Sorry I've been having a bit of writers block over how I wanna deliver these last few chapters.
"So."
Joe raised an eyebrow at Lauren. They were in the rehearsal room, having volunteered to help color some last minute props during sixth hour. "So?"
"We gonna talk at all about Glee today?" Lauren asked as she colored the Reluctant Dragon.
"What do you mean?" Joe asked, reaching over to break off a piece of the enormous Hershey bar.
"Don't play dumb with me, you know what," Lauren teased, smirking at him. "You think that I didn't notice you and Brian fucking holding hands today in Glee? Not to mention the fact that you were making googly-eyes at him during your entire duet. And after."
Joe flushed horrifically. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Lauren raised an eyebrow at him, Joe sighing in defeat. "We've already had this discussion. Yes, I think he's cute, but I don't want to complicate our friendship. Also, I have a girlfriend that I'm super serious about."
Lauren bit her tongue, resisting the urge to say "Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" The last thing she wanted right now was for them to be fighting again.
Joe took advantage of Lauren being silent. "What about Joey?"
Lauren shook her head, snapping out of her trance. "What about him?"
"Don't play dumb with me, you know what," Joe reiterated, winking at her. "You two have been getting even chummier lately, am I wrong?" Lauren flicked him off, turning her attention back to her coloring. Joe scooted closer to her, laying down on his stomach and resting his head in his hands. "Come on, talk to me. I'm your best friend; I know when you have feelings for a boy. Sometimes before you do."
Lauren was quiet for a long time. Eventually she sighed, looking away from the dragon to face him. "He's really kind. And friendly; he makes everyone feel like his best friend."
"Aaaaand?" Joe asked, nudging her with his elbow.
She rolled her eyes. "He's a really reliable friend. Loyal too."
"Come on Lo, get to the good stuff."
Lauren bit her lip to hide her embarrassed smile. "Bro, he's fucking FUNNY!" She brought a hand to her mouth to hide her wide smile from Joe. "He seriously cracks me up more than anyone. And he's smart. And... cute. Super cute. Obviously. With that stupid fucking jaw. But despite all of that... he has like zero ego?" She sighed, blinking and breaking eye contact with Joe. "He's simply the best. He really is. He's, he's a great guy."
"See? What'd I tell you?" Joe teased cockily. "I know your feelings before you do."
"Then you'd know that I don't want a relationship," Lauren responded flatly, turning her attention back to her coloring.
"You don't want one, or you're scared to have one?" Joe asked, his mood softening as the conversation turned more serious.
"I'm going to college. I'm moving. There's no point in starting anything here. Not to mention the fact that I don't need a man. I'm an independent woman. Nothing and no one is going to distract me from my goals."
Joe raised his hands up in defeat. "Perfectly fair. I respect that. I just think you and Joey have a connection. A real connection."
Lauren sighed sadly. "You're probably right. So, back to you and Brian," she cut across, smirking at him.
"Jaime, who the fuck in THOMS Riddle?" Matt asked, loudly enough so that everyone in the room turned their attention towards him.
"Oh. My. God," Jaime brought her hands to her face as she realized her mistake on the graveyard plaque.
"How do you misspell a word that you're tracing?" Dylan asked, wrapping an arm around her.
"Joe, stop eating the damn Hershey bar!" Holden yelled. "That was like, a third of our budget!"
"Well, I find that all of these events leading up to the show are going swimmingly." Tyler yelled out, grinning happily.
xXx
It was a full house. Backstage Harry Potter the Musical was in complete and utter chaos as everyone rushed around, getting into costume and cramming in some last minute rehearsal.
"What's up sexy?" Darren yelled out to Joe in passing as he continued to play through 'Harry' on his guitar while Jaime ran through the chorus over and over again, having only gotten the song a few days before.
Joe was one of the few not in costume, given that his costume was basically just leggings. He'd strip down whenever it was time for him and Brian to get under the cloak. Dylan walked by, clapping him on the shoulder while Jaime held a video camera in his face. "Dumbledore, you excited for the show tonight?"
"Oh yeah, five and a half hours of sleep is just what I needed for three and a half hours of show."
"What are you doing?" Joe asked Jaime.
Jaime pulled the video camera away from her face, looking over what she'd just gotten of Dylan. "I'm making a behind the scenes video for when we're famous, duh." She pressed it back to her eye, aiming at Lily as she walked by. "Hey there Lil!" She yelled, making Lily blush awkwardly. Jaime turned the camera towards Joe. "Hey evil dude."
Joe leaned forward and stuck his tongue out at the camera, accidentally licking the lens in the process.
"Oh wow," Jaime mumbled to herself as she walked off.
"Oh I licked it!" Joe yelled in embarrassment as he opened the door to the dressing room. He walked in to find Brian to be one of the few people in there.
"Finally, I've been looking for you." Joe teased, sitting on the counter next to him.
"You're not going to lick me too, are you?" Brian retorted, buttoning up his Quirrell shirt.
"As the Dark Lord, I'll lick whatever I damn well please." Joe responded, winking at him.
Brian laughed awkwardly, trying to come up with a heterosexual explanation for that comment. He pulled his tie out of his bag. "Our duet was good today, don't you think?"
"Totally. You killed." Joe said with a smile.
Brian rolled his eyes. "So did you. Everyone loved it when you ripped your shirt off."
"I bet they would have loved it if you'd done it too," Joe reassured.
"Mhm, that's why I have to wear all of these layers under the cloak." He mumbled as he fiddled awkwardly with his tie.
"You're the brightest and sexiest professor at Hogwarts. Even more than Snape." Joe teased, raising his eyebrows at him seductively. A moment of silence passed as both of their faces flushed red. "Do you know how to tie a tie?" Joe asked to break the silence, amused by the look of alarm on Brian's face. "I've noticed that you haven't been wearing it in dress rehearsals."
Brian smiled at him awkwardly. "Not at all."
Joe giggled. "Come here," he said, raising his arms.
Brian obeyed, walking over and handing Joe his tie. "T-thanks," he whispered as Joe set to work.
"Of course. Anything else I can do for you? Do you need me to tie your shoe laces too?" He took a step back as Brian blushed even darker, admiring his tie work. "Looks pretty good. Is it too tight?"
Brian shook his head. "It's perfect."
"Damn, this play really has turned the two of you into an old married couple," Jim teased as they walked past them.
"Bite me Povolo," Joe responded, breaking eye contact with Brian. He walked over and grabbed his costume bag. "Help me with my makeup. You owe me."
"Anything for you, my Dark King."
xXx
Joe's insides were squirming. They were approaching the Act One finale, and the idea of going out and performing his solo for an actual audience was beginning to terrify him. Everyone was going to see him... his classmates, his teammates, Zoey.
"Are you okay?" Brian whispered over his shoulder, the two of them under the cloak. "You're trembling."
"I'm going to clip my crotch on that fucking cauldron man."
Brian laughed. "Everyone will be too distracted by your abs to notice."
Joe blushed. "I doubt it. Also it'll hurt my singing voice."
"On the contrary, maybe it'll improve your range. You'll be able to hit the high notes."
Joe rolled his eyes. "You're an asshole." He froze for a moment, weighing over his emotions. "I wish I could hug you, or hold your hand, or something right now. We're so restricted in this stupid thing."
Brian was incredibly thankful that he was back to back with Joe, because he knew that he was smiling like an idiot at that comment. "For real. I can't wait to bust out so we can fake dance."
"I can, to be honest," Joe admitted. "I don't know if I rehearsed this number enough."
"You've been singing this song nonstop ever since Darren gave it to you. We've rehearsed it for hours on end," Brian stated factually. "And you've fooled the entire cast into thinking that you're doing an eloquent tap dancing routine when you're literally just prancing around. Trust me. We got this." Brian fumbled around, finding Joe's hand beneath the cloak, giving it a squeeze. "Just go out and have fun. I meant what I said earlier in Glee. You're so much fun to watch when you just let loose and give it your all."
Joe squeezed back, feeling a lot more grounded. "Okay... let's do this." He whispered, before Brian threw the turban over their heads.
What he didn't tell Brian was how incredibly nervous he was for Zoey to see him perform. She'd always let on that she didn't exactly think that he was the most talented performer. He wanted to be good enough for her. He wanted to impress her. He wanted her to look up at the stage and be proud that she was dating him.
His anxiety had been so intense that the entire entrance into the scene had felt like an out of body experience. His hands were shaking so badly as he squatted down behind the cauldron that Brian had to take it off of them entirely on his own, and fasten on his cape for him. Brian froze as he got ready to jump over the cauldron, locking eyes with Joe, who was trembling. He smiled at him reassuringly, reaching down and giving his hand a final squeeze for good luck.
He watched Brian go, dramatically jumping into the air. "It worked!"
Joe began his evil laughing, even though he felt like he was going to pass out. He stood up on top of the stool, making the last minute decision to jump over the cauldron both legs at a time for the sake of protecting his crotch. (This is a legitimate fear that Joe had I'm not making this up, he talked about it during AVPM rewatch.)
The crowd burst into laughter and cheers at the sight of shirtless Voldemort. Joe took in the overall sounds of approval, hoping that his girlfriend was among them. He took a deep breath as he began stepping in his tap shoes, trying to calm down. He still felt like this was all a dream. He thought about what Brian had said. Let loose. Have fun.
He looked up into the spotlight, a smile spreading across his face. He allowed himself to forget entirely about the audience, about Zoey, about everything and everyone as he sang. This was just another rehearsal. He enjoyed prancing around the stage like an idiot, and then dancing and jumping up and down like a dork. Even better, making Darren dance around the stage like a dork. Once he got through his duet part with Brian, he knew that he was going to make it. Brian gave him a mini hug after their twirl together, hastily running his arm across Joe's torso as they walked past each other to their spots.
The audience slowly came flooding back to him as he hit his final pose at the end of the song, breathing heavily. "WHAAAA!" He screamed into the air, looking down at Brian who was on his knees with his arms out, looking up at him. Joe reached down, high-fiving him aggressively. He turned around and high-fived several of the death eaters as the crowd continued to cheer loudly.
He turned around and spotted Brian shakily making it up to his feet. Smirking, he ran over and playfully slapped him on the ass, causing him to blush as the entire crowd burst into laughter and applause.
Please give this chapter a vote if you enjoyed it! This is probably going to be the last filler chapter of the book cuz shit's about to get intense.