g o r g e o u s, d a w l i n g. [[ o p e n ]]

Saffron stood in the doorway of the hair and make-up room, swinging the hair straightener round and round by it's cord. It then occurred to her that that might not be such a great idea, and she refrained, setting it down on the counter. It was necessary then, that she catch a glimpse of herself in the huge gigantic mirror extending across the entire wall above that nice slick black countertop.

She made a few faces- sat on the counter, took a closer peek at her face and her own make-up, just eyeliner, a tad of mascara and some lip balm, not even gloss. She was a little early- okay... like... thirty minutes. But she liked the quiet of the make-up room just before the chaos erupted. She knew she'd be running quite a bit tonight anyway. So then Fred's presence was most likely very unnecessary. But still, he sat in the corner, beside her very own extensive make-up kit, never used by her, given to her by her mother of course but then donated toward every school play she could use it at- to doll up the others of course. As much as she didn't like make-up on herself, she loved putting it on others. And it gave her a chance to use her all time favorite phrase,

"Goooorgeous dawwwling." She smiled at the mirror for a moment, then sprawled herself out along the counter. "Aaarrghhh..." She wasn't feeling very good lately...

He neither needed to be ready or down to makeup at this sort of time, but his over-protective, vaguely clingy boyfriend instincts had kicked in, and told him to get his ass down to see Saffie. And when he got there, he found himself admiring her as much as she was probably scrutinising herself in that mirror.

Gerard had been the perpetually free and unattached guy before now, cold and distant, and look what Saffie had done to him! She deserved a medal, this side of him was probably far better than any side he had ever shown anyone else. Apart from the few flaws with it. Ridiculously jealous, over-protective, a worrier... the list just went on. So maybe there were more than a few flaws.

"Gorgeous indeed."

Gerard mentioned from the door frame as Saffie flopped on the side, before cocking his head. There was something about her that was slightly different, a little off, like someone ill. Well, sort of. Like the remaining ache of a hangover hours after it's really gone. That kind of idea. Gerard rubbed his own head, simply knowing that soon he would have that feeling. He shook his head at himself, before crossing the room, hopping up on the counter, and sprawling across Saffie.

"Haiii."

He grinned at Saffie, a childish smile, and started playing with her hair, fingers combing gently through the brown hair. A light kiss was pressed to her hand as he caught it, before he dropped it again. It really couldn't be comfy for her, with him lying across her torso, but he was comfortable. If Saffie said, in all seriousness, to get off her, he would.

But... comfy! For now anyway.

When Gerard came in, a smile instantly crept across Saffron's face. She would have sat up and allowed Gerard to come and sit beside her but he came and crawled on top of her before she could get herself to move. She still wasn't feeling so good, but having him in with her made her somehow feel a bit better. His touch and his kiss were comforting to her, even though the position of lying there... not so much.

She took a deep breath in, her chest expanding out a bit as she arched her back, trying to scoot herself over into a better position. But considering how she was feeling, she knew this whole adjusting thing wouldn't last too long, and she'd probably end up asking him to get the heck off in a minute or two. Nicely of course. With a kiss maybe.

"Hey there," she said softly. "So, Major General Thomas Waverly..." her smile crept further up her face as she traced the line his shirt collar made. "How you feelin'? Nervous? 'Cause if you are, you shouldn't be. I'm so excited to watch you rock that stage with your Major General-ness." Although the banter could have been pretty hilariously spoken; it came out sounding a little more tired and forced than intended. Saffie could feel deep down inside that this was going to be a long night, but she was pushing that thought away. Right now, she just wanted to support Gerard.

Gerard watched her for a moment, gently wrapping a hair round his finger before dropping it and imagining it falling into a ringlet anyway.

"I'm fine. Nervous but in a good way I think. You know, you'd look nice with curls."

Yeah, totally related. But now he wanted a real kiss. And a huge hug for Saffie was in order. He pushed himself up, so his legs swung over the side and he was sat upright, pulling on Saffie's hand in a gesture for her to get up.

"So the real question now is are you alright? You don't look well."

He pushed one hand under her bangs to feel her temperature and found himself coming up inadequately without a response, so pushed a hand onto his own forehead, frowning and unable to decide whether or not she had a temperature. He swapped hands and carried on with a bemused frown for a while. Right, now he was confused. He wasn't sure whether she was hotter or cooler than him. Hotter, duh. His mind wasn't often helpful. Right now... It was just proving this. Yeah, he already knew she was hot, who was her boyfriend?

"Umm... Yeah, I really can't tell whether or not you have a temperature."

He let out a slight laugh, and shifted uncomfortably where he sat.

Saffron tried to picture herself with a head full of curls for a moment. Her face slowly contorted into a sort of curious look of horror. She had enough trouble getting her hair to behave as it was, just straight! And the only kind of curls she could think of at the moment were Shirley Temple's blonde spirals; totally not Saffitastic. Not Saffie at all.

Saffie was relieved when Gerard sat up, and pleasantly willing to join him in the more upright position. She sighed at the next question. She didn't feel well. But it was probably nothing. It was most likely nothing. She really hoped it was nothing... she could afford to get sick, especially not tonight, when everyone would be counting on her for their makeup and hair and whatnot. If she didn't do her job, then all the actors and actresses would be that much more nervous about doing their jobs and if anyone messed up because of it, if anything went wrong, she'd feel awful. But then... she already felt rather awful. Uuugh.

Gerard's hands felt cool against her forehead. She frowned, amusedly confused at the first touch, and even more so as he switched his hands back and forth between their heads. She elbowed him lightly in the side, with a giggle. "You're ridiculous. I'm fine," she leaned in and kissed him. "I don't feel sick- just... not completely well- but it doesn't matter anyway." She let her head rest on his shoulder, while pulling his arms around her. "I never get sick for more than a day or two- I'll be good as new tomorrow, I bet."

Restlessly, she detached herself from Gerard and hopped off the counter. Walking to her makeup kit, she opened it and stared at its contents, trying to get it into her head which colors she had used for which actors and actresses at the last dress rehearsal; it'd all looked good then.

There it was. A smile, a giggle to be precise.

"Yeah, you'll be better soon. At least that's my diagnosis."

Gerard took a pompous tone to his voice and tugged on the collars of his shirt, pretending he was a doctor. Doctors were pretty cool, really.

"But then again, I wouldn't take my opinion on it."

He mused slightly, pressing his lips to Saffie's, before blinking. He had just thought of something.

"Wait, you're just trying to give me your germs!"

So, ok, childish moment, but he still kissed Saffie's cheek, and wrapped her into a tight hug. He gave a soft smile to himself and nuzzled into her hair.

"So, do I get makeup or not? And please, write that down as the gayest sentence of my life.

Gerard told Saffie, letting her go so she could do stuff. If she wanted. Or, alternatively, she could sit beside him and let him cling onto her for dear life. Because he liked being with her.

Running a finger over a muted raspberry color of blush, Saffron smiled softly. She looked at the smudged grains of color on her finger, and then she looked at Gerard. She shook her head. Nope, not the right color. With another finger, incidentally her pointer- the first had been the middle- she swiped a trace of a pink, a softer color than the raspberry, cooler, less standout.

"You love my germs," she said at first, her mind still lingering a minute or two behind the conversation. But she caught up right then, twisting to face him and pointing the pinkened pointer finger at Gerard. "Just give me your hand," she pronounced with mock annoyance- a little roll of her eyes and the eloquent flick of her finger. Without giving him time to respond, she reached out with her other, blushless hand and grabbed his, pulling him then down from his perch to where she stood. "Let's see..." she sucked her teeth. "If I recall correctly..." she loved it when she had the chance to use refined language in long, elegant drawn out tones flecked with hints of foreignness. It made her feel like that lady from that old black and white movie, Sunset Boulevard. Now there was a woman who knew something about looks. She was psychotic maybe... yeah... but she said it best, "We didn't need dialogue! We had faces!" Faces. Faces that were properly made-up of course!

She smeared a little of the pink blush on the back of Gerard's hand. "Mmm, yep! This is the right pink. Now..." Leaning to the side, over her little box of make-up she reached for the whitish-tan powder that would lightly coat all the faces in the entire play. Powdering that across his face, she blew the excess away and began to brush the blush across his cheeks- with a touch so subtle, it was as noticeable as a single snowflake in a blizzard. "There," she smiled softly, somehow feeling tired already. She shook her head. "All that's left is a little bit of..." she trailed off, feeling lightheaded for a moment. She brought her hand to her head. "damnit- uh- eyeliner..." This was crazy. Why was she feeling this way? "Here it is..." She turned back to him.

Swinging his legs as he sat, Gerard watched Saffie intently, still under the belief that she had to be ill. But still he complied easily when she took his hand, and slid off the side. His eyes closed as she dusted powder over his face (he'd gotten powder in his eyes before- talk about itchy!), and he touched a hand to Saffie's waist as he stood. He loved how gentle she was, how focused when she was doing things like this. The room was pretty much quiet apart from the sounds of their breathing, as they concentrated, and somewhere down the hall someone was laughing. Chattering noises, as people must have been climbing into their costumes, singing as people warmed up their voices.

Gerard loved hearing things. Not as much as he liked to write them, but it was something that people didn't think about. More laughter, all in time now, and someone must have told a joke. His eyes were opening now he knew that the powder treatment was over. He could just feel the blush being applied to his cheeks.

"Saff? You alright?"

He wrapped his arms around her as she turned back, into a bear hug, as he kissed the top of her head.

"I'm tucking you into bed tonight. No arguments. Soon as we can get out of here, when the show's finished, alright?"

Reluctantly releasing her so she could carry on with what she was doing, he pressed their lips together in a quick, but real kiss, a soft smile on his face.

When were the others coming in to get their make up done, Saffie wondered. She was fairly eager to get the night over with, so Gerard could make good on his spoken promise and get her to bed. A good night's rest was probably all she needed...

"I'm not arguing," Saffie conceded, enveloped very happily by the hug.

"As soon as it's done," she smiled faintly; just considering for a moment how good it was to have someone to agree when to leave with. Someone to whisk her off to bed when she wasn't feeling good. It was nice- kind of made feeling bad worth it. "But for now- hold still..." she took a breath and tried to focus on the easing of the tension building in her head; at the same time, she uncapped the eye liner and got to work on Gerard's eyes. She was an eye liner goddess as far as she was concerned- she used it every single day for herself, and just about never messed up with her own eyes or anyone elses. Maybe make up was something she should have thought about getting into professionally... naaah.

"Okay Mr. General, dawwwwling. If you see anyone out there who hasn't seen me- which is ALL of them right now- be sure to send them my way, y'hear? After all, what's the dialogue when you have faces?! That's what everyone in the crowd's gonna see!" She patted Gerard on the buttox, playfully shooing him out to gather the others to her. The sooner the job was done- the sooner she could relax.