“Want to help me brainstorm?”
“Love to.” That kept them busy all the way to Korea. By the time they landed Andy’s notes document was four times as long, and included ideas for shooting the Ariel and Prospero solo portraits as well as the thirteen staged lines.
They were still talking about it on the way to their Seoul hotel. “I’m starting to think this might be a big show. Maybe my biggest.” Andy looked excited. “There’s so much more material. I can’t stop thinking about other characters. If these come off like I expect, they would be the centerpiece. I wouldn’t do so many lines with other characters. I mean these guys, this thing is going to be its own thing. You saw them together at the premiere.”
“Yeah. That Niall is an eyeful. I thought so back in Miami.” They’d met up with Janis and her tour manager when they were on the East Coast for
‘Countdown 2.’
“You can have Niall if I can have Geoffrey. Jesus, what a cutie.” Victor snorted. “Anyway that’s another thing to work on here and there.”
“You could get Tanith to tweak some of the text for you if you’ve got other slash pairings in mind. I can’t remember most of the plays well enough.
They didn’t have to tweak these at all.”
“I can’t remember either. Have to do some reading. But yeah, Tanith could write something. I loved that thing she did with Marco and Cameron, the Juliet speech going oh hell no.” They were at the hotel. “Maybe I’ll pull something from that video to feature them. I am not going to let them both live. Romeo, let’s face it, he’s an idiot.” Victor laughed again. “I could get somebody else to play Romeo and Mercutio. You know they had a bromance.”
This went on all day. It was as if the project had gotten Andy over the hump of accepting what was going on with his father. Victor threw himself into it, because it was fun. He wanted to come up with characters they could
play themselves. “I’ll be reading those plays again while I wait for you on location. We could get that gal Charlie to take the pictures for us.” Almost everybody they knew was capable of taking a decent photograph with a phone, but they were in touch off and on with another person who’d been a commercial photographer and whose work they appreciated. “That series she did with the local musicians was really good. Do you have a target date on when to hang this? It’s going to take a while to develop,” Victor said while they were getting ready for the night’s event.
“Most of the year, I think. I’ll build the content first and then decide where and when to hang it. Because we have shit to do. I want to work up that Broadway thing with you. And I want to put together some dances with you. There’s ‘Milonga’ again with the Cabaret in September.”
“Gotta do it. What’s the idea?”
“Love is Blindness.”
“Not an apache, please.” Andy laughed. Victor loved the sight of that.
“Going to get Dmitri to choreograph for us?”
“Yeah, probably. And then there’s ‘Spy Games’ in November.” They made eye contact in the mirror, both immediately thinking of a dance they’d wanted to do years ago. “Mr. and Mrs. Smith. We could finally do the Assassins’ Tango.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.” Victor gave it a second. “Are you gonna wear fishnets for me?” Andy started to giggle. “Because you know your legs are better than Angelina Jolie’s.” A snort. Victor reached for him. His “God, I love you” was against Andy’s throat.
Their escort’s knock on the door separated them. “Jesus, catnip. Look at you.” Andy bit his lip, trying to stifle more giggles. He helped reorganize Victor’s clothes and hair. “Be right there,” he said, projecting it to the hallway. “How do I look?”
“Like you’ve been molested.” Victor set a fingertip on Andy’s neck.
Andy adjusted himself, took a few steps, checked himself out in the mirror, shrugged at the love bite. “If the whole world doesn’t already know we like to fuck, we’re doing it wrong.” Victor was still laughing when they opened the door.
Back to normal didn’t mean totally okay. Victor checked with Andy
before he posted one of his videos from the karaoke bar. “I won’t if you don’t want me to. Your folks will see it.”
“Yeah, I know.” Andy looked around the gate area. They were waiting to board yet another flight. “It’s not like they don’t know how I feel.” Victor made a sound of assent. He knew Andy was emailing with his mom almost every day. “You can post any or all of them as far as I’m concerned.”
“All might be a little much.” The one Victor wanted to post was the one that would be the most revealing. Their friends would be wondering what the hell was going on. He’d had to think through why he wanted to post it, and realized it was because he wanted their friends ready to jump in and help Andy when he needed it, even if he didn’t ask for it. Because he probably wouldn’t. He wanted them to know Andy was going to need help, was what it came down to. “Okay, then. If you’re sure.”
Andy turned his head to make eye contact. I know what you’re doing. He couldn’t verbalize his appreciation, so he said, “I’m sure. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Victor didn’t waste any time. The video was live before they boarded.
Back in Los Angeles, Dana did her usual before-bedtime media check.
Everybody was present, accounted-for, and avoiding trouble according to Facebook. She was about to log out when the new-stuff counter went red again. She almost ignored it; she had an early call, Rory was waiting up in the loft, and how important could
