Gift for reconquista - Part 1
Title: The Romolo Vargas Theater
Author: Asriel27
Recipient: reconquista
Character(s) or Pairing(s): Spain/Romano, Germany/Italy, France/Jehanne, slight Germania/Rome, slight Russia/America, mentioned in passing and vague Fryingpangle, etc.
Word Count: 8,260
Rating: R
Warnings: Excessive cursing, Boys love (of course), character death mentioned in passing
Summary: Antonio is the head male dancer for Francis' ballet company, and Romano is the surly stage painter that watches him dance in secret.
Author notes: The works mentioned are as follows: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth are movies using William Shakespeare’s revised scripts. Coppélia (L. Delibes), Cinderella (S. Prokofiev), Giselle (Adoplhe Adam), Sleeping Beauty (P. Tchaikovsky), Swan Lake (P. Tchaikovsky), and The Nutcracker (P. Tchaikovsky) are live ballet performances. The Marriage of Figaro (WA Mozart) and La Boheme (G. Puccini) are live opera performances. Wicked (Stephen Schwartz) is a Broadway show.
Additional notes: I am NOT a fan of ballet. Sorry if it doesn’t focus on ballet as much. OTL I’m more of an opera fan. Also, sorry if I use very stupid terms about stage management and stage design. Google can only go so far.
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In the beginning
“Thank you. I cannot express how happy I am to receive this award! This is a pretty big and strong trophy… I have been building sets for years now. This… This must be the year for me. Five grand projects: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet…[audience claps] Swan Lake and the Nutcracker Ballets…[louder clapping] and Figaro. All successful projects…[long silence]
“Oh, sorry. I am getting emotional in my old age. Again, thank you all for this wonderful award. I could suggest stripping but no one wants to see an old man’s body [catcalls] except that guy! [laughter]
“I cannot thank you all enough for this award. [flying kisses] Thank you so so much…”
-end of video-
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“I have decided to retire from set design. [audience uproar; camera flashes and questions]…
“I have always wanted to give new bloods out there something to look up to. I have done that and I have enjoyed myself making the grandest set of my dreams in the Marriage of Figaro. Being the first set designer ever to be given an award, I am and always will be grateful to my fans. Eternally grateful…
“This will not be the last you will see of me. I do not think all of you are tired of my face just yet. [light giggles] But do not expect to see my name in big productions…
“That is all… [audience uproar]”
-end of video-
1 Romolo was there
“It’s really beautiful,” Feli murmurs as they pass each scenery hanging on the wall.
Little Feli’s arm is around his for a change. They march ahead, ignoring gawking, open-mouthed stares. At least they try to get a look at most of the designs in the exhibit before the reporter’s cause a scene.
They leave the modest paintings in favor of the in-depth architectural designs in the next cubicle. There are only two on display. Romolo knows for a fact that Romano stores more than a dozen models in his basement-turned-studio. A modified set for Puccini’s La Bohème captures Feli’s attention. He drops Romolo’s arm to coo at the miniature cardboard opera singers his brother set up. Romolo glances at the second piece. Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet. Very simple with stark contrast using colors and shadows. He inches closer. Furniture and lighting combined on a predominantly colorless (actually colorful) stage. Interesting. Romolo giggles. Romano sets whipping tops with ballerina cardboard faces on the miniature theater.
Good. Very good. This may work…
“Uhm, are you Mr. Romolo Vargas? The famous set designer?” a young lady asks him. He turns and beams a smile down at her.
“Why, yes, pretty lady! Who else would come to appreciate his own grandson’s exhibition?”
“Grandpa, who are you talking to?” Feli attaches his arm to Romolo’s and faces the girl.
“I think she is your brother’s fan, Feli,” Romolo chuckles.
Feli’s eyes grow large as he drops Romolo’s arm again this time to grasp the lady’s hand in both of his.
“I’m so happy brother has fans now! Please continue to support my brother, okay?”
Romolo can see the lady melting from Feli’s puppy-eyed stare. He can only admire his grandson’s remarkable skills before he hears squealing sounds all around him.
He sighs. They still need to see the other half of the exhibit.
2 Feliciano was there too
“They took us to a café across the street! The coffee was delicious and the girls were very pretty!”
Feliciano tried hard to catch his brother’s attention. He receives a grunt for his efforts. Romano is drinking the coffee (sweet, creamy, wimpy girl’s coffee) he brought home.
“Have you slept yet brother?” He worries.
“Of course I did,” Romano grunts, “Three hours. I set an alarm. This coffee is so lame but thanks. Now, get out of my room.”
Feliciano sees the dark bulges under his brother’s eyes and nearly cries in fear as the computer screen’s blue light washes over Romano’s face.
“But big brother, that’s not healthy…”
“Like you can talk. You don’t sleep trying to practice on your violin before an audition.”
Romano slurps the last bits of whipped cream off the cup. His fingers fly over the keyboard to play with the mouse’s track ball. The structure on the computer screen twists and turns to follow whatever Romano had in mind for it. Feliciano appreciates the strange colors and shapes. Where and whose theater is it for anyway? And what type of show is Romano working on?
Something shines and shrieks from Feliciano’s left side. He jumps in fright.
“Oh crap, the paint’s dry. I need to get there quick,” Romano mutters to himself as he reaches for the cell phone to turn the alarm off. Romano quickly saves his files and doesn’t wait for the computer to finish shutting down. Feliciano watches as his brother procures a scarf around his neck from nowhere. Romano battles with his jacket.
Feliciano wants him to stay. He rarely sees Romano these days. He misses his scariness, rudeness and strong hatred for sweet Lud. He wants his brother.
“Don’t look at me like that Feli,” Romano says. He runs a hand through his hair. “You know I don’t show my face in public and I hate going to my own exhibits. I’ll pay you back for the coffee and snacks. They’re real life savers.”
Feliciano stares at a closed bedroom door by the next second, his brother’s footsteps sound farther and farther away.
3 In case we forget
“Don’t touch it!”
The man/lady flinches and freezes on the spot. Romano spares a split-second of his fucking busy life to observe. Tights. Make-up. Classical cut of a ballerina’s dancing dress (and if he recalls correctly, he himself fit for a big woman who will be playing Swanhilda tomorrow.) It brings him straight to his current dilemma. His volunteer painter, a real amateur, fucks up one of the windows and colors it green. Fucking color blind and did not feel the need to say so until Romano arranges the set on stage. Yesterday, Romano repaints the thing. The paint may not be dry enough. He prefers not to spend another second trying to paint the dancer’s hand white just because-
She/He is still looking at Romano, dark eyes so big like a deer caught in headlights. Uh. Retreat. RetreatRetreatRetreat. Romano thinks there’s only one thing this man/woman can be.
“Sorry, miss, I didn’t mean to scare you,” smile at the prima donna, “but the paint is not dry yet. I’m sure I had a sign up somewhere. Anyway, we wouldn’t want to get your lovely fingers dirty, do we?” Flash another smile. Walk away. Bad ass.
He thinks he hears a deep rumbling bass (and very male) laughter behind him but he dismisses the thought. Nobody smiles as warmly as a lady except a lady… or his little brother…
TBC