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"Offstage"Written By: Clara Barton Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following
is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said,
these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask
before reprinting. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Angst, language, sex (the usual) Pairings: 6x2, ? Summary: It's Duo's first professional job, at a summer stock theatre company in upstate New York. As an intern, he knows he has a lot to learn. But he didn't count on having to figure out how to deal with THIS mess.
"Offstage"
Chapter Six How the hell are they so loud? It was the question Duo had asked himself the first day the resident company actors showed up in the tavern for breakfast, and it was the same question he had asked himself again at every meal in the nine days since. Despite the fact that the sixteen college-aged actors spent all day dancing and singing and rehearsing on the back deck, they still somehow found the energy to spend every damn meal time singing and laughing and joking around and- Duo couldn't decide if he envied them or just disliked them for it. The technicians worked the same hours, and while Duo wanted to tell himself that the scene shop worked harder than the actors, he knew it wasn't true. But the technical staff absolutely did not have the overabundance of energy that the actors did. Maybe, Duo decided, that was the difference between them - what made the actors want to perform and the technicians simply want to create. The result of their arrival and the flood of noise had been the exile of most of the technicians. In the mornings, instead of eating in the tavern, the crew grabbed their breakfast, filled their coffee mugs, and headed for the scene shop where they ate in the shade of the trees. For lunch, they migrated to the back deck where the actors usually rehearsed, and the handful of picnic tables set up. Dinner, unfortunately, was still eaten in the tavern, with the crew unceremoniously pushed away from the tables they had staked out the first week and instead forced to sit in the back of the tavern, as far away from the actors as they could manage to get. There was some intermingling - of the sixteen actors, eight were male and eight female. A handful of the female actors hung around Heero and Trowa, flirting with them despite the complete lack of encouragement from Heero and the smug, amused smirks from Trowa. There was only one straight male actor, Duo had learned, and he seemed to be focusing all of his attention on the female actors. The gay male actors seemed to have immediately started sleeping with each other, and they were almost constantly hanging all over each other, flirting and casually touching in intimate ways that made Duo stop and stare. Things were not like this in the south - and he hadn't known they could be like this. They were acting just like so many heterosexual couples Duo had seen on his college campus, and every time Duo looked at them, every time he saw them touch or whisper into each other's ears, he wondered if there was a chance he would ever be part of something like that. Not so much the rotating bed schedule they all seemed to share, but that kind of public, affectionate relationship that just looked so normal it was practically subconscious. Heero had caught Duo staring at the actors, more than once, and after a week of it, finally sat down beside Duo one night on the back deck, after dinner, and offered him a beer. Duo looked at Heero, then at the beer, and then around the deck. "Cathy's gone for the night - her boyfriend drove up for the weekend or something," Heero said, and pushed the beer into Duo's hands. "And no one else cares." Duo accepted the beer and looked at the label. Gilded Otter Rail Trail Pale Ale. Duo had had beer before - most of the foster families he had stayed with hadn't cared, and one had even offered Duo beer on a regular basis. But it had been stuff like PBR and Budweiser. Never had craft beer before. Check. It had a very bitter aftertaste, and Duo made a face. Heero chuckled. "It's kind of hoppy," he shrugged. "Trowa loves it, but... I'm still trying to decide." Duo had to nod. He couldn't tell if he hated it or liked it. "Are you two... a thing?" Duo had to ask. Heero and Trowa sat together at almost all of the meals, and in the evenings, when everyone gathered on the back deck, they either sat beside each other or, a few times now, went off for a walk in the woods before it got too dark. Heero frowned and shrugged one shoulder. "Not really." Duo wasn't sure what that meant, and it didn't look like Heero knew either. "It's summer stock," Heero continued. "The place I worked at last summer - I think half of the staff and company ended up with gonorrhea, there was so much sleeping around." "Did you?" Duo asked, before he realized that really wasn't a question he should ask. Heero smirked at him and shook his head. "No. I went there with my boyfriend - I actually got offered a job here, last year, but I turned it down to be with him. We broke up in the middle of the summer and he got gonorrhea after sleeping his way through the actors, but I..." Heero trailed off and shrugged again. "I'm sorry." "Don't be. Like I said, it's summer stock. It's not really the place where you're going to meet the love of your life, and it's also not the best place to work with someone you're dating out in the real world." Heero slanted a look over at Duo. "But you can fool around, you know." Duo frowned. "I... okay?" Heero rolled his eyes and took another sip of his beer, and Duo realized, too late, that Heero might be trying to hit on him. "Um... are you- I mean- I just figured you and Trowa... I'm not really-" "Duo, you aren't my type," Heero assured him, chuckling and shaking his head. "I wasn't- I know you're young, and Howard mentioned you don't really have a family or anything and said I should look out for you." Duo raised his eyebrows. "Really?" Heero nodded. "He thinks Cathy is overprotective, and he figured that since I was new too, and kind of your boss, I might be able to... Honestly, I don't know. He just took me out to the rock and told me to look out for you." Duo rolled his eyes. He wondered just when that conversation had happened, and how soon after Duo's trip to the rock it had been. "Yeah, well, I'm fine. I don't need you to go out of your way or-" "I'm not going out of my way," Heero assured him. "But you've been kind of obvious, checking out the actors - and also kind of obvious in the way that you aren't flirting with them. Even with that one who keeps trying to talk to you." Duo frowned. "I'm not checking them out. I'm just- not used to seeing anyone so..." Duo made a vague gesture with his hand. Heero nodded. "They're actors, so that's part of it, but we're also not in Georgia, Duo." "No kidding." Duo sighed. "Wait, you said one of them keeps trying to talk to me?" Heero rolled his eyes. "The tall one? What's his name - Mike or-" "Micah," Duo supplied, thinking about the tall actor with coffee colored skin and wild, curly black hair who always seemed to be smiling and kept popping up behind Duo in the food lines. "Him. He cuts in line at every meal just to talk to you and you just shrug him off. Are you not interested, or...?" "You think he's into me?" "Yes." "Oh." Duo had never considered the possibility that one of the actors might be interested in him. Then again, he had never really considered the possibility of anyone being interested in him. Duo had always been younger, had always been scrawnier and smaller, and he had always been an outsider. This was the only place he really felt like he could be himself and have it not matter to anyone. And, of course, this was the only place where an attractive guy had ever flirted with him, or kissed him, or- or a lot of things. "So?" Heero prompted when Duo didn't say anything else. "So what?" "Need me to be your wingman, or do you want me to tell him to leave you alone, or-" "What are we talking about?" Trowa came over and sat down on Heero's other side, spreading his legs out so that one of his thighs pressed against Heero's, the move so confident and casual-looking that Duo wasn't sure whether it was on purpose or a mistake. "Getting Duo laid," Heero said with a smirk. Trowa's eyes practically glowed with amusement as he took a sip from another bottle of the pale ale. He didn't make a face at the bitter aftertaste. "Again?" he asked, a mocking tilt to his lips. Heero turned from Trowa to Duo. "Again?" Duo glared at Trowa, but the electrician looked completely unruffled. "Set your sights on someone new, or-" "Who did you-" "Thanks for the beer, but I think I'm going to go and take a shower," Duo cut off Heero. He got to his feet and glared down at Trowa. "Don't-" "Oh, chill out," Trowa waved him away. "I'm just giving you shit. No one cares. Well, no one besides Cathy cares." "That's because no one knows," Duo hissed, looking over at Heero, who was scowling at both of them. Trowa rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. I won't say anything." Duo wasn't entirely sure he could trust Trowa, but he also knew that if Trowa wanted to tell Heero, he had already had plenty of opportunities to do so. With a sigh, Duo left the deck and headed upstairs, to the room he shared with Quatre, to grab his towel and shower kit. He opened the door and immediately had to cover his eyes with his hands. "What the fuck?!" "Hi, Duo," Relena called out, her voice filled with laughter. Duo peeked between his fingers, but Relena and Quatre were still in the exact same position they had been in when he entered the room - both completely naked, Relena on all fours on Quatre's bed and Quatre kneeling behind her. "I just... I want to take a shower." "We won't stop you," Quatre assured him, just as amused as Relena. "I need my stuff." It sounded like a whine, but Duo couldn't help it. "Can you just... throw a sheet over yourselves or something?" Relena laughed, her voice bright and, if Duo hadn't been horribly embarrassed, he would have had to smile at the sound. But since he was horribly embarrassed, all he could do was blush. There was a rustling sound, and then Quatre spoke up. "Alright. You can open your eyes now." Duo cautiously did so, and sighed in relief when he saw that Quatre had literally just thrown a sheet over them - covering them both entirely. "Thanks," he muttered as he walked over to his side of the room and searched for his things. "About this shower you plan on taking, is it going to be one of those really, really long ones where you wash your hair, or more of the quick in and out kind?" Quatre asked, his voice muffled by the sheet. Duo sighed. "Why?" "Well, if it's going to be the long kind, Relena and I were going to try-" "Fine. Long. I'll take a really fucking long shower." "Thanks, Duo!" "Yeah, anytime," Duo muttered. He threw his towel over his shoulder and picked up his kit. "I'm going now," he announced when he made it to the door. He didn't wait for a response, just let himself out and firmly closed the door behind him. Duo almost made it to the shower without incident, but as he cut through the main theatre to get backstage, to the showers, he ran into Zechs, bumping off of his Emerson hoodie chest and stumbling back a step. Zechs reached out to steady him, one hand grabbing Duo's elbow. "Thanks. Sorry." "Not a problem." They stared at each other, and Duo had a hard time looking away. Over the past two weeks, Zechs had done a very thorough job of ignoring Duo more than half of the time. In the scene shop, Duo usually worked with either Meilin or Hilde on projects, while Heero worked on complicated builds by himself and Zechs spent the majority of his time drafting, shopping, or checking over their work and answering questions. At meal times, Zechs always sat with his little clique - Treize, Wufei, Une and Noin - and when he hung out on the back deck in the evenings, he still only stayed for an hour or so before taking off. It meant that Duo and Zechs were almost never alone, and almost never had to talk unless Duo specifically asked Zechs a question - which Zechs would almost always answer without looking at him. It meant that Duo still wasn't used to being this close to Zechs, or looking at him, or realizing just how unfairly gorgeous he was. It also meant that, on the few occasions when Zechs did look at him, or talk to him, Duo found himself staring back in silence, like an idiot. Like now. "I, uh, was just going to take a shower." Zechs arched one of his pale eyebrows. "Are you asking for permission?" Duo flushed. "No. I- no." Zechs' lips quirked, and Duo couldn't help but remember what it had felt like to have those lips smirking against his skin. "Enjoy your shower, Duo." Zechs said his name like a caress, and Duo found himself taking a step forward, closer to Zechs, before he stopped himself. "Yeah. Um, thanks." Duo eased around Zechs and started to walk in the other direction, but he paused and looked over his shoulder before leaving the theatre, and saw Zechs looking back at him. Flushing again, Duo escaped to the shower. It was, thankfully and uncharacteristically, empty. More than once, Duo had had to wait for one of the two men's shower stalls to open up, and more than once Duo had actually fallen asleep leaning against the wall while he waited. Tonight, everyone else was either on the back deck talking - or up in Duo's room having sex - so he had the luxury of picking the shower stall closest to the outside wall and cranking the water on to heat up before he got in. While he waited for it to get hot, Duo shed his clothes and started to unbraid his hair. He wasn't able to wash it every day, because of how time and labor-intensive it was, but tonight he had every intention of taking the time. He also had every intention of not thinking about anyone or anything else - not Trowa being an ass, or Heero trying to be his friend, or Quatre and Relena having what looked like very athletic and enthusiastic sex in his room, or Zechs teasing Duo and being gorgeous and smirking, and what the hell had that been about? Staring at Duo as he walked away? Duo stepped into the shower, sighing in relief at the hot water, and immediately started to lather up his hair with shampoo. And, of course, he thought about Zechs, about Zechs' hands tugging on his braid that night, about Zechs' hands on his back, his ass and- Duo let his fingers wander down, tracing the path of his thoughts, of his memory, and circled around the pucker of his anus. Masturbating over the past two weeks had certainly been interesting, had certainly been more involved and more intense now that Duo had had sex. It wasn't just the fact that he was able to clearly picture Zechs fucking him - or jerking him off, or sucking him off -instead of just watching porn or squeezing his eyes shut tight and trying to imagine being fucked. Because of that night, now Duo knew so many more ways to touch himself, knew how to finger his ass and pinch and roll his nipples. Usually, Duo restrained himself in the shower to a quick hand job, lathering up his cock and stroking it firmly and quickly while picturing Zechs doing it to him instead, remembering the parking lot, and letting his hand explore his body in the few minutes it took to bring himself off. But, tonight, Duo had promised Quatre and Relena he would take a very long fucking shower. So he spread more shampoo on his fingers, spread his legs and braced himself against the wall with his left forearm, and imagined Zechs, naked and smirking and standing behind him in the shower stall, crowding him close to the wall and biting his ear, his shoulder, his back. Imagined Zechs easing one long finger into Duo's body, slow and teasing, waiting for Duo to push back, to force Zechs deeper until he found that spot, until Duo had to bite down on his own fist to keep from moaning out loud and he saw flashes of light behind his closed eyes. "Say please," Zechs would say, chuckling, when Duo wanted more. And he would wait, would force Duo to say he wanted another finger, to say please, and then he would slide his slick fingers deep, would curl them into Duo's body as Duo shuddered and pressed his cheek against the cool tile of the shower and tried not to whimper. It felt so fucking good, so amazing to have his body filled like this, and three fingers felt even better, felt achingly close to Zechs' shaft sliding in and out of his body, slow and tormenting, until Duo had to push back, had to upset the too-steady pace by propelling his ass down, drawing his fingers in deep. Three fingers felt good, but two were easier to fuck himself with, and Duo adjusted his position, keeping his forehead pressed against the wall, and lathered up two fingers again before plunging them back into his body, so hard and swift that he moaned before he could stop himself. Fuck. It felt so good, so impossibly fucking good, and he could practically hear Zechs' rough, raw breathing matching his own. Could feel his work-roughened hands on Duo's skin, rolling first one nipple and then the other, until Duo was arching his back, curving into the torture while still pushing back on the fingers in his ass, still straining to hit that amazing, magical spot and- "Fuck," Duo gasped, his orgasm catching him by surprise, coming so fast and so hard he almost lost his balance and fell down in the shower stall. He pulled his fingers out of his body and let himself slide down to the floor of the shower as he tried to remember how to breathe. That had never happened before. He had tried to finger himself twice before - since that night - and while it had felt really fucking good both times, Duo had had to wrap his other hand around his cock, had had to work over his flesh in quick, brutal strokes while clenching his ass cheeks together to get off. But not tonight. Tonight - Duo hadn't even touched his cock and yet he had come so intensely that he hadn't been able to stand afterwards. Duo couldn't help but smirk, and then laugh. He needed to run into Zechs more often before taking a shower. -o- The first load-in of the season felt like it had taken months to arrive, but then, on Sunday afternoon, as the crew worked to finish up the scenery for the first show, it suddenly felt like only yesterday when Noin, the scenic designer, had stepped into the shop and shown the crew her plans for Chicago. It was a two-storey set, featuring two staircases and a cantilevered platform that, when they were all installed, were going to be massive and amazing. Everything - the walls and stairs - were painted a dark, lusty red (according to Noin and Quatre) with chrome trim and gloss black detailing. The scenery was the most ambitious Duo had ever worked on - and all of it had been assembled in less than ten days. The crew spent the morning and early afternoon finishing up what they could, Quatre fighting with Zechs and the carpenters for just one more hour to paint, until, finally, there were no more hours to paint and the dinner bell rang. On his way over to the tavern, Duo cut through the main theatre, tagging along with Meilin and Hilde, to see the progress that Trowa and Une, the lighting designer, had made. Three days ago, the pipes and truss work above the audience and stage had been totally bare, but now, lighting fixtures were hung from nearly every available surface. Trowa was up on a ladder, perfectly balanced but at an angle that Duo knew, if he had been standing there, would have resulted in him immediately falling. "Look at that, squints actually working for once," Meilin called out to Trowa. Still on the ladder, one hand adjusting the shutters on a light fixture, Trowa held out his other hand and gave her the finger. Meilin and Hilde chuckled, and Duo had to smirk. It was the classic rivalry in theatre - carpenters against electricians, and while Duo was on this side of it for now, as the technical intern, he would be spending a fair amount of time working with electrics this summer as well. Which was the entire reason he had come through the theatre in the first place. He turned to Une, seated in the middle of the audience behind a long, makeshift table covered with monitors and programming boards. "Hey, Zechs said I would be working with you for the changeover?" She didn't even look up from the board she was typing on. "Do you know how to focus a light?" "Yeah. I worked as an electrician on-" "I don't need your life story." She waved her hand dismissively. "After dinner, go find Trowa and he'll do something with you." Duo rolled his eyes at the back of her head, but walked away to catch up to Meilin and Hilde as they left the theatre. On the back deck, at night, he had heard the others casually refer to Une as a complete and utter bitch, had seen Trowa shrug one shoulder and defend Une with a lackluster "So?", but before that moment, Duo hadn't had any first-hand encounters with her. He didn't feel very enthusiastic about the rest of the night - not between Une and Trowa, who still seemed to amuse himself by looking over at Duo and smirking knowingly every once in awhile. Duo was one of the last to get into line for dinner - the actors, who would be staying to help with changeover, had all finished up just before the technicians, and had gotten to the tavern first. Without even thinking about it, Duo scanned the line for Micah's dark head and saw him, halfway up the line, talking to one of the actors. However, Micah turned and saw Duo, his lips stretching into a grin that lit up his entire face, and stepped out of the line to walk back to Duo. "Hey," Micah greeted him. "Hey. How was rehearsal?" Ever since Heero's back-deck suggestion a few nights ago, Duo had tried - albeit not with much success - to talk to Micah, to flirt with him. Micah shrugged. "Long. Hot. Exactly what I wanted to spend all day doing before loading in your set all night." "Hey, it's your set - I'm not using it, you all are," Duo pointed out. Micah sighed. "Sure, whatever. But I'm an actor, not free labor." Duo arched an eyebrow at that, but decided not to comment. He had heard a fair number of the resident company actors complain about having to work load-ins and changeovers every other Sunday, from six to midnight. He could understand their complaints, but at the same time, the technicians needed the help to get everything set-up in such a short timeframe. "Anyway," Duo tried to change the subject, "I'm working on electrics tonight, not scenery." Micah grinned. "What a coincidence - so am I. Now I can check you out all night without looking too lame." Duo rolled his eyes, and was about to respond to that, but he saw Zechs standing just behind Micah, scowling at them. "Could you two move this along so the rest of us can eat?" Micah rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, there's plenty of me to go around - no need to be jealous," he said with a smirk. Zechs raised his eyebrows in Duo's direction, his judgement very clear. Duo blushed, grabbed a plate, and glared down at the food instead of looking at either one of them. He was grateful when Micah peeled away to go eat with the other actors, even more grateful when Zechs made his hamburgers in record time and walked away without another word. Duo sighed, added another slice of cheese to each of his hamburgers, and sat down at his usual spot, between Heero and Hilde, at the table with Trowa, Relena and Quatre. "Trouble in paradise?" Trowa asked, amused, as usual, at Duo's expense. Duo glared at him and took an aggressive bite of his burger in response. Trowa chuckled, but thankfully didn't push the point, despite the interested looks from everyone else at the table. Or maybe, Duo realized, because of the interested looks from everyone else. Trowa, Duo decided, liked knowing something that no one else did - and he wasn't about to go telling everyone a secret when he got so much more attention and amusement by keeping it. That knowledge made Duo both like and dislike Trowa a little more, but it also made him relax. "Une told me you would put me to work after dinner," Duo said after swallowing the burger. Trowa nodded, and his gaze flickered over to Micah. "You want to work with your new boyfriend or not?" Trowa asked, and even though Duo wanted to be irritated at Trowa still teasing him, Duo appreciated the fact that Trowa was asking him. He shrugged. "I don't care. Whatever's going to be more helpful." Trowa looked mildly impressed by the response. "He is taller than you," Trowa mused. "So maybe he can pass you gel and cable while you do the ladder work - Zechs said you've done a lot of electrics?" Duo wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that Zechs and Trowa had talked about him professionally and personally, and he wondered if the two conversations had happened at the same time. But he pushed the thought away and nodded. He was pretty sure that Howard had sent Zechs Duo's resume and asked whether or not he had wanted to hire Duo as the intern before offering Duo the job. "More electrics than carpentry," Duo shrugged. CSU always seemed to have more upper-class carpenters than electricians, and in order to avoid the grunt work - painting flats with primer and sorting through screws - Duo had asked to be assigned to the electrics crews whenever possible. "Good. Une hates programming the moving lights, so I'll be stuck doing that all night. You and your boyfriend can work on focusing the conventional lights with her while I do that, and I'll have our other actor-helpers sort cable and gel." "You know, he's not my boyfriend," Duo had to point out. Heero snorted. "Not because he doesn't want to be." Hilde nodded in agreement. "Seriously, Duo, Micah's eyes are practically glued to your ass." Duo looked over at Relena and Quatre but, as usual, they were more focused on each other than the conversation around them. Trowa looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he took a sip of his drink and glanced in Zechs' direction. Duo almost wished Trowa wasn't so fucking annoying - it would be nice to have someone to talk to about Zechs and Micah and- and maybe not. Duo wasn't a kid. He should really be able to figure this shit out on his own by now. The rest of dinner was uneventful except one of the actresses stopped by their table to beg Heero to let her work with him instead of in the costume shop, somehow thinking that practically feeling him up as he tried to eat would help her case. Instead, Heero just shied away from her touch and insisted that the assignments were out of his hands, and Trowa looked like he was barely holding back laughter at Heero's obvious discomfort. "Come on," Trowa sighed as he looked at his phone, "let's get moving or we're going to be here until the sun rises." Even though the actors were only required to work until midnight, the technicians would work until the set, lights, sound and costumes were ready for the Monday night dress rehearsal - which meant, Hilde had warned Duo, that they would probably be working until at least three or four in the morning before taking a five-hour break and then getting back to work. Duo followed Trowa, shoving the rest of his burger into his mouth as he bused his plate. "Just gotta run to my room and get my wrench and gloves," he told Trowa, "and I'll be right there." Trowa nodded and went ahead into the theatre while Duo ran upstairs. He grabbed his crescent wrench, on its long black cord of tie-line, and hooked it through a belt loop on his shorts before shoving his gloves into his back pocket. Duo also grabbed the white bandana on his nightstand and tied it around his head, shoving his bangs back so that they wouldn't end up plastered to his face with sweat and grime. Back in the theatre, he helped Trowa haul out the ladders onto the stage and set them up. It was another ten minutes before the actors filtered into the theatre, taking their sweet time and chatting with each other as if there wasn't a massive set to install and six hours of work ahead of them. "Actors," Zechs bellowed when he walked in from the back deck, carrying a tool belt over one shoulder and the portable chop-saw in his hands. "Find your assigned crew head and get to work. If you're on carpentry, go find Heero. If you're on costumes, go find Wufei. If you're on lights, go find Trowa. But get off your asses now." Two actors had made the mistake of sitting down in the house, but all of them jumped to attention and dispersed in the face of Zechs' irritation. Trowa and Duo exchanged amused smirks at that, before Trowa jerked his head in Une's direction. "She likes to go fast, but she hates mistakes. So if you need to take the time, just tell her you're working and do it." Duo nodded, grateful for the advice. "And don't let your boyfriend distract you - Une hates that shit." "For the last time, he is not my boyfriend. Micah is-" "Who said I was talking about Micah?" Trowa asked, but before Duo could respond, he jumped off the front of the stage and walked over to Une. And, of course, Duo couldn't help but look over at Zechs after that comment. And, of course, Zechs was looking right at him. Duo lifted his eyebrows in question, but Zechs just frowned and turned away. "Alright. I'm ready to stare at your ass all night while you're on a ladder." Duo sighed and turned to see Micah grinning down at him. "At least one of us will have a good view," he muttered, and Micah chuckled. "We could switch off - you can check out my fine ass if you want." Duo arched an eyebrow. "You know how to focus lights?" "No, of course not. But I know how to act like I'm focusing lights." Duo snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, probably not the best use of your acting skills." -o- By midnight, any interest Duo had had in Micah was thoroughly squashed. He might be good-looking, and he might be funny, but when his only job for six hours was to make sure Duo didn't fall off a ladder and pass him gels, cable and shutters, Micah got very bored. And when Micah got bored, he tended to ignore his job and instead just negligently keep one hand on the ladder and try to talk to his friends. Duo had lost count of the number of times he had had to ask Micah to please stop talking to the other actors and put his feet back on the base of the ladder. Trowa, sitting in the middle of the theatre and programming lights, had even yelled at Micah twice, and Zechs, walking past them while carrying a platform, had paused long enough to tell Micah to get his head out of his ass and focus. On one hand, Duo could sympathize with Micah being bored. On the other, there was work to do, and it irritated him that Micah simply didn't seem to care that the slower things went, the longer Duo and the rest of the technicians would be stuck working. Some of the other actors got it - Duo saw them working their asses off - but Micah and a few others, mostly guys, just moved at a sedate pace, half their attention anywhere but on the tasks at hand. "Five minutes left!" Micah announced to all of the other actors, looking at his phone while Duo repositioned the ladder to get to the hanging pipe of lights just in front of the stage. It would be tricky - he needed to lean the ladder against the wall of the theatre, but even then, because of how short he was, Duo was going to have to stretch a lot to reach them. He frowned and looked over at Micah, at least six inches taller than Duo. "No way - I hate heights," Micah shook his head. "I thought you wanted me to check out your ass?" Duo tried to bargain, though, in truth, he didn't care much about that anymore. "Not enough to die for it." Duo sighed, but really, it wasn't Micah's job to do this kind of thing. "Just, please, brace the ladder? If you don't, I'm probably going to fall." "I haven't let you fall yet," Micah pointed out, but, after Duo glared at the phone in his hand, Micah put it into his back pocket. "Thanks." Duo pulled on his gloves and started climbing the ladder, trying to ignore the way it rattled against the wall. "Stand on the bottom rung," he called down to Micah when he got to the top. The ladder shook, and Duo looked down to see Micah bracing it securely. Feeling safe, Duo looked up at the first light, just slightly out of comfortable reaching distance. He climbed up another rung, past the point where it was really safe, and was able to reach the light. "Ready," he called out to Une, who was impatiently tapping her foot as she waited for him. "Focus it here," she said, and moved towards the far left side of the stage. The light had been hung securely by Trowa earlier in the day, and Duo had to put a lot of effort into turning it in the direction Une wanted, pushing against it so hard that he almost fell off the ladder. "Careful," Micah called up. "Trying to be," Duo muttered, and then grunted as he strained to finally get the light in the right direction. "Good. Drop the barrel - keep going, keep- stop. Right there. Soften the focus, keep- stop there. Bring in the bottom shutter - cut it more - good. Alright, drop in the R02." Micah climbed up a few steps on the ladder to pass Duo the frame R02 gel. Duo put it in the front of the light and locked everything down. And then he looked at the second light, even farther away than the first, and sighed. "Hey - don't leave without me!" Micah called out below, and Duo looked to see most of the other actors gathered in the back of the house, sitting down and chatting. "Micah," Duo cautioned. "Yeah, yeah, I've got you," Micah said, one hand on the rungs and one foot on the base, but he didn't bother to look up at Duo. "Let's get a move on," Une snapped. Duo had to turn around, so that his ass was on the wall of the theatre and he was leaning away from the ladder, to reach the next light. Fuck me. Duo wasn't afraid of heights - but he was sure as shit afraid of falling. He made the mistake of glancing down, at the row of seats fourteen feet below him, and had to swallow the rush of bile and adrenaline. Fuck, fuck, fuck. "Today?" Une sounded ready to climb up the ladder herself. "Ready," Duo managed to call out. "I want the light upstage and-" Whatever else Une wanted was completely drowned out by the rush of fear that flooded through Duo when he felt the ladder shift under his feet. He just had time to look down and see that Micah had stepped away, was looking at the back of the theatre and had his fucking phone out, and then- Then Duo felt three seconds of blinding panic as the world shifted and fell away under him, and then the ladder fell to the floor and Duo fell with it. -o- "Duo. Duo. Du-" "Stop saying my name," Duo moaned. He blinked his eyes open and then instantly regretted it. The lights felt intensely bright, blinding him and competing with the throbbing pain in his skull and his entire body, and- "Oh fuck, am I dead?" He heard a snort of laughter and tried to turn his head. "No, don't move." Duo felt a hand on the side of his face, stopping him. "Zechs?" "Yes - can you see me?" Duo blinked again, and tried to focus in the direction of the familiar voice. He rolled his eyes and saw Zechs, his face slowly coming into focus, his t-shirt stained with sweat and paint, his hair shoved under his Red Sox hat but a few strands loose around his face. "I can see you. S'not fair that you look so good when-" "Give him some room," Zechs said loudly, speaking over Duo. Duo looked around and saw Trowa, Heero, Hilde and Meilin standing near him, saw a huddle of actors just beyond them, and- "There's an ambulance on the way," Zechs said, his voice low and comforting, and Duo tried to think about just that, tried to focus on Zechs' voice and not the incredible pain he felt. His forehead felt wet and hot, and Duo reached up to wipe at it, but Zechs caught his hand. "Leave it. There's a lot of blood, but- it's a scalp wound. Those tend to bleed a lot." Duo realized that Zechs was incredibly pale. "You got a problem with blood?" Zechs just nodded. Duo grinned at that, bizarrely amused that Zechs looked ready to vomit. "Duo? Oh God, Duo, I'm so sorry I-" Duo managed to look over and see Micah, his face wet with tears, leaving the cluster of actors. Trowa stepped in Micah's way before he could get too close, one hand on his chest, physically restraining him. "He needs air," Trowa said, his voice cold and hard. Micah looked miserable and ready to start crying again. "Duo-" "What the fuck is going on here?" Duo tried to turn at the sound of the new voice, but Zechs held him down. "Howard, there's an ambulance on the way." The theatre owner walked into view, Cathy at his side, and Duo had to grin at the sight of the older man in a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses after midnight. "Jesus fucking - please tell me that bandana was red to begin with." Well. That didn't sound good, and the glare that Zechs gave Howard didn't help comfort Duo at all. Howard sighed, and took off his sunglasses to rub his eyes. "Alright. Actors - get out of here. Don't forget to be here at five-thirty tomorrow night for the dress rehearsal. The rest of you," Howard gestured to the technicians, "get back to work. Cathy - can you go with Duo to the hospital?" The red haired woman frowned and shook her head. "No, I need to drive into the city to pick up the director for Rocky. His flight gets in at two-thirty, and-" "Fuck. Right. Of course." Howard sighed and looked at Zechs. "Who can you spare to go with him?" "I'm fine," Duo spoke up. "I don't need-" "You're not fine," Zechs snapped. "I'll go with him. The last thing we're doing tonight is installing the door units, and Heero knows what to do." Zechs looked over at the master carpenter, who nodded in agreement. "We were going to turn the stage over to electrics after that, and my carpenters need to get some sleep - I don't want them wasting their time sitting in a waiting room at the hospital." Duo scowled at that, at Zechs saying it would be wasting time to be with him. But then again, it was the truth. Howard sighed again. "Fine, fine. Just- keep Cathy and me updated." Howard knelt down beside Duo. "Kid, I'm really sorry this happened. I'll talk to you once you've been patched up." The expression on the older man's face was grim, and Duo realized that he might be in trouble. After all, he had fallen off the ladder. He had been the one to fuck up and- "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" "Kid, stop apologizing right now. The way Trowa said it went down, you didn't do anything wrong." Howard squeezed his shoulder. Duo dimly heard the sound of sirens and saw Zechs sigh in relief. Howard stood up and walked out of Duo's line of sight. "Duo." It was Cathy, and Duo hoped she wasn't about to yell at him. "You listed your professor from school as your emergency contact. I'm going to give him a call, but is there someone else? Your family or-" "Don't wake him up." Duo tried to shake his head and immediately regretted it when his vision blurred and his stomach protested. He drew in an unsteady breath and closed his eyes. "He's not- I just had to put someone down. There's no one to call." "Sir, can you move back?" Duo heard an unfamiliar voice speaking, and opened his eyes to see paramedics pushing Zechs out of the way and reaching for Duo. Never fallen off a ladder before. Check. Never had someone hold my hand while I was carried out on a stretcher to an ambulance. Check. Never had someone fight to sit in an ambulance with me. Check. -o- ~ * ~ |
