Chapter Text
Inej loved being The Bullet in the production. She could participate in almost all the numbers, thus never getting bored, and the eyes were not fully focused on her. She could just have a good time.
In that moment, for instance, she was simply an american soldier struggling to stay alive while Matthias and Nikolai, as Washington and Hamilton, fought about what to do about Charles Lee. She caught Nina’s eyes from the wings. The girl mouthed something about “proud”, which Inej guessed referred to Matthias’ role as Washington, and had to restrain a laugh.
Inej, along with the rest of the members on stage, ran out of the stage to leave the attention to Nikolai, Wylan, Kaz, and the senior playing Charles Lee, Emil, for their duel. The good thing was that after that scene, Inej wouldn’t go back to the stage for three songs, which gave her time to breathe.
Inej stood on the wings, and was quickly joined by Nina and Jesper.
“Gotta say, for a freshman almost killing a senior, Wylan really nailed it,” Nina commented, as the boy left the stage through the opposite wing, followed by Kaz and Emil.
“Well, wasn’t Lee twice Lauren’s age at the time of the duel?” Jesper asked.
Nina and Inej turned to look at him in curiosity. “You did your homework on the show?” Inej asked.
“Hey, I’m not just a pretty face,” he defended himself.
“Then stop playing that card,” Nina said.
“I’m not helping you get extra samples next time we go out.”
Nina gasped. “But if we join forces then we get double!”
“Your loss,” Jesper shrugged, but added a wink so it was clear he was joking. “No one uses Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette just to get free stuff.”
“Can’t believe you actually learned the whole name,” Nina said.
“And say that to the US on act two,” Inej added.
As if on cue, That Would Be Enough started to finish. Inej took the coat she had to use from a chair and took her stance next to Jesper so that they could make their entrance.
From the other side of the stage, Kaz walked in, giving off the start to Guns and Ships . Inej and Jesper rushed onto the stage.
Jesper, still slightly accelerated, totally rocked the song. They rushed out and barely had any seconds to breathe before they had to make their way back to the stage. It was exhausting, but the rush of adrenaline in Inej’s body made up for it.
Yorktown had to be one of Inej’s favorite songs. Sure, she did kind of foreshadow Lauren’s death, meaning she was basically killing Wylan, but the choreography was still incredibly fun.
After Kirigan’s intervention as King George, Kaz took over the stage. Inej was surprised as to how soft his voice could sound as he sang what was basically a lullaby. He didn’t sound as nearly as passionate as he had been during Wait for It , but he still seemed to enjoy being on stage.
“What was that?” A voice asked behind her back. “‘I don’t have a crush on him’?”
“Shut up Nina,” Inej whispered to her friend.
“Hey, men are idiots, but you’ve seemed to find yours,” she joked. “And he does your hair.”
“I’ll stay with the ‘idiots’ part.”
“The hair is true though.”
“And here I thought you were jealous.”
“Me? Of Brekker? No, but I better still be your number one makeup artist.”
Inej shrugged. “Maybe I’ll ask Genya next time.”
Nina faked a gasp.
She joked about it, but Inej actually liked it when Kaz braided her hair. It was comforting, in its own way. Kaz never seemed to hug or even touch anyone at all. Inej didn’t know why, but his way of saying he was there for her had always been by doing her hair. That, or, of course, the usual slight show of concern between crows, which usually included hacking or threatening someone.
Inej saw as Wylan left the stage after Lauren’s Interlude, and made her way up stage of the final song of the act. She went from pretending to pay attention to Nikolai’s speech to the voices of Hamilton’s head in what seemed to be a fraction of a second. However, by far her favorite part was when everyone started to sing at the same time.
Because as Matthias sang, “ History has it’s eyes on you. ”
She and the rest of the ensemble repeated. “ Non-stop! ”
And Alina added, “ Look around, look around. Isn’t this enough? What would be enough?” ”
And Zoya seemed to scream and accuse, “ He’ll never be satisfied. ”
Next to Inej, Kaz questioned Nikolai. “ Why do you assume you’re the smartest in the room? Soon that attitude may be your doom. Why do you fight like you’re running out of time? ”
Zoya, Alina, and Kaz united voices. “ Why do you fight like -”
And Inej added herself along with the ensemble. “ History as it’s eyes on you .”
Nikolai cutted them, as he started to make his way up the stairs. “ I’m not throwing away my shot. I’m not throwing away my shot. I am-”
“Alexander Hamilton! Hamilton! Just you wait!”
“I am not throwing away my shot! ”
The lights were cutted along with the music, and the curtain fell.
Behind it, everyone took a second to breathe before breaking their characters. Inej broke down laughing. Half the show had gone by and she felt exhausted and amazing.
“You all hear that?” Nikolai asked, still with a low voice. There were cheers coming out of the theater. “They love us!”
“Hell yeah,” Alina agreed.
They left the stage to grab water and run to the bathroom.