Oh, no. This game. Riff knows this game. Riff is horrendously aware of this game. Horrendously aware of heavily makeuped eyes unmoving from his face (it made his fresh crawl, his heart constrict, his brain spin with anxiety – that old voice, that child’s voice, in his head that just wanted to cry out DON’T LOOK AT ME DON’T LOOK AT ME DON’T LOOK AT ME). Horrendously aware of the moment that the atmosphere transitioned from smooth, mocking JOKES to Frank looking for an opportunity for the servant – for goodness’ sake, the General, the GENERAL – to SLIP UP. Why? Why was Frank like this? He didn’t think he’d ever understand. Never understand why he was paired up with him. Never understand why he willingly stepped on to the ship. Never understand why they set foot on Earth. Never understand why here he was, sitting on a vanity table coloring pale lips with ruby.
Riff kept his straight face. He never once returned Frank’s gaze. With a final, small dab on the corner of the other’s lip, he set down the lipstick, trying to keep the swirling EMOTIONS that boiled under the surface of his icy demeanor UNDER CONTROL. He was just so frustrated, so humiliated, so angry– and all caused by a kiss and a STARE.
And it all came down to the fact, that ever present, unchanging fact that Riff hated Frank so much. Riff hated how Frank had the POWER to make him feel.
“It is finished.” It’s nothing more than a murmur & he’s slipping off the table, away from the other. Going to cower. Going to brood. Anywhere away from Frank where he can feel like he has some kind of SLIVER of power over himself, at least.
the TENSION is smothering, the most venomous of words burn in the doctor’s throat &ITCH at the roof of his mouth, wholly prepared for whatever sort of eruption that the general, however unbeknownst to himself, may conjure. frank, more than a bit DISAPPOINTED in riff raff, his damned stoic eyes & unchattering teeth, immediately massages glistening lips against each other, filling in any spots the handyman could have MISSED. gazing upon himself, painted & glowing, the prince raises a neatly exaggerated brow at the noise of riff raff’s footsteps, echoing hurriedly AWAY.
‘ … have i DISMISSED you, riff raff ? ’ leisurely, he rises ; crosses the room, & that odious stare falls upon the prince’s servant once more. frank comes to a halt just behind the handyman, one foot drumming impatiently against the floor. ‘ i am indeed GRATEFUL for your talents, ’ says the viper of a man, a patronizing hand pressed firmly against riff raff’s shoulder. ‘ – but you remain insufferablyFOOLISH. how stupid, the things that you do : just why do you find it so APPROPRIATE to exit the chamber before you’ve been TOLD to do so ? ’
he scoffs, & without warning, SHOVES the smaller man forward. ‘ you will FACE ME when i address you. ’
The attention, the concern catches Rocky off guard- but then, most things would, at this point. He has yet to crack whatever code might underlie the good doctor’s being- everything about him is mingled and mangled together: anger and affection, violence and vulnerability.
my darling, he says, glittering tears on his cheeks, my precious creature, he says. come here, he says, and Rocky does. There’s a staggering, painful sort of limp in his walk as he crosses to Frank- he’d just been starting to get used to this body, and someone had to go and injure it like this. What an unkind world he’s been brought into.
At Frank’s question, he only nods- words escape him at the moment. Hesitantly, he reaches out to his creator, not even sure whether he means to give support or seek it.
slender arms curl around the blond man’s shoulders, & the doctor guides the wounded creature to the floor beneath them, knees weak & trembling. ‘ oh – what have they DONE to you – ’ frank speaks softly to rocky, coos to him, barely COHERENT ; damn the servants, damn their laser - beams. everything he’s worked so tirelessly to create has come TUMBLINGDOWN.
the doctor clings to rocky, eyes shut tight, murmuring tear - garbled nonsense. sprawled among the wreckage of the FLOORSHOW, frank is helpless, CERTAIN this evening will be his last. he’s been turned inside out, HUMILIATED & BETRAYED within the familiar security of his own castle … nothing can ever be the same. a few, fragile hours before, the pair had been safe, perhaps even HAPPY, tucked away in their bridal suite. ‘ don’t weep, rocky – take my hand. oh, my only love, what ever will we DO ? ’
