There was nothing better than the smell of the theatre first thing in the morning. Being the first one in the theatre he knew he would have at least 30 min before it was filled with actors who have ego’s bigger than normal people’s.

Pulling out his keys, Junmyeon had to sort through several trinkets which are starting to slowly take over his keys; finding the right one he sank it into the keyhole and breathed a sigh of relief when the lock turned. He stepped inside and propped the door open to let the actors in when they arrived. 

Opening his phone and turning on the flashlight, he found light switch and flicked it on, causing him to shield his eyes from the LED lighting. Turning off the flashlight and unplugging his headphones, he hit shuffle and, slowly, the first few notes hit him and he gently hummed along while cranking the volume and pocketing the device. 

Junmyeon continued humming along as he set up his stage manager station. He pulled out his script from his backpack and opened it to the right page. He also took out his panda shaped pen pack and scattered his multi-colored pens around his binder, and he reached across the table and gently clicked on his small, green tinted, desk lamp, so he could see when they turned off the lights later. 

Leaning back in the plush audience chair he hoped that today the rehearsal would go better. The table read several weeks ago went fine, the set was already built and the lights were up and ready. It was the actors he was having a problem with.

Most were tolerable except for the occasional dropped line, however, the main actor, Kim Jongin, made Junmyeon want to rip his hair out; he showed up at least an hour late every day, he hardly knew his lines and his blocking. The show opened in 2 weeks. If it wasn't for the fact that he was a world renowned actor in film, television and the stage, Junmyeon probably would have killed him by now.

 Sometimes he wonders why his roommate, Baekhyun, convinced him to take this job; probably because rent is expensive and Junmyeon needs to feed his cat. 

He was pulled out of this thoughts when he heard the start of the chorus from BTS’s ‘Spring Day’ almost immediately Junmyeon closes his eyes and begins to sing along; almost perfectly harmonizing with the singers on his phone. He wouldn't admit this to anyone, especially to Baekhyun, but he is a huge fan of BTS and he had a huge dream to stage manage for them one day.

The song came to a close and Junmyeon sank back into his chair and pulled his sweatshirt around him so it looked from afar that it was swallowing him whole. Suddenly Junmyeon heard someone slow clapping from on the stage 

“That was beautiful, you should sing more often.” 

Junmyeon smiled at the voice. 

“Thanks Amber, but you know I can only sing that well when I think that no one is listening.” 

Amber smiled and walked across the stage toward her light board, o rays she liked to call it, her ‘precious’.

Once Junmyeon heard the familiar hum of the board being he joked 

“How's Gollum today?” 

Amber sharply glared at him “Ha,ha, you’re so funny.”

“I know.”

Plopping down in her chair Amber asked “How late do you think he’s going to be today?” 

“Hour and a half I’m guessing, wanna bet?” 

Amber laughed “You're probably going to win like you always do.”

“I only bet on things I can win.” 

Silence soon fell over the two until Junmyeon heard the clacking of something being loaded. Without looking over at her he said

“No Amber, you can't use the ping pong ball launcher on Jongin everytime he s up.” 

She ignored him and continued filling the medium, sized plastic machine with balls. 

“Jun, we've known each other since middle school and you should know me well enough to know…”

“That you're going to do it anyway.” He finished 

“Yep! Also don't Jongin that I said this but, I think you're a better singer than him.” 

Junmyeon mock gasped and slapped his hand over his chest.

“I’m honored!” 

“Shut up.” 

They settled into a comfortable silence again, until Junmyeon’s alarm blared through the silence, he carefully picked it up and waved it in Amber’s direction.

“Ten minutes until we start, i’m going to go see who’s actually here.” 

Amber nodded as Junmyeon took to the side door in the audience, in front of the stage. 

Walking backstage Junmyeon hummed to himself and he took a deep breath in. 

The theatre was old, and had a certain smell to it. It wasn't bad the place just smelled, it smelled like a new day after the rain had freshly fallen, except more dusty, to Junmyeon it was a smell of comfort, a smell of home.

Junmyeon pulled open the door that separated stage right from the hallway leading to the dressing rooms, when he pulled open the door he jumped when he saw a host actress run past him. He laughed and shook his head, he continued plunging forward toward the girls dressing room, hoping that they haven’t started changing yet, he gently knocked on the door and a small ‘Hold on!’ Could be heard coming from the other side. 

Waiting, Junmyeon leaned against the wall and stared at the actor sign in sheet across from him. He scoffed when he saw that Jongin had forgotten to sign himself in for the past several days. 

Picking himself off the wall and gently raising the pen to the overused paper, he marked Jongin as ‘present’. Junmyeon dropped the pen unceremoniously on the small, decrepit table. 

Knocking on the girls’ dressing room again he heard several chairs falling behind the wooden door. 

Junmyeon flinched as the door was yanked open and a mop of brown hair flopped out. Junmyeon rolled his eyes. Pulling his hood more snug around his head, so it hid his eyes, he sighed 

“Ten minutes till I need you all in your costumes and in make up and on stage ok?” 

When the girl nodded and slipped in the door, Junmyeon turned around only to bump into else.

“Ten minutes until I need you-”

“Thanks ten.” 

Junmyeon’s head shot up and he raised his eyebrows

“You’re early, like really early.” 

Jongin laughed, a full hearted laugh, then he suddenly stopped and his smile left his face. 

“What is it a crime to be early?” 

Jongin began to walk away toward the stage, when he stops, hand on the door, pivots and yells 

“Ten minutes till curtain!!”

A chorus of ‘thank you’s’ followed. Jongin smiles and does a small mock bow 

“Your welcome, now you don't have to go over there. Also, I heard you singing earlier,” 

Junmyeon’s eyes went wide

“You're not bad and oh, before I forget, don't tell your deck crew but I found the puzzle you guys were working on and when it’s finished I might have the last missing piece” 

Jongin took out a small puzzle piece from his jacket pocket, waved it in Junmyeon’s face and opened the door and he walked backstage.

Junmyeon sighed 

“Actors,” he muttered “gotta love them.”

----

Junmyeon slumped in his chair just as Chanyeol, the director, slumped in his. 

“Jongin’s early as .”

“Great, now I cant talk about him.” Chanyeol replied 

Junmyeon leaned his body across his table to look at Amber. 

“You can't pelt him with ping pong balls.”

“Still gonna do it.” She mumbled, messing with the air powered machine in her hand

Junmyeon’s alarm blared again sending everyone out of their small reverie. Chanyeol looked at him.

“Is that red velvet?” 

Junmyeon looked at him through his hood 

“Yes?”

Suddenly he heard Amber laugh

“Jun, can to them as well as you can sing to BTS?”

“Perhaps?”

And with that he grabbed the microphone and announced that the actors needed to get on stage or Amber was going to come after them with a ping pong ball launcher.

As soon as Jongin stepped on stage Junmyeon heard a small pop and a wheezing sound of something flying through the air, he looked up just as a ping pong ball hit Jongin smack in the face with a small ‘shwing’ 

The look on Jongin’s face, or pure confusion, and disgust, sent Chanyeol and Junmyeon into a fit of laughter; where Junmyeon fell out of his chair and smacked his head on his tech table. 

Picking himself back up and into his chair, he wiped fake tears out of his eyes and grabbed his microphone,

“Okay, so we're going to start from top of show and I’m giving Amber full permission to hit any of you with ping pong balls if you forget your lines.”

As actors scattered into the wings the lights dimmed, Junmyeon adjusted his com on is ear and he flicked it on

“Alright here we go, let’s have a good rehearsal everyone, sorry if I yell at you today. Okay, Amber’s ready I can see that she’s right next to me, sound ready?”

He heard a small click then 

“Ready,” 

“Backstage ready”

Another click

“Ready”

“Alright, house lights down to full please,”

The stage was shortly blanketed in darkness and silence, Junmyeon muttered 

“Heathers the musical, let's do this, lights point five and sound seven.” 

He paused for effect

“Go” 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/n

Hey, it's me ! Im back after so long !

I really hoped you enjoyed this first chapter, and it is going off of Heathers the musical, if you haven't heard the soundtrack I recommend it, but it is rated R so ... You've been warned  

i'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon so until then 

please leave comments and subscribe and upvote ! 

Thanks much!

~Ring-Ding-Dong