To Put On An Act [bxb]

Chapter 30 - lysander

Ben laughed. Wanda groaned.

"Sorry," he said with a grin. "That's so funny. Like, did he enchant her boobs?"

"Bosom means heart in this context. He bewitched her heart." Wanda's face had dropped, almost as though she was becoming the real Egeus. "Can we continue?"

"Maybe skip your whole long ass monologue thing and skip to my lines?"

"...Yes, fine. Your first line is-"

"You have her father's love, Demetrius." Youngbin had never heard someone speak to their supposed lover in such a bored tone. Even Alex on his first day as a fake boyfriend had been better at this. "Let me have Hermia, marry him."

"Let me have Hermia's, do you marry him," Youngbin corrected Ben, who rolled his eyes.

"Same thing."

"It's really not," Youngbin quickly noted. "You need to stick to the script." Wanda nodded.

"Do it again," she demanded, and Ben rolled his eyes a second time.

"You have her fathers love, Demetrius. Let me have Hermia's, do you marry him."

That sounded shit. Youngbin didn't want to say it, but nobody stopped him from thinking it. Wanda must've thought the same, because for the first time in a month, she actually looked him in the eye, shooting him the most desperate glance Youngbin had ever seen.

"Oh, scornful Lysander. True, he hath my love. And what is mine my love shall render him. And she is mine, and all-"

"I am as well der-"

"Ben, it wasn't your turn."

"Jesus, you do it better then." Ben tossed his script over to Youngbin, the papers beat up, scribbled on, torn and crumpled. He had that script for maybe a week. Youngbin cringed. He probably could've done it better. He wasn't going to say that, though. Wanda already did.

"Honestly, yeah. He's gonna do it a lot better." Another pleading gaze from her, but Youngbin shook his head, smoothed out the paper and passed it back to Ben.

"Okay, whatever. Where were we?"

"I am, my lord, as well," Youngbin started, and with another sigh, Ben picked up.

"I am, my lord, as well de- derived as he, as well posed. Possessed. My love is more than his. And which is more than all these boats-"

"Ben, are you even reading the script?"

"Jesus, what do you even want from me?"

"I want you to read the damn script!" Now it was Wanda that tossed her papers, causing the very first crumple in them. "Why are you even Lysander?" Then she turned to Youngbin. "Why are you not Lysander?"

"Because he can't play a straight man," Ben added, and the room froze for half a second. As if he wasn't sure if his joke had landed, Ben added: "'Cause he's gay."

He was, however, met with silence. Youngbin pressed his lips together. He felt- No, it didn't really make him feel anything. Just a slight bit of annoyance, maybe. But other than that, nothing. Just a strange kind of emptiness, a disconnect.

"And what does that have to do with anything?" Wanda then asked, slowly, quietly. It was the kind of voice she spoke with before performances, a forced calm.

"Well- Like, he can't play a straight guy because he's gay and he can't really know what it's like to be into women, so like, how is he supposed to play that?" Ben seemed to be serious about this. As if that was how it actually worked. Youngbin would've found it funny if it wasn't so dumb.