"Field trip! Field trip! FIELD TRIP! FIELD TRIP! FIELD TRIP!!!" - Mr. Grace's parkour obsessed class.
Simon Stunt Coordinator Au Pt. 6
Things were going better than he thought they would.
Yes, Simon, Dan, and Colt weren’t heading the tours like he thought they would, but the PAs were doing great. His kids were semi-behaving. And they had their lunch without running off and doing something stupid or breaking something. All food remained in their containers or bellies and not all over the floor or bathrooms.
It was going better than he thought.
“Everyone get in close,” Colt urged, waving Grace’s students towards the dark blue mats on the ground. “This is our mat and parkour area. The stunt team and actors come here to train and drill repetitions of our choreographed fights or stunts that include body movement only. Not things that involve cars or motorcycles.” Colt explained.
“Does anyone here like parkour? Or do gymnastic, tumbling-” The stuntman listened, seeing an immediate shooting up of hands and smiling brightly. “Hell yeah, great. That’s good to hear. Maybe I’ll be seeing some of you in the not so distant future if you decide stunting is more your speed. If you do, I highly suggest you pay attention to our demonstration-” Colt said, walking further back towards the gym of bars and platforms. A few trampolines next to high jump offs and a curved wall with a ledge at the top.
“I myself am a big fan of parkour, unlike your knobby kneed teacher-”
“Mom said you’re not allowed to make fun of me for being bow legged,” Grace chimed in with a hand cupped to his mouth, and Colt only pointed at him, stopping before he could throw out his usual quip of ‘Well Mom’s dead, so that contract expired ages ago.’
“I’m a grown man and I can make fun of anyone. None of you are safe,” Colt warned to his class. “Parkour is very technical and precise. You have to use your brain. And yeah, it’s fun, I’m not gonna lie. But you know what’s not fun-”
The side door to the stunt gym was thrown open, SImon coming through with a hurried job, his brows forwarded as he looked around at everyone, beelining for Colt with his hands up a little.
“What is it? What’s going on with the harness checks-”
“Simon! Perfect timing,” Colt exclaimed, clapping the man on the shoulder when he got close enough, and turning him towards the class. “We just so happened to be talking about parkour.”
Simon’s tongue licked over his teeth, hands dropping as he stared at the ground. “You did not fake call an emergency on me just to do some wall flips-”
“Simon here is our resident parkour master!” Colt said, shaking Simon’s shoulders, who looked like he was biting the inside of both of his cheeks and glaring into space. “And I’m sure he’d love to tell you all about it! Right, Simon?”
Simon closed his eyes, taking an irritated, shaky breath through his nose. “Yeah. I’d love to, Colt. Thanks.”
Colt patted him on the shoulder one more time before backing up a bit, Simon shaking his head and pulling out his radio to mutter in it before turning it low enough not to hear the changes in station and everyone speaking to one another.
“Okay,” Simon sighed, looking over the class and gesturing his flesh hand out. “I’m Simon Fischer, Co-Stunt Coordinator and Safety Inspector here on set.” He introduced himself. “We’re all super thrilled to have you guys here today. And even though you only have another two hours here with us we still have plenty of fun activities for you guys. Including the parkour showcase,” He gestured around the gym.
“You guys are gonna have access to the area, and there will be other stunt artists around if you want help with anything or just want to watch them pull off some choreography. But first, let's get into some basic safety and I’ll show you some stuff I learned in the industry.”
Simon turned, snapping his finger and gesturing to Colt, who was standing stock still with his hands folded behind his back.
“Colt,”
“How many times have you broken a bone while doing something stupid in a parkour gym?”
“Too many to count,” Colt shook his head
“And what was your worst?”
Colt sucked in a breath, pretending to think as he pushed his sunglasses off his face and into his hair. “Probably breaking my nose after landing on a bar with literally all of my weight from ten feet up.” He nodded, before slapping his nose with his finger. “Pretty gnarly nose job but if your strapped for cash-”
“Please don’t encourage that.” Grace called out from the side lines, where his arms were folded over his chest.
Colt raised his hands in surrender. “And now my beautiful nose is forever crooked.”
“How many times have you gotten seriously hurt even after doing several safety checks and rehearsals?”
“So so often,” Colt shook his head. “The pain is endless. LIke why my first wife left me. And eternal scar on my heart-” Simon shoved Colts face away as he passed the man, pacing slowly.
“Stuts are fun. Parkour is fun. But it all hurts. Even if you’re not getting hit, even if you’re not driving a flaming car- it’s gonna hurt. Most notably, your muscles. So keeping your body healthy and in shape is necessary to keep it functional while also performing.”
“And as fun as it seems, no one sees the fall guy,” Colt chimed in. “You get your name among dozens on a screen that moves too fast. At most, you’ll get an Emmy for your stunt or you’ll get seriously hurt and end up on national news.”
“So it’s not a widely recognized profession. If you’re looking for fame, go check out the costume department.” Simon advised. “Or be an actor. But if you want to rush, stunts are the department for you.”
Ye raised up his prosthetic hand. “You wanna know how I lost this?” He asked, immediately getting an interested murmur from the students. “I lost my arm after splintering my entire forearm on a bar. I just fell on it. Regular Tuesday, regular safety inspections all good, and then boom, arm gone forever,” He explained. “Your body can handle a lot, but do the wrong thing at the wrong angle and you risk serious injury, okay?”
The students nodded softly and he put his hands on his hips.
“Alrighty….. Who wants to try breaking their arm first?”
It had been fun, watching his students try out parkour in a place actually built for it, and to watch Simon do a few runs through it. Mostly watching his and Colt’s version of ‘Parkour Tag’ which just consisted of them throwing themselves between bars and slamming into walls harshly just to try and nick each other. God he hopes his kids don’t pick up on that because the sounds of bodies colliding with a padded wall was still enough to make his hair stand on end.
They had let Simon go after and continued on with their tour, doing calmer things until the end. The big surprise.
“I don’t know how I feel about this,” Grace said quietly as Colt helped him step into a body harness holding onto his brother's shoulder to balance. “I mean I went up there a while ago-”
“Simon had them lower it a few feet. It’s much lower, and they put up the net. You'll be just fine,”Colt assured, helping his strap up while looking around. And he could plainly see the nervous tick in his brother’s jaw.
Colt looked him back in the eye, his sunglasses shielding his own.
Grace snatched the glasses off Colts face, who immediately wrestled for the back, his dark blue eyes worried.
"Nothing's wrong. Everything’s fine. I’d never send you up there if something was wrong.”
“Oh yeah, that's not suspicious at all.”
Colt shook his head a little, tucking his sunglasses into his shirt and staying quiet for a few minutes.
“Okay, look,. Simon set everything up, so it’s all set to specification. He reviewed it a million times.-
“He’s not gonna be here for the jump.” Grace sighed under his breath, rubbing his nose under his glasses. Colt sighed with him, shaking his head a little.
“Dan will be on the controls. I'll take you up there- we can drop together if it makes you feel better, but I swear, Simon has looked over everything. It’s safe.”
Grace ran his hands through his hair, tusseling it before pulling his hands out of them.
“You can back out if you really want to. Can just jump for you. Well swap clothes- It’ll be a good example of stunt doubling. “ Colt offered.
And Grace more than anything wanted to take him up on it. But he’d been urging his students to be brave all day. To go for the things they want and try new things.
God. He’s gonna have to do this. Isn't he?
“No no it's fine," Grace said, adjusting his tie and jacket under the harness. “Let's just do it fast before I can think about it too hard.”
Colt nodded gently, patting his arm.
His students freaked at the idea of him doing a jump that high. Mr. Grace. The guy who rode a bike to school, not only because he couldn’t afford anything else but because the risk of getting in a car and crashing scared him so bad.
He rubbed his palms on his thighs, feeling sweat accumulate there and on the back of his neck as Colt and Dan talked by the console.
Grace remembers climbing on the roof of their house one night. To stare at the stars. To be away from the yelling. To find an easy route if he needed to run.
It had been calm and quiet, but even the ten foot drop had seemed ominous. Nearly scared him enough to creep back into bed and risk his father considering him as his next target.
“You must be Dr. Ryland Grace,”
Grace turned his head seeing a very tall man with a bright smile approaching, holding his hand out, pale and freckled like the rest of him.
“I am,”Ryland said, smiling back hesitantly and giving the man his hand to shake. “Come to watch me fall to my death?”
“Ah nah, actually I was hoping to grab some footage of it if that's ‘right with you.” The man said, gesturing to a woman with a shoulder mounted camera. “It’s great publicity when civilians do jumps. Especially a teacher. Might make good reference footage for future projects.”
“Oh, I can't see why not,” He agreed with a shrug. “It’s your set. I'm just here to incentivize my students to learn about science.”
The man nodded, brushing his blonde hair back, with blonde brows and lashes to match. Australian and tan with hair lighter than his skin. “Man, I would've been much more into science if my teacher did stuff like this.” He laughed. “And it’s not my set, but I appreciate you letting us film it. We’ll send you the footage so you can share it with your class if you like.”
“Oh, sorry, thought you were part of the regular crew.” Grace apologized as the man looked over his harness suddenly, undoing a few tight straps so they sat more comfortably. “What do you do here?”
“Awh, they just brought us in for some fresh stunt choreography. Needed it too. Tucker and Fischer are classic, but sometimes you need to get a little daring, ya know?”
Grace nodded blankly. Ah.
“Carter,” Grace asked hesitantly, the man beaming at him.
“Ah! You recognize me! Hope it’s all for good things,” He joked, slapping Grace on the arm a little hard. “Real excited to work with them again. It's been years. Fischer and I are old pals. Haven't seen him since his incident though. He holding up right?”
“Oh, one minute,” Carter said, tapping his shoulder again and moving around him, jogging up to the right console.
And only now did Grace see that two other technicians had joined Dan and Colt, who were seeming to have it out.
Not great. Really not great.
He could feel his stomach twisting with unease. A lot worse than just the nerves of a drop like this.
He shuffled over slowly, smiling at his students that caught his eyes, cheating and whooping him on while he gave a shaky thumbs up.
Oh man, he was gonna die right here wasn't he.
“- mess with the settings, everything was set and ready-”
“It's just a few extra feet, Tuck. We raised the net with it too-”
“I'm not sending my brother up on a rig you haven't tested. You could move it an inch for all I care, but not without testing the weights.”
Grace was gonna throw up, let out the burp that released up his throat and pulled a fist over his mouth to cover it, and maybe steady himself when his hand rested on his knee.
Colt made an annoyed sound, grabbing the radio off of Ruckers belt as they bickered and muttered something into it. Maybe they were canceling. It would be sad for his students but Grace couldn't afford to break his back. Couldn't even afford the life he had.
Though he might get a nice payout from the company if he needs a wheelchair for the rest of his life-
A loud bang from a side door rang through.
“Who the fuck is messing with my rig?”
God loves him. He's god's special little soldier and favors him above all others with the save she just threw Grace's way.
Simon, like the entirety of the day, looks on a war path. With the bonus of looking actually mad this time, rather than just annoyed or irritated.
“We only moved it up a few feet-”
“-In what world is messing with another man's rig okay?” He snapped, bypassing Grave without a glance and stepping up into the rig control area, pressing everyone else away besides Tucker and looking at the info points.
“Assholes. What the fuck if wrong with you-”
“Hey, c'mon, let's calm down a little-” Carter urges, settling a friendly hand on Simon's back, who rolls it off instantly, glaring at the man. “I've changed a rig under you a dozen times. I know how you like to set it-”
“I set it and then I test it.”
“His weight and distribution is all the same, regardless of the height. You tellin’ me you've never changed Colts like that?”
“I do. But I run it with a dummy once.”
Carter put his hands up defensively. “You can change it back, I've got no issues with it. But the footage we can get is better at a higher angle. Ryland gave us the all clear.” He said, gesturing a thumb over to the teacher.
And some part of him knows the man didn't mean it like that but it sounded like he was saying Grace gave the all clear to take him higher and it made his already tight stomach spoil.
Simon's brows pinched further, the crease at the corner of his mouth that kept him from out right frowning only deepening.
“Is Ryland the Stunt Safety Instructor?”
“Then why the fuck would you listen to what he's saying?”
Carter sighed slightly. He didn't seem like a guy who was easily upset, even now getting chewed out by his old friend and coworker.
“I’m the Stunt Safety Specialist. In no world is it appropriate for you to just change something on my set. Especially when it regards someone who isn’t a trained professional.”
“Get off my fucking. Rig.” He hisses through his teeth, pointing down to the ground. Brown eyes narrowed.
Carter has the sense to nod softly, holding his hands up and nodding his coworker off, stepping down from the small platform after them. “I get it. No messin’ with your calculations. That’s on us-”
“No fuck,” Simon spat, looking back at the small screen, Dan coming up beside him and both of them muttering to one another, before he nodding, stepping down for the platform too as Dan started adjusting the coordinations. “We’re setting it back and retesting. You three, take a fucking walk,” He gesturied at Carter’s group.
They went with little to no preamble, stepping outside while Simon approached Grace again. His face was still a little hard, so the teacher could feel the sweat on the back of his neck worsening.
“I'm- I didn't tell him-” Grace started as Simon yanked on his harness pulling him closer and beginning to tighten the straps again to a bone crushing degree. He was gonna bruise for sure. “I swear I didn't tell him to-”
“I know you didn't.” Simon clipped tugging a strap tight. “Carter's got a way of mixing people's words around without meaning to.”
He brushed down Grace's clothes like he'd fallen on the ground and gotten dusty, testing the give of the straps with a few yanks.
When he was satisfied, he looked up at Grace with gentle eyes, patting a hand to his chest. “We're gonna retest, and then we'll jump.”
It was different, being up here on his own accord. But it didn't make it less scary staring down at the drop waiting for him, and his students that were waiting to watch himself splat on the ground. The net would catch him, but that didn't ease much worry.
“When did I agree to this?” He turned his head to ask Simon, who he was hooked to with a carabiner, the shorter an attaching a strap to his glasses so they don't fall off.
“When you were braver and on the ground.”
“Don't let ground level Grace make any more decisions for me.”
“I'll tell him his powers have been vetoed.” Simon smiled a little, grabbing the cord to attach them to the harness as Grace's hands squeezed his shoulder, feeling his heart starting to speed up with panic.
“You know- maybe Colt was right about the stunt double switcharoo thing. Can we still get him up here? Do you think the kids would notice?” He asked half jokingly, but the steadying arm wrapping around his back and holding his ribs was grounding.
“We can,” Simon said softly. “It'll take a minute. But we can. If you really want to.”
Grace nodded, taking a steadying breath while closing his eyes. Ground level Grace was leagues braver than him. Then again, Ground level Grace wasn't that brave to begin with, so how much of a coward did that make him?
He shook his head, only because she knows if he speaks he'll say yes. And he wants to be brave enough for his students. Show them that it's a leap of faith. To try new things even if they scare you.
“Would you rather jump off or hand me lean you off it?”
Which resulted in Grace leaning with the arch of his heels to the corner of the platform, breathing quickly and holding onto his harness as Simon helped the hold on the center of it. He had a soft smile, his feet planted and hooked up to a bar on the platform that wouldn't allow Grace to bring him down with him accidentally.
“This is stupid. This is so stupid,”
Simon laughed slightly, readjusting his grip, which jolts all of Grace forward a bit, his large bicep flexing and straining.
“Maybe a little.” he admitted before grabbing the teacher's attention with a soft whistle, blue eyes locking onto brown.
“Hey,” he spoke softly, Grace's breath slowing to listen. And his soft face went serious. Very serious. “Long live the king.”
Grace huffed out a laugh, smile quirking at the side of his mouth.
“He’s got jokes. HahaAAAAAAAAA-”
“Bye Mr Grace!” Reka waved as she and Olivia packed into a van with a few other kids. Parents and children finding one another and listening as they went on about what they got to do.
Picking up on site might not have been the best idea, as Grace worries about who will try and come now that a bunch of kids and parents know where an instalment of a movie franchise is being filmed, but Colt doesn't seem to be too worried about it.
Grace waved off his kids, a hand on his hip, ignoring the sore spots where the harness had dug in when he was yanked to a stop by the cables from the fall. The net had been a much better landing, but the cables had still been set to stop him at a certain point. So he was a little bit sore.
His kids had liked it regardless of the scuffle they witnessed with the other stunt company , and Grace promised himself he would never do any surprises that include him and heights again. Which he knows he'll break if he thinks his kids will get enough of a kick out of it.
Colt had patted him on the shoulder, laughing when they lowered the net enough for Grace to crawl out. “Hell yeah! Awesome right?”
“Get me out of these now.”
It hadn’t been awful, but it was like a less secure rollercoaster. Without all the bars and tracks that have been specifically designed to keep you down when it’s throwing you ever which way. Just pure open falling.
He doesn’t even want to remember it. His knees are still weak.
Simon had congratulated him when he got down from the rig, a broad hand patting his back where Grace hand laid on the mats to reacquaint himself with the ground. And then he had quickly walked off with his bag towards the restrooms, so Grace didn’t even really get a chance to yell at him for not giving him a warning.
It had been around thirty four minutes ago, so it was 4:38 now. All his students safely with their parents and the studio directors and HR gathering up to talk about the incident with the other stunt company. Hopefully to get the heck out of here, Grace isn’t sure he’d survive knowing these people were running his brother’s stunts.
“You did well.”
Ryland huffed, turning half way with a glare at Simon, who had his bag over his shoulder and flesh hand tucked into his pocket.
“I’ll never forgive you,” Grace sighed, like it was out of his hands, putting them up as he turned fully. “That bond is broken now. I don’t know how we’ll ever recover.”
Simon’s shoulders bounced lightly with a laugh, biting his tongue before looking at his watch.
“Well, I’m going on my lunch break, finally,” The shorter man said with an irritated edge. “More like dinner at this hour, but I’ll take what I can get.”
Grace nodded softly, kicking the toe of his converse into the ground as he shoved his own hands in his pocket. He felt like he hadn’t seen Simon all day. And the times he did that man was beyond upset or too focused on the safety inspections to really talk. Which sucked.
“It’s only forty minutes, my break,” Simon said, with a nod of his head as Grace looked up at him. “You got time?”
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