I wasn't expecting that," Kenjirou said, his mouth still half hanging open.

"Well clearly you weren't," Phichit commented. "You had one of the largest gasps. But I mean, none of us expected that!"

Taking a moment, Yuuri straightened up and responded. "I'm not sure. But excuse me, I'm going to find him." He walked off into the hallways attached to the back of the stage.

After looking around for a moment, Yuuri spotted Sara standing against the wall on her phone. She must have been off the entire time as her part didn't really come on until act 2. Quickening his steps, Yuuri made his way over to her.

"Hey Sara, do know where Victor is?"

His voice made her look up, a smile spread across her face when she realized who was talking to her. "Oh Yuuri! Victor's probably in the classroom with Chris."

He murmured his thanks before making his way towards the room. Lucky for him it was just Chris and Victor there, and they weren't even in the room. Instead they both stood outside in the hallway.

"Um, excuse me Chris," Yuuri politely interjected himself into the conversation they were having. "Could I possibly speak to Victor alone?"

"Ah! Of course!" A smirk formed on the blond's face as he moved away and sent a wink to Victor.

Yuuri waited a couple moments to make sure Chris had completely left before he pulled on Victor's tie to bring him down to face him. A look of surprise appeared Victor's face.

"Victor."

"Yes, Yuuri?" Victor sheepishly smiled.

"This is for kissing me in front of everyone out there." Yuuri leaned up the rest of the way and firmly pressed his lips against Victor's, not entirely sure what to do. He kind of hoped that Victor would take some sort of lead in the matter, which didn't happen.

"You're a terrible kisser, Yuuri," Victor said with a smirk when he pulled away. "Although I'm not against this."

Yuuri's grip on his tie loosened and let go as his hand instead rested on Victor's chest. On the other hand, Victor slid one arm around his waist and the other at the nape of his neck, slightly tangled in raven hair.

Their faces so close to each other, Yuuri could feel their breath mixing. He wasn't entirely sure where he got his courage from but it had to come from somewhere. "Well, I could get better if you kissed me more."

"Oh I plan to," Victor grinned as he softly kissed him again, only stopping when he heard someone in the cast saying something about there only being 5 minutes left to intermission and that everyone should start getting into position. "Except not now, apparently."

"That's too bad."

Already, Yuuri missed the feeling of Victor's lips on his. They were so soft and tasted vaguely of vanilla.

"It is." Victor gave him a quick kiss. "But I'm fairly sure this will be a show you'll never forget."

Yuuri just grinned as he took Victor's hand and started walking back towards the stage. He was right: this would be a show he wouldn't forget for a while.

So a couple things before I say some other stuff:

One, before anyone asks, yes stage makeup is a thing, even for guys. It's to accentuate features so that your face doesn't blend together to those in the audience.

Second, this story is heavily based off of how my high school drama club works. In the ways such as how auditions work and show days. But, that doesn't mean that this is how all work. It even varies from my own. But that's not the point.

Third, I also have absolutely no idea about what the plot is of the show they're performing, I guess whatever you want it to be?

Okay, glad I said those things. Anyways! This idea has been bugging the back of my mind for a while. It has influences from multiple different acting au prompts I have previously read. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I hope you guys are as well!

Well, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

Reviews and favorites are appreciated!