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“And just in time too. It’s 1AM now and my audition is in the morning. I’m afraid I may need your help, my diamonds, in traversing this challenge. Please, guide me! My first choice is this: should I get some sleep now, or practise my audition piece?”
(Karamatsu’s Audition Event Starts now! Either reply or send an ask to decide his path. More notes mean a better outcome for each choice! - Mez)
Saw this today, and it reminded me of your Kara! - @asktherockmatsus
(This is exactly what he would want! I’m sorry this is all I can do late at night on Paint - Mez)
When he finished the song, there was silence. Karamatsu kept his head down, gripping his guitar neck tight with slippy palms.
Iyami, the director, inhaled. “So, you’re auditioning for Frenchy, who you described as the lead, in drag, while singing a song for Doody, even though Frenchy doesn’t have a solo, zamsu. Sheeh! Have you not read the script at all? Do you know any of the plot?”
Karamatsu grinned and slid on his glasses with more bravado than he felt. “Rizzo gets pregnant,” he declared.
“Well, that’s all me knows as well,” Iyami said with a sigh. “Me will be assigning roles at the end. Next!”
****
Later that day Karamatsu burst into his home, startingly his family as they ate lunch together. “Mommy! Bruzzas! I got the part!”
Jyushimatsu laughed. “Nii-san’s going to be in a play?”
“I shall be Frenchy!” Karamatsu said, adjusting his Pink Ladies jacket. “And Totoko is some Kenickie person, not quite as prestigious as me but I am sure she will do well...” The rest of his speech was drowned out by a cacophony of congratulation as his brothers surrounded him, cheering and slapping him on the back. Even Ichimatsu managed a surly “Well done...”
“I knew you could do it,” Matsuyo said, ruffling his hair and Karamatsu didn’t push her away for once. He could always gel it up again later.
The celebration was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Osomatsu, could you get it?” Matusyo said, frowning slightly. “I wonder who that could be?”
“Come on...”
The kitchen clock whittled away the night as Karamatsu tried once more to rethread the needle. He held his breath to steady his fingers as he bought the needle and thread together.
“Hell!” He jerked back his hand as the needle jabbed him and sent it flying off the table. Great. Now he’d have to spend another five minutes looking for it.
He surveyed the half-finished jacket. It was already 1am and he was nowhere near done. He was never going to get this done. With a wail of dispair, he threw himself over the table and began to cry.
Suddenly his phone buzzed. Sniffling he checked it - an anon had sent him a message!
He read the words over and over, a smile slowly replacing the tears, before wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand.
“Thank you, my dear diamond,” he said, jumping to his feet. His pyjama top buttons sprung apart as he threw open his arms.
“Your love has reached me and I know now I must persevere! All artists struggle, but only through hard work and a sparkling spirit will I truly be able to shine on stage! I shall complete this costume and perform the greatest audition of all time! Then, when the opening night comes, I shall send you a personal invitation so you may feast your eyes upon - ow! Bugger!”
He cut off mid-speech, grabbing his bleeding foot. He’d stepped on the needle.
“But first, I think I’ll need a band-aid.”
Before Totoko could answer, Karamatsu shook his head. “No, I won’t ask them,” he decided. “They wouldn’t appreciate being woken up at this time of morning anyway.” He smiled at Totoko, playfully flirtatious. “Besides, my dear, with you by my side I’ll have all the moral support I could ever need.”
Totoko snorted. “You know I only want you as my co-star because you’ll make me look good, right?”
****
By the time they arrived there were already a dozen or so kids in the auditorium, the older ones stood around chatting and drinking coffee while the youngest played tag between the seats. Karamatsu’s eyes scanned the room thrice before Totoko nudged him.
“He won’t be here yet, you know he’s always late.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Karamatsu said, turning red.
Totoko just rolled her eyes and dragged him to join a conversation with some of the others. Predictably, it soon turned to the coming audition.
“So did you decide on a song in the end, you idiot?” Totoko asked.
Karamatsu glanced over at his guitar case, stowed against the wall. “Uh, kind of. It’s narrowed down to two choices. I’d been practising Those Magic Changes on guitar since that’s Doody’s song, but then this morning inspiration struck and I realised my talents are better suited to the role of Frenchy, so I memorised Beauty School Dropout as well.”
“But Frenchy doesn’t sing that one. That sparkly angel guy does.”
Karamatsu’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?” He buried his face in his palms and moaned. “Then what am I going to do?”
“I don’t know, but you’d better decide fast,” Totoko said, prodding his shoulder until he looked round. “The director just arrived and I think he wants you to go first.”
( @asktherockmatsus @tiny-black-widow )
Since they were both already up, Totoko and Karamatsu decided to use their time to prepare for their auditions rather than go back to sleep. Totoko was much better at sewing that Karamatsu and it didn’t take long for her to adjust their new costumes to fit, and Karamatsu in turn did both their stage makeup. They bickered about what the actual plot of Grease was (only agreeing that Rizzo gets pregnant) over breakfast with her parents, who, if they were surprised to see Karamatsu eating with them in a Pink Ladies jacket, did not comment.
Just when Karamatsu was ready to burst with nervous excitement, it was finally time to head out. “Come on, Totoko-chan, do you want us to miss it?”
“We could be literally the slowest walkers ever and still be half an hour early,” Totoko retorted, but matched his pace anyway, almost bumping into him when he came to a sudden stop outside his house. “What’s the matter?”
“My brothers...”
“Are you going to invite them to watch your audition?”
Karamatsu chewed his lip. Osomatsu and Choromatsu had accompanied him to auditions when they were little, usually because his mom had no place to put them, but not for years. “I’m not sure. Should I?”
Oh no, Karamatsu baby, you got it all wrong! It ain’t Doody in the lead. It’s Frenchie! You need a Pink Ladies jacket, quick!
The quiet breathing of the six boys filled the room, the usual bedtime squabbles forgotten as they slept. In the corner, Karamatsu’s carefully prepared costume lay slung over a chair, ready for the morning. Aside from the occasional wriggles of Jyushimatsu, all was still and calm.
Suddenly, Karamatsu’s eyes snapped open. “Oh, hell.”
****
The bang of her bedroom door slamming open rudely ripped Totoko from her dreams and she scrambled back in her bed as a dark figure approached. “Piss off, creep!”
“Shh, Totoko, it’s just me!”
Totoko flipped on the light to reveal Karamatsu in his pyjamas, his usually immaculately gelled hair flopped over his forehead and his beloved leather jacket slung over one arm. He wasn’t wearing any shoes. “What are you doing here at…” - she checked her alarm clock - “four AM? You know we’ve got the audition in the morning.”
“That’s exactly why I’m here,” Karamatsu said, and threw himself to his knees. “Please, Totoko-chan, you’ve got to swap costumes with me!”
“Ah yes, of course! Every element of a production is vital and I have already spent many summers as a chorus member or working backstage. I usually try to help with the costume department if I don’t have a role, but unfortunately my artistic vision differs from the others and my designs are often banned as ‘innapropriate.’ I’m hoping for the lead role of Doody this year because next summer I will be too old to perform with this group. It would also be nice to have a good role to perform in front of my little brothers for the first time! Or any role. Do you really think it’s likely I don’t get one? I mean, all the others are so talented and I can only play a few songs on guitar and what if they don’t like my sewing and what if I forget my lines and what if they all laugh and what if...”
(Karamatsu is busy panicking now. Don’t worry, he does this before every show or audition. Explanation as to why he thinks Doody is the lead of Grease here. - Mez)
