Love is heavy and light, bright and dark [Dec 8th]

[asoncalledgabriel]

It's been weeks. Gabriel gave up trying to even text Anthony about a week ago and instead threw himself into final rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet. He's tried not to complain to Neil too much about the sudden absence, mostly because he feels stupid for being so worked up about it in the first place. Especially when Neil mentions that Guy's been in a rough patch.

Of course, Anthony must have been trying to take care of his friend. But-- couldn't he stand to answer a text or a call?

He tries to put it out of his mind come opening night. A few hours before the curtain went up, he'd sent Anthony an offhand text.

R&J tonight, curtain up at 7pm.

After that, he leaves his phone on silent and in his bag as they go through final rehearsals and costume adjustments.

For the most part, characters like Mercutio stay in the same costume with minor changes through the show so the audience doesn't lost track of who is who. Gabriel makes his entrance looking like a fashionable young noble of the period, a little more undone than Romeo's other compatriots - a little more fast and loose, as the character is meant to be. He delivers the Queen Mab speech with a dreamer's mania, and his death is impassioned and hopeless all at once.

After his last scene on stage, Gabriel hangs out of sight in the wings, sneaking looks at the audience when he can. The theater is dark, he can't see very far into it, and he doesn't know why he's bothering to look, anyway. Neil told him he wouldn't be able to make opening night and that he plans to come tomorrow or during the closing weekend. He disappears into the dressing room to take off the stage make up caked on his face. He'll still have to go out bow for the curtain call, but he doesn't need contouring or darkened eyebrows for that.

Gabriel reappears for the curtain call and the full cast bow on stage, all bright smiles and exaggerated gestures. He can hear the announcement inviting the audience to mingle with cast members out in the atrium, where light refreshments are being served by one of the student groups.

All he wants to do is change out of his costume and disappear, but Romeo hooks him around the shoulders and hauls him out to the atrium to socialize.

Comments

[flightfromennui]

Anthony had not meant to ignore Gabriel’s missive, at least not at first.

Many people have rightfully called Anthony Blunt cold, or distant, or unfriendly, but rarely impolite. He is a follower of social niceties, and though technology may have changed, social niceties dictate that one should reply to messages. Social niceties dictate that one should should not ignore one’s appointments. But in these last few weeks, Anthony had done just that.

Guy’s discovery about the future, and his subsequent breakdown, had occupied Anthony’s every waking thought for over a week. Even when Guy had returned from his bender, Anthony had been busy keeping an eye on him. He had seen Gabriel’s messages, yes, but they had fled his mind the moment he read them; he found himself unable to fix on the thought of the lovely, distracting Irish boy when swept up in this realization that his life’s work had been a failure, and his fear that his best friend would put himself in some terrible danger.

But even after the immediate dreadfulness had passed, Anthony had not reached out. Perhaps he did not need to, he told himself. Perhaps it was time to let this silly affair burn out. Perhaps he had not actually committed a faux pas, but had merely done the rational thing. Perhaps it was just as well.

Anthony had nearly convinced himself of that when he sees the text. His heart tightens—stupidly—with guilt, and with the realization that he does want to see Gabriel again. And so he goes, telling himself that the least he can do is wish the boy a sincere congratulations.

Gabriel is transformed as Mercutio, the measured young man gone and replaced with the wild sidekick of Shakespeare’s play. Anthony finds himself surprisingly drawn in, and his applause at the end is more than perfunctory. Afterwards, sipping a drink in the atrium and wondering if he should just slip out again, he sees Gabriel across the room. With a small, polite smile, he raises his hand in greeting.