Chapter 12

(Gage)

When the weasel breaks

Seated at the table beside the portable stage, Gage adjusted one of the sound levels as the skit ended, grateful to the higher ups for only agreeing to do four performances over the course of the day. It meant less time in costume, which was a good thing, since whoever was in charge of heating the convention center had seemingly failed to calculate how hot it would get once so many bodies filled the room with their constant motion.

Rolling his sleeves up had helped some, but nothing could truly relieve the sweltering feeling Zachy, and the others, endured besides the breaks where they were able to take off their costumes, one of which was fortunately coming up now.

He watched as everyone else waved from in front of the set, while Zachy tiptoed and slunk, still staying in character as he inched out from behind one of the rows of prop bushes they’d erected in a horseshoe shaped barrier around their stage. The flowers in them were so painstakingly crafted that the entire thing looked real right up until the moment you touched one.

Gage had learned from previous events that they always swapped them out for the boulders and rolled out the mats that were meant to look like sand when the garden skit was finished. Fake potted plants and succulents made of plastic and cloth would be strategically placed on the mat and in minutes their dessert landscape would be laid out for the next performance.

The reptile puppets had really become favorites of the children, so much so that there had been some rustling whispers about having new costumes made and focusing on a desert theme, since they’d all been playing forest characters for years.

Gage was so proud of his boy for making the presentation that kick-started that way of thinking, but Gage was worried too, that Zachy’s big idea could wind up backfiring on him, if he was typecast in another villain part.

At the moment, he was doing a bouncy little dance and making the babbery little sounds his character was known for, usually when he was snickering behind the other characters backs. Gage watched him hop from one foot to the other and wave at the kids that still lingered inside the barricade of props. Several chanted weasel, weasel, wicked weasel at him the way the kids in the show did when they spotted him, and Zachy bowed and waved, acknowledging that he’d been seen.

Hopping, he bounded sideways, showing off like some of the others did after a skit, playing it up for the crowd. Through the mic inside the costume, Gage could hear his happy chatter as he approached a little girl who’d been standing, staring at the others still lingering by the makeshift stage, signing autographs, hugging kids and posing with them. The look of longing on her face was unmistakable, and Gage knew Zachy had seen it too, because his boy started bounding her way, bobbing and babbering, before waving when he was directly in front of her.

Zachy grabbed his tail and spun on one foot, ending in a graceful bow right in front of her, then straightened up and reached out to shake her hand only for her to blow the decibel levels off his control panel when she let out an ear-splitting screech. Three more followed, then a wail as Zachy blacked away, the child’s screams and sobbing pleas as she clung to her grandmother having drawn a great deal of attention to them.

“You scared her!” The grandmother yelled over the wailing child’s head.

Through the headset Gage heard Zachy whisper sorry , though he couldn’t break character and properly apologize or do anything to help.

“Ohhh you ought to be ashamed of yourself! I want to speak to your boss! We didn’t pay good money to come here and have her terrorized! They shouldn’t even allow you out here with the children!”

She’d barely gotten the words out when Gage heard Zachy softly sniffle behind the headpiece as one of their production assistants rushed over.

Gage could hear some of what was said, through Zachy’s mic, now that the little girl was calming down some, though he must have moved further away because several words were difficult to make out. What was impossible for Gage to miss were the telltale signs that Zachy was crying. He could see his boy with his shoulders slumped and head down, tail draped over one arm, especially as the assistant waved over the other characters, who soon flapped, skipped, and hopped over to meet her. Oswald wrapped her in his feathered wings and through Oswald’s mic he could hear the little girl hiccupping, breath hitching as he clung and begged Oswald not to let the mean old weasel snatch her up and take her away from her grandmother.

While Oswald promised that he wouldn’t, while the production manager reasoned with the grandmother, soothing her anger with tickets to a taping of the show as well as the opportunity to take photos with the characters at the event and be a part of the 4:30 skit.

When the little girl cheered at being asked if she wished to be included, the grandmother huffed and begrudgingly replied that she supposed it would do. The child was clearly excited though, and while the grandmother snapped photo after photo on her phone, even directing the poses and positions and at one point even taking a moment to reposition one of the little girl’s pigtails, Gage saw the opportunity to step away to go check on his boy. Zachy had already been whisked back to the corridor, and one of the spacious rooms on the other side that was serving as their dressing room for the event.

Gage knew his boy, Zachy would have sought out a private place, somewhere the other cast members wouldn’t be able to see his tears when the hood came off. With the production assistant keeping watch over the grand-Karen, Gage knew there would be no one to help extract Zachy from that suit or grab him a bite to eat from the catering station, so he dropped by their first and got him a trio of sandwich squares, some carrot and celery sticks, and a heaping mound of fruit salad he topped with a dollop of whipped cream. His boy may not want to eat right now, but Gage intended to make damn sure he did it anyway, so he didn’t pass out before the end of the event.

Sure enough, he found his boy in the little enclave beside the stairs, his costume neatly draped over the railing, headpiece fitting on the floor beneath it. His knees were drawn up, cheeks streaked with slowly dripping tears that he was attempting to wipe away when Gage rounded the corner. He’d probably expected someone else, one of the other cast members, most likely, because he ducked his head the moment Gage’s shadow fell over him and didn’t look up until Gage sat and placed the plate on the other side of him before tugging Zachy close and pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

Zacky sniffled, the air catching in his throat before he let out a soft sob and turned to bury his head against Gage’s chest.

Stroking his hair, Gage just let him cry it out, knowing that nothing he said or did right now would erase the hurt Zachy felt. This was one of the worst parts about being a daddy; knowing there were things you just had to hold your boy through because there had been no way for you to protect him from it. Gage got it, he understood why the little girl had burst into tears upon seeing the weasel, who stole everything that wasn’t nailed down, trying to slink her way. She hadn’t wanted to be taken away from her grandmother.

He also knew why Zachy was sad over it and why he was currently soaking Gage’s shirt with his tears. Holding his boy, Gage pressed a kiss to the top of his head and gently rocked him while he slowly settled down.

“I just thought she’d like to take a picture with me,” Zachy mumbled.

“I know, sweet boy,” Gage said, “I know.”

Cuddled against him, Zachy went silent, occasionally sniffling, but mostly just clinging and taking comfort from him, which was perfectly alright with Gage, who checked his watch, keeping track of the time before Zachy would need to be back in costume. It was only when he felt him start trembling that Gage eased him back so he could see his face and rub his fingers over Zachy’s cheeks to brush the trace of his tears away. Already naturally pale, Zachy looked paler, even in the dim light of his little corner spot.

“It’s time for you to eat,” Gage declared as gently as he could while still making it clear that there was no room for debate.

It broke his heart to see Zachy’s lower lip tremble before he nodded and sat up a little more, pulling himself together inch by painful inch while Gage reached for the plate, intent on feeding him. As Zachy accepted the first forkful, Gage found himself wondering just how many times he’d hidden himself away so he could pull himself together alone.

“Zack? Zack? Are you down here?”

The moment the voice echoed down the hall, Zachy took the plate from his hands and sat it on his own lap, giving him a wary smile as he did. Gage understood completely. This was a work event, and as much as he wanted to see to him in every single way until he had his boy smiling again, he knew it would have to wait until he could take him home.

“Over here,” Zachy called, straightening up a little more and trying to force a smile.

The young man to round the cover was dressed similar to Zacky, in boyshorts and a tank top, about the only thing they could wear beneath the costumes that wouldn’t add too much to how warm they were. Gage had come to recognize them all out of costume, and this one, Tyler, was the one who played Oswald, otherwise known as Beakface.

“Hey, are you okay?” Tyler asked, clearly surprising Zachy, who blinked and started to nod, then shook his head no.

“Not really,” Zachy murmured, his voice soft and a bit muffled as he stared down at the plate in his lap. “I didn’t mean to make her cry.”

“I know,” Tyler said as he sat on the floor across from Zachy. “It’ll be nice when we get the new desert costumes. I’m tired of being the know-it-all hero, it’s boring and it’s hard to smile and act happy all the time when I’m really not feeling it. I can’t imagine how much it sucks to be the one everyone points at and calls wicked.”

Gage watched Zachy’s eyes widen, and his mouth drop open as Tyler kept talking.

“It’s not fair that we had to sign non-disclosure clauses and still can all hang out like we did at the start,” Tyler admitted. “If we can’t tell anyone who we are, then what does it matter if we hang out when we’re not in costume? We used to have amazing brainstorming sessions. Sometimes I wonder if the whole, no hanging out with the villains thing is why Barry quit at the end of last season. I miss him.”

“So do I,” Zachy said. “He was the only one I could go out and do anything with.”

“Yeah. I barely hear from him now that he’s moved to Seattle. I hate it. I haven’t had anyone to go to a concert with since he left. No one else I know likes the same music. He was my friend, one of the best ones I ever had. Sometimes I wonder if I should have quit with him. I don’t want to see you quit too, but I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to. Some of the people who come have been getting downright mean to you. I could have sworn I saw an old guy try and trip you up with a cane at a show a few weeks back.”

“He succeeded,” Zachy revealed, much to Gage’s surprise.

His boy hadn’t told him anything about that.

“That’s what sent me sprawling when I was on my way to hide the ball in the ball pit.”

“I wondered,” Tyler said. “I should have asked about it after the show, but when I got to the dressing room, there were like, twenty messages from my girlfriend cussing me out because her parents had paid a surprise visit and really wanted to meet me, only they just wound up getting pissed off when the autograph signing ran over and I didn’t make it to dinner on time. It didn’t help that I couldn’t tell them where I’d been or what I’d been doing.”

“Oh, ouch, were you able to smooth it over?” Zachy asked.

“No,” Tyler replied, and like Zachy had done when Tyler had rounded the corner, the young man tried to smile and couldn’t quite manage it. “I got dumped.”

“I’m sorry,” Zachy said, tears shimmering in his eyes, a sure sign of the empathy his boy had, even for those who’d previously hurt his feelings.

“So am I. I really liked her. We had a whole special holiday getaway planned out. Had a cabin in the mountains rented and everything. Was gonna be a whole weekend of snowboarding, cocoa and making out in front of the fireplace. Now I think I’m just going to head up alone and try to get my head straight before taping starts up again in mid-January.”

“Are you sure you wanna spend the holiday alone, way away from everyone you know?” Zachy asked, his boy’s gentle voice filled with concern for the very Beakface he’d wanted to throw something at just a few weeks before.

Being a spectator to this conversation showed him more about Zachy the man than anything he’d learned about him since they’d started spending time together. Gentle, soft hearted, kind, sweet, loving, gods but he was falling hard and fast for this boy. Gage doubted he could be so compassionate to someone minutes after he’d just finished bawling his eyes out.

“Want to, no, but I paid for it already and it’s non-refundable,” Tyler admitted. “Besides, I don’t see what difference it makes if I’m alone up there or in my apartment. Actually, I think it will be nicer in the mountains where I don’t have to see all the lights and people holding hands as they walk down the street laughing when I’m utterly alone.”

When Zachy nodded and a sad look crossed his face, Gage got the feeling that he knew just what Tyler was struggling with and had spent a few holidays like that himself. Well not this year, not when he had Gage in his life. He was going to make sure his boy had the most amazing, magical Christmas he could dream up, with nothing but giggles, smiles and lots and lots of suckies and rubies.

“Do you still have my number?” Zachy asked.

“Yeah.”

“You um, can call if you need to talk,” Zachy offered. “This year is the first year since I’ve left home that I won’t be spending the holidays alone. I know how hard it can be, especially if you’re someone who likes Christmas. Sometimes it hurt so much I didn’t even bother putting up a tree.”

Tyler swallowed hard, eyes shimmering with tears as he nodded. “We were gonna put up a fake one and decorate it together, since neither of us had the heart to kill a tree just to use it for a couple weeks.”

“I don’t like live ones either. There’s something sad about knowing that after all the pretty shimmery stuff comes off, I’d just be taking the tree to the curb to lay wilting and turning brown in the snow. It’s kinda wasting a thing of beauty, ya know?”

“Yeah, that’s how I feel too,” Tyler said, swiping at his eyes. “I’d better let you eat before we have to get dressed again and go back out there.”

Zachy glanced down at his barely touched plate and nodded. “I’ll see you on stage.”

When Tyler stood, the two locked eyes, both trying to smile and failing.

“Thanks for coming to check on me,” Zachy said.

“I should have done it sooner,” Tyler replied before he turned and slipped back up the hall.

Gage reached out and touched the lone tear that slid down Zachy’s cheek. “That was a lovely offer you made him, to call if he needed to talk.”

“How could I not?” Zacky said before pushing some of the fruit around on his plate. “When I’ve been where he is now.”

“As long as you have me in your life,” Gage told him, leaning in to brush a kiss across his lips, “you’ll never be alone again.”