"Ten! Come, come!" He'd barely entered the auditorium before Kayla had grabbed his arm, tugging him towards the group. It was their fourth rehearsal and Ten was beginning to relax a little more.

With the exception of Johnny, he'd established some form of bond with the rest of the cast and settled in well. He'd grown close to Kayla in particular, they often hung out just the two of them before and after rehearsals, getting food, costume hunting, even just relaxing at either of their houses listening to music or running lines. She was nice and he was thankful to have someone he could lean on if he ever needed it.

"I want to work on individual scenes. Mark and Kayla, act one, scene five with me. Andrea, Freddie, work with Ky on Don't Do Sadness and Blue Wind, I have the scores here. Uh..." Oh please, no. "Ten and Johnny, act two scene five. Basic staging please, I'll come and work with you in an hour."

Kayla gave Ten an affectionate squeeze to his bicep, a sad smile of understanding. She knew how Ten felt about Johnny, they discussed it frequently. He wanted to be positive. 

Johnny approached Ten who was sat on the floor and took a seat opposite, slamming down his script with a deep, exaggerated sigh. Ten glanced up, swallowing as he waited for Johnny to speak first, met with an uncomfortable silence. Instead, his gaze fell back on the script, reading over the stage directions, plotting things out in his head. He wasn't sure how long has passed but the silence was broken, taking Ten by surprise.

"Do you not like me?" Johnny spoke abruptly, getting right to the point. That was one thing that Ten admired about him. Johnny would never beat around the bush.

"What gave you that idea?" Ten didn't look up, turning the page, pretending to be too drawn into the script.

"You never speak to me." He sounded a little irritated, Ten felt a slight pang of guilt. "You're cold with me, it's weird." 

"I just have nothing to say to you."

"There, you're cold with me." That caught Ten's attention. He looked up, staring at Johnny, surprised by the glimmer of mischief in his eyes. "I'm a nice guy."

"I'm sure you are."

"Then what's with the attitude"

"There's no-" Ten paused, taking a deep breath, calming his voice to a whisper. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention to any conflict between cast members. "There's no attitude. I'm sorry for being cold. Shall we do the scene?"

Johnny wanted to speak up. He wanted to say something to ease the other's worries, but he couldn't think of anything to say. It was one of the few times he was speechless and he didn't like it. He didn't like the idea of someone not liking him. That was his problem; he wanted everyone to like him and took it far too personally when someone didn't. Still, they had nine weeks of rehearsals together. That was nine weeks that Johnny had to figure Ten out. He was a mystery and Johnny didn't like the unknown.

"Sure." Johnny pursed his lips together, exhaling through his nose slowly. He wasn't admitting defeat so easily.

"If we just read it once, just to go over it again and then stage it after. I'm guessing you know the lines, so we-"

"You're from Thailand, right?" Ten stopped once again, blinking up at Johnny. "Judging from your surname. It's unusual. Is it true that no two Thai surnames are the same?"

"I don't see what that has to-"

"I think I like yours. I'm not sure how to pronounce it but it's nice to look at. You'll have to teach me."

"Johnny, can we just do the damn-"

"I think that's the first time you've ever said my name." Ten scowled, realising he was right.

"And your point is...?"

"No point. Just stating a fact." A sickeningly sweet smile spread across Johnny's lips, a grin just for Ten. He shifted slightly, not liking the attention. "Okay, let's do this then."

Ten sighed with relief, his gaze back on the script. He really had to learn to not be so awkward, especially with someone he's going to have kiss. Oh, the kiss. He'd forgotten about that. His heart twisted in his chest at the thought of it, not sure if he was ready for such a thing. He refused to think about that right now.

"Those bells.. So peaceful." Johnny's voice changed instantly, the irritation melting into a smooth, deep voice that would've been enticing to anyone.

"I know. Sometimes, when it's quiet.. in the evening like this, I imagine--"

"What do you think of Kayla?" Ten paused at Johnny's interruption but he chose to ignore it, continuing on.

"I imagine myself as a country pastor, with my red-cheeked wife, my-"

"She's pretty cute, don't you think? I'm so glad she got the role of Wendla."

"-My library, my degrees. Boys and gir-"

"Just wish I was Melchior. At least I know how to kiss, I'm pretty sure, Mark hasn't even-" That was it. Johnny was driving Ten insane. He just wanted to get through the scene in peace. He snapped the script shut, head rolling to the side with a glare in his eyes. 

"Are you for real? I get it, you're pissed that you didn't get the role. I'm sure you're normally the golden boy around here, always in charge with the girls swooning at your feet. But guess what? You're not the lead. Mark is. And you trying to tear him down with your pathetic attempts is exactly that: pathetic. So grow up and shut up about it. Can we just do the ing scene?"

Ten's hands were shaking slightly from the sudden outburst. That wasn't normally like him, especially not to someone he barely knew. He was just tired of hearing the same old from some pouting bitter boy. He expected Johnny to retaliate with some witty or snarky remark followed by more or pouting or a combination of the two. 

What he didn't expect was a broad smile to draw across the taller's lips slowly, eyes melting into slight crescents as it grew.

"Finally. He speaks in more than abrupt sentences and grunts." Johnny flipped open his script, gaze dropping down to the words, not paying attention to them remotely. "You've been so quiet and reserved since you joined, I just wanted to see if I could get a rise out of you, you know? See if you had any other emotion besides apathy."

"You purposefully tried to piss me off to see if I had emotions?"

Johnny only smiled. He didn't lift his gaze, keeping it locked on the paper in his hands, humming gently. It was followed by a short silence, Ten stunned into a loss for words. He was sneaky. Ten didn't like it. 

"You can't be serious." 

"I'm sorry?"

"It's my line. Can I finish?"

Ten fell into silence once more. His own gaze dropped to the script, fingers flicking the pages, back and forth as he waited for Johnny to continue. 

"Really, Ernst. You're such a sentimentalist. The plous, serene faces you see on the clergy- It's all an act to hide their envy." Johnny fell into silence, sliding himself a little closer towards Ten. This startled him, his first instinct was to move away. But he kept still, chewing on his lower lip out of nerves. "Trust me. There are only three ways a man can go. he can let the status quo defeat him, like-"

"Leechaiyakul." It was Ten's turn to interrupt the scene.

"I wasn't finished."

"Leechaiyakul." He repeated. "My surname."

Johnny simply nodded, his eyes on Ten for a second or two before they fell back south. "Leechaiyakul. Can I continue or will you interrupt me again?"

Ten swore he almost hit him. But he didn't. It was the first time someone had pronounced his name correctly since he'd moved here. Sure, he'd spoken it first, but it still settled him. Only slightly. Maybe Ten would let Johnny off just this once.

"Whatever."