#— ✥ ⦙ in peaceful eyes & a godly mouth ⧼ aes. ⧽

[jimlingss]

The Colour of Our Voices [13]

Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 13.5 OR Chapter 14

➜ Words: 2.6k

➜ Genres: 98% Fluff, 2% Angst, Slice of Life, Broadway!AU

➜ Summary: He wasn’t supposed to hear. He wasn't supposed to know. But the instant Jimin came into your life and pulled the curtains back, you couldn't hide backstage anymore. You were no longer merely a phantom of the opera.

cr.

The day has finally arrived.   After two months of ruthless rehearsals, the tension is still running high. Everyone is experiencing their own stresses, especially considering that it’s the first showing of an original production.   The director still remains friendly, but he forces a smile when he greets the crew. Taehyung’s hand is permanently glued onto his coffee mug handle. The producers and writers are always sprinting past with their hair in disarray. Even you and Jimin are beginning to feel the pressure.   “One, two, three. One, two, three…” — “Point your toes! Your arms need to be higher!”   You look away from the script to the small stage. And right at that moment, Yeonjeon slips.   She stumbles onto the ground and cusses underneath her breath, brows furrowed hard enough to hurt. The choreographer sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Wrong. Wrong.” She waves her hand and the music in the background stops. “How do you not have it down?! The performance is in three days! You were doing it perfectly well last week?! What’s wrong with you, Yeonjeon?”   The actress wears a defeated expression, she opens her mouth before closing it, not able to come up with an excuse. But you walk over anyhow, quickening your steps. “She hasn’t slept,” you defend her, eyes pleading. “That’s why.”   You crouch down to help her up. Yeonjeon glares, but doesn’t refuse your hand, though it’s futile. She stumbles as she tries to rise, leaning her weight on you before falling back onto the ground again.   The choreographer exhales and nods. “Go get some rest then and be ready for tomorrow. If you wear yourself down so early, you won’t be able to perform at all.”   She walks away and Yeonjeon pouts at you.   Soon after, the two of you are backstage in a corner. Her ankle is in your lap and you wrap it carefully with white bandages. “How’d you know I didn’t sleep?” Yeonjeon childishly sulks at you, her eyes pointed, but you don’t feel as intimidated as she intends you to feel.   “I heard you mention it. Not intentionally.” You rush to say, “I wasn’t eavesdropping.”   The female scoffs, twisting her features and ruining her own beauty. “Why are you helping me, huh? Do you even know what I did to you?!”   She’s trying to get you as upset as she feels, and it’s amusing. In many ways, Yeonjeon reminds you of yourself. You wonder if this is what Jimin felt. “Doesn’t matter.”   “You’re an idiot,” she spits. “You’re supposed to hate me.”   “Hating people is tiresome.” You finish up before pressing a pack of ice to her ankle. She hisses at the coldness. “You should lay off that ankle for a while. Hopefully the swelling will go down, but if doesn’t, go see a doctor.”   “I know how to take care of myself, idiot,” Yeonjeon huffs, pushing your hands off of her to hold the ice herself. “Your kindness is irritating, you know that? I tried to steal your boyfriend,” she confesses out of the blue, itching to see you riled up.    But you don’t give it to her.   You simply stare with a blank expression.   She rolls her tongue in her cheek, waiting. But it never comes.   Yeonjeon gives up, and mutters with a downcast head, “But you don’t need to worry. He rejected my advances like I was gonna kill him. Your fucking boyfriend’s stupidly loyal, so you deserve each other. Idiots.”   You burst out laughing.   She becomes even more furious. “What?! You think this is funny to you?!”   “No.” You smile at her. “You just sort of remind me of someone.”   “Who?”   “Me. I was jealous once and I grew to hate that person, so I understand where you’re coming from. I’ll try my best not to be overbearing and to get out of your way.”   “I’m not jealous!” Yeonjeon scoffs again. “The more you talk, the more I hate you. Has anyone ever told you that your sincerity is sickening? I feel like throwing up. God, you and Park really do deserve each other. It’s disgusting.”   You’re unable to resist the grin that forms on your face and that only makes the female pout harder.

For the sake of peace, you try to get out of Yeonjeon’s way.    But she’s the one who approaches you. Her arms are crossed, eyes diverted elsewhere, but she mumbles about how if you want her to hate you less, you’d give her Kim Seokjin’s number. Unfortunately, you have no such thing, and she calls you useless before dragging you over to the lobby, waiting for him to come out of his usual rehearsals.   The Phantom production might be going down the drain, but Jin’s face certainly isn’t.   While you’d usually admire that godly man from afar like many others, this time you watch as Yeonjeon horrifyingly approaches him. Of course he rejects her, but then you get the chance to witness her stick up her middle fingers and sing a string of cusses to him.   Her psychoticness cements an unlikely friendship with you.   “Wait, we aren’t going out tonight?”   “I’m going to a movie premiere with Yeonjeon.” You shrug, moving past Jimin. “Apparently she knows one of the actors who talked badly about her to people and she wants to curse him out for it. She also wants to network with the producers there.”   “How is that going to work out for her?” Jimin asks, confused at the contradicting plans.   You giggle. “You tell me.”   Jimin sulks and slinks up from behind. He wraps his arms around your waist, propping his chin on your shoulder. “You’re spending so much time with her lately, what about me, huh?”   You turn around to face him with his arms still encircling you. “Jealous?”   “Yes,” he shamelessly admits. “All I want is to spend a little time with my girlfriend.”   “We ate lunch together.”   “Yeah, but I can’t talk when I’m trying to chew.”   “You see me every night.”   “Oh, I do a little more than seeing.” Jimin wiggles his brows and you lightly hit him in the chest, causing laughter to squeeze out of him. “Plus, why are you spending time with Yeonjeon of all people? She’s so cold to me now — she doesn’t even look twice at me anymore or even acknowledge my existence. She’s only friendly during the actual performance.”   “Why?” Your brow cocks and you quirk your head to one side. “You want her to flirt with you again?”   “That’s not what I’m saying,” the brunette whines. “How’d you get on her good side?”   “I can’t help that I’m just lovable.” You leave his arms, walking towards the bedroom to get changed.   Jimin follows and leans against the door frame with a grin. “Well, you’re not wrong about that.”   //   Practice ensues relentlessly.   And much to Taehyung’s dismay, the director becomes more hysterical. “And once you reach this part of the stage, everyone raise your arms? Yes, yes!”    “More passion! Louder! More grand gestures! More!” — “Can we get the spotlight right here?” — “I thought the prop was bigger than this! Where’s the bigger size?! We need bigger and better!”   “Oh my god,” Taehyung often groans, and while you try to help him, he always refuses and cites that if you did his job better then he’d get fired.   From dancing to singing, every detail is nitpicked and polished. “Sing with it as ‘ae’ instead of ‘ah’” — “Elbows out please!” — “Let’s do three twirls instead of four.”   But soon enough, dress rehearsal comes and you can’t believe it’s actually time.    “This is it, everyone. Last chance to ask or fix anything!”   Months of practice has led up to this point — your entire life and career thus far, what you’ve worked so hard for, what you aspired, it’s arrived. You’re excited as you are nervous, and mostly overwhelmed. But with Jimin here, you have the bravery to face the audience, to stand in the spotlight, and hear their applause.   The curtains rise in the same auditorium where you sat months ago to watch Jimin perform. Now that seat is taken by someone else and you’re on the stage. The stage that’s ready for you.   The lights dim. Slow music begins to play. You’re the first to enter the scene, treading through the thick fog on the ground. The right side of the stage is dimly illuminated and you stumble into the spotlight while looking off to the top of the stairs where a young brunette once stood.    Something begins to dust down to you. You’re equally amazed and horrified.    It nips at your nose and your brows furrow. “What’s going on?”   Your voice echoes throughout the audience and you hold your hand out. Snow begins to fall and you run off after a gasp. At the same time, the townspeople begin to flood in, marching through the blizzard with the first song.   The show continues with Jimin and Yeonjeon falling in love, how you’re forced to watch from afar until you try to break apart their relationship.   “There may be no sunshine or daytime, or flowers or warmth, but there’s you.”   “There’s you,” Jimin sings back to you, tone warm.   “There’s us,” you harmonize together. Loudly and clearly, facing one another with shared smiles that are all too real. “There’s us, together in this snowfield, together in this cold winter.”   The story progresses with how Winter forces the Summer fantasy to shatter, how Jimin comes to terms with the new world around him before succumbing to his love and refusing the truth.   “Eugene. What are you doing here?” Yeonjeon twirls around, the fabric of her dress moving with her. She exhales shakingly, both surprised and relieved. “I thought they told you to stay away from me.”   They meet one another halfway and he looks down at her. “Do you think I could’ve?”   “There’s no point.” Yeonjeon shakes her head and turns around. “I’m leaving.”   “Let me come with you.” He grabs her arm, stopping her before she can flee from him. He pulls her closer to him.   “I can’t. I’m running away. Running away from this winter.”   “Where to?”   “Beyond the sunrise and sunset, where summer still exists,”   “Do you think summer exists there?” Jimin asks, entranced by the mere idea.   “There has to be.” Their eyes meet and the orchestra pulls its strings, filling the auditorium with a wondrous and light melody.   Yeonjeon parts her lips, inhaling a breath. “You’ve come to save me.”   “I’ve come to love you.” He sings to her and they hold onto each other.   There are others dancing in the background and Jimin spins her around gently, the two of them sharing an intimate dance. The audience is mesmerized, breaths held as they watch.   “No love is better than ours,” they sing, voices melting together. “A rose-coloured world.”   The song ends with them gazing at each other and then sharing a soft kiss of longing.   “Why can’t you listen to me?!” you shout, closing the distance through three wide strides. “You will die if you leave. There is nothing beyond the horizons. Nothing! You will die!”   Jimin’s eyes are glossed over and he’s staring over your head with a dreamy expression, tiny smile gracing his lips. “Do you see that?”   “See what?” You glance over your shoulder before looking back at him. “There’s nothing there.”   “No…” Jimin walks off, entirely captivated like he’s under a spell. “It’s dandelion seeds floating in the sky. I can see it. It’s so pretty.”   “It’s winter,” you reason with your frustration increasing. “There aren’t any dandelions.”   But he walks off anyhow. You run after him, calling him at the top of your lungs.   The intermission of the show allows a fifteen minute break where you race to the bathroom and then psych yourself up for the last stretch of the performance. And you mimic what you’ve prepared, conveying emotions to the best of your abilities, allowing spite to take over you. Your character brews a storm to unleash, a storm of winter to both the past and the present.    But your lies inadvertently drives Jimin farther away, and in the end, you sacrifice yourself to save him — something the main female character takes credit for. The pair of them eventually run away together with dazed expressions, but happy nonetheless.   During the grand finale with all the storylines wrapped up and with the entire cast singing the last song, everyone comes onto the stage again. Jimin finds you and holds your hand, exchanging smiles and laughter as confetti strips blast and surrounding you both in a mosaic of vivid hues. You stand beside one another, facing the bright spotlight that doesn’t seem so frightening anymore.   And the audience rises together, giving a standing ovation. The applause roars throughout the auditorium, and you bow, waving goodbye. It could not be a better Broadway debut.

“Min Yoonji just released her review.”   “Really?” You hop up on the bed, leaning over to his phone screen. “What does it say?”   “The production of When Summer Meets Winter, albeit new and still in its infancy of development, is both surprisingly lively and very entertaining….” Jimin reads, voice trailing off.   “Does it really say that?!” You’re shocked, but a grin spreads across your face.   “While the romantic storyline is sustained through the main male lead and main female lead, Eugene and Sana respectively, it is certainly most felt through the main male lead and the female villain.”   He exchanges a look with you and smiles. Jimin can’t resist, so he throws his phone down and kisses you instead. He tackles you to the mattress, pinning you on your back, but you manage to squirm away, slipping out of his grasps. You grab the phone to continue reading.   “The production overall is a happy story for the indulgence of hopeless romantics, but it is undeniable that there is an underlying tragedy that will pull at the heartstrings of even those who don’t care for romance,” you read out loud, voice cracking and stuttering. “I would go as far as to argue that the story’s central focus was not on the primary protagonists but the female antagonist who successfully displayed a variety of emotions on stage.”   You’re sniffling, about to burst into tears. A thick, painful lump forms in your throat.   Jimin takes the phone with a laugh and moves a few paragraphs down, skipping the commentary of costumes of musical choices, continuing for you. “The production of When Summer Meets Winter is phenomenal in spite of being an original that still needs work and development. Looks like people on Broadway still know how it needs to be done.”   Finally, he’s able to toss his phone to the side, and he cheers. “It’s a stellar hit! We’re going to make so much money!”   “I thought Min Yoonji hated me!”

“Why?” He grins mischievously, nosing your cheek. “Didn’t she defend you in her other article?”   “She made me lose my job.” You pout even though you full well know it was a blessing in disguise.    “Should I go beat her up then?” Jimin’s eyes twinkle, causing you to burst out into giggles.   “I’m pretty sure you would lose. She looks pretty tough.”   “Hey, I’m tough too,” your boyfriend argues, but you shift to sit up on him, straddling his hips. Jimin breathing becomes shallow, watching you, and you squish his cheeks in one hand.   “You seem pretty soft to me,” you playfully quip. Jimin scoffs and pulls you down for a hug, letting you lay right on top of him. He snuggles into you. “How does it feel to be famous now?”   He sighs softly with a smile. “Amazing. But mainly because you’re here.”

[viscrra]

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