Work Text:
He knew it was a long shot.
He had been peeking out of the side of the huge curtain for the last 10 minutes in anticipation for his big performance. No sign.
He tried to embody what his coach had told him and the rest of his team before they went to hair and makeup. “No matter who is in that audience tonight, whether we have a full house or twenty people, all that matters is putting on the best show you can. Give anybody who comes your all. It’s what they deserve, after all.”
It is. It is what they deserve. A good show. And as the opening number Ben had the weight of the show on his shoulders. If he didn’t give a good show, how would that reflect on the rest of his team? His coaches? Himself?
Which is why he couldn’t let the absence of his mother affect him. He wasn’t even one hundred percent sure that she *wasn’t* coming. She had told him that she would ‘do her absolute best to make it’, but Ben knew that was an empty promise. Made one too many times for him to truly rely on it. But there was still a small, foolish part of him that was still hopeful that she’d come.
A tap on his shoulder brought him back to himself. “Places,” the stage manager said from behind him. “You’re almost on.”
Ben exhaled and nodded, stepping out onto the dim stage.
Shit. As soon as he took his place everything started to feel… wrong. His costume was itchy, his makeup was too thick, and the blue lights made his eyes hurt and his head swim. His breath started to catch in his chest. He started to hear his brother’s voice in his head.
*'Deep breaths, Benten. You’ve worked hard for this. No matter who comes, people came to see a show. And I know you’ll give ‘em a damn good one.'*
The blue lights dimmed and the curtains started to part. He was hit with the harsh spotlight coming from the outside and the slowing applause of the audience as the show was about to start. His breath hitched again.
*'Give ‘em hell, Steel.'*
The music hit its first chord, and Ben sprung to life. As soon as he started moving, the thrum of the bass and the swirling melodies carried him through every step and motion. It was like a second skin; moving fluidly and freely across stage as if he was one with the very air itself. He started to worry less and less about who was in the audience. Who cares, after all. Art is made for everybody to enjoy and for everybody to find something in. He was sharing his art with the world. Why should their experience be lessened because *one person* wasn’t in the audience? That thought fueled him. He was determined to give this audience the best performance he possibly could.
The time just flew by. The next moment he was consciously thinking was the end of his dance. His costume felt less restricting, his makeup felt lighter, and the spotlight felt less like an assault on his mind and more like an illumination of his very heart and soul, sharing every emotion and feeling with the audience.
He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the applause started. As they cheered, he took deep breaths; almost as if he was not only breathing in air, but their spirit and love as well. He scanned the audience. So many people were on their feet clapping and cheering, but he didn’t see them. He was focused on a figure in the middle of the center section of the auditorium. It was hard to see through the glare of the lights, but he thought he could make out a familiar voice letting out shrill cheers and the glint of a smile that wasn’t unlike his own. As the lights faded Ben’s heart swelled. So they did come after all. He hurried offstage and was greeted by words of affirmation and compliments and pats on the back. They all blurred behind him as he headed for the dressing room. Would they stay for the entire show? Probably not. They’d most likely be in the dressing room, and if they weren’t… well… maybe they stayed for the whole thing and would see him later? Yeah. Maybe that.
He turned the corner into the dressing room with low hopes. Maybe that was just somebody who looked like him. After all, if Mom didn’t come, how would he have gotten here in the first place? He opened the door and there in front of him, a small bouquet of flowers in hand and the same wide smile on his face as the one Ben saw in the audience, his brother, Juno Steel. In the flesh.
Ben felt a matching grin appear on his face. “Super-Steel?! I had no idea you’d be here, you know, after what Mom said this morning, and I-”
He didn’t finish that sentence as the wind was knocked out of him by Juno, who barreled across the room and threw his arms around him.
Ben chuckled and wrapped his arms around him. “You know, breathing is kind of important, Juno.”
“I’m so damn proud of you, Ben.” Juno said, his voice muffled by Ben’s shoulder.
He smiled and rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Juno.”
Juno pulled away and wiped a tear from his eyes. Shit, was he crying? Ben laughed and gave his shoulder a joking nudge, “Don’t get all mushy on me, Super-Steel, it was just a dance.”
“Shut up, I wasn’t crying.”
Ben’s smile grew wider. “Yeah you were.”
Juno scoffed. “Was not.”
“Was too!”
Juno pushed back, which made Ben laugh harder. “Was not! But if I was, I’d be perfectly justified.”
“Oh, and why’s that?”
“Can a lady not be in awe of his brother’s talents for like, three seconds without getting judged? C’mon, Benten, you’re better than that.”
Ben raised his hands in mock defeat. “Damn, I get it, I’m the best dancer in the whole galaxy and you’re just floored by my incredible-ness.” He struck a pose for dramatic effect.
“Don’t give yourself too much credit.” Juno smiled.
But Juno was still there by himself. And the presence of that thought, or rather, the absence of the person, hung over the room like a dark cloud. The proverbial elephant in the room that neither brother wanted to bring up.
Until Ben broke the silence. “‘Noticed you were here by yourself.”
Juno sighed. “Yup.”
The silence continued as Juno looked sadly at his brother, then picked up the bouquet of flowers that he had dropped when Ben came in. He held them out to him.
“From both of us.”
The bouquet wasn’t much to look at. Most bouquets on non-Earth planets were. People found ways to cultivate flowers, sure, but once they were out of their growing beds it was hard to keep them alive for more than a few hours unless you had the resources to keep them so. But to Ben, knowing that the flowers were from his mom, even if she couldn’t be there to watch him, made the bouquet look like the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
"She'd have been proud, Ben.”
Ben looked up from the flowers, trying to mask the tears that were threatening to spill at any moment.
Juno smiled. “Hell, she is proud of you. I’d know, because I am too.”
The barrier broke and tears started to spill down his face and down his cheeks. Spoiling his makeup no doubt, but he didn’t care.
Juno smiled, not masking his own tears, and engulfed Ben into another hug that only made him cry more. But he couldn’t help but smile. Even if his mom wasn’t there, hell, she wasn’t there for a lot of things in his life, he had his brother. His Super-Steel. And that was a bond that he would treasure forever and never take for granted.