Letter fic - Willie - R. A deafening sound
SO SORRY for how long this took, finally have a legit day off and a little bit of energy to go through my inbox. Here ya go! This is sorta set in the JatP On Ice AU, where Willie works in the arena. And yes, this is a conversation I recently had at work (also at an arena).
Willie delivers the half wasted couple back to their seats, then ducks back out into the concourse. Thank god he's not actually positioned inside the arena bowl tonight. It's too loud and too smokey in there.
He lets out a sigh and leans against one of the high-top tables near the pizza stand. The smoke is still thick enough to see out here, but at least he's not choking on secondhand weed with every breath.
"You doing okay, buddy?" Jamie asks as he joins him by the table.
Jamie is probably one of Willie's favorite supervisors to just hang out with. He looks out for all of them, and isn't afraid to be honest about the chaos that's going on. Also very queer, and only a few years older than Willie. That helps.
Willie shoots him a thumbs up. "Hanging in there. You?"
Jamie opens his mouth to respond, but they're both cut off by a massive concussive blast from inside the bowl, making both of them flinch away and Willie's ears ring.
They both groan and Willie reaches up to make sure his earplugs are still firmly in place.
"Okay but that was 5," Jamie reasons, just loud enough for Willie to hear over the throb of bass and whatever else is going on inside. "They promised us only 6 concussive blasts."
Willie takes in a sharp breath and nods. "So one more. We can take one more. Right?"
"Should be," Jamie responds.
"Everyone okay over here?" Someone else asks from behind Willie.
He turns to see Laura, one of their managers, approaching, clearly as ready for tonight to be over as they are.
Jamie shoots her a thumbs up. "I haven't had to call security in like 15 minutes, and we should be almost through the concussions," he reports with a tight smile that mirrors the insanity they're all feeling.
"Yep," Laura says with a half-relieved sigh. "At least that one we can hopefully trust. Unlike the pyrotechnics guy. Apparently when he gets a vibe he just..." She trails off with a shrug.
Jamie grimaces. "Ah yes, we were warned about 'the vibes'," he agrees.
"Any sense of his 'vibe' on ending on time?" Willie asks.
Both of them shrug helplessly.
"Great, just checking," Willie sighs.
"In theory, just like another 45 minutes and then he's done," Laura says, tone full of forced optimism. "So cross your fingers."
Willie and Jamie both hold up crossed fingers and wave as Laura heads off to deal with whatever the next crisis is.
"One step at a time," Willie sighs, turning and heading back to the corner he's been keeping an eye on.
"One step at a time," Jamie agrees.