17307/As Long as You're Mine

As Long as You're Mine
Date of Scene:	01 March 2024
Location:	Gershwin Theater
Synopsis:	Luca comes by just in time to see Liv work with a new Fiyero! Luca demonstrates how to properly portray passion.
Cast of Characters:	Olivia Gaudin, Luca Bandoni

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Olivia Gaudin has posed:
    It is early afternoon and while tonight's cast gets themselves ready, Liv has a special assignment. And it's a big one. She is to prepare a new Fiyero and Glinda. While turnover isn't usually a big deal, in this case it is a bit unusual. So here she is, dressed in jeans and a form-fitting black blouse, on stage with a young man who looks, well, not nervous, but far too excited for the moment.

    "Breathe, William. We have a full two weeks to get you ready, and you've done big roles before." Liv's voice is calm, though she is rather frustrated. It's obvious that this young man has found a way to make her restless.

    "Look, let's get into positions and try it. Practicing this thing standing up really isn't worth much. I'm in your arms, we're holding each other, it's difficult to project." Fun Liv is not to be found on stage. The blonde who is not far from her is grinning as she watches. That would be the new Glinda, and she at least is projecting confident excitement in waves. Thank god.

    Liv basically drags the man into the center of the stage, pushes him into position, and then puts her hands on his arms. He immediately goes stiff.

    It's going to be a long two weeks.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
He's been spending more time at the firehouse than not. Things are heating up with what everyone now believes is a serial arsonist and murderer. Two more fires, to more men dead. They're still not any closer to determining the cause of the fires. And Luca has been. /frustrated/. So far his cousin in OFI hasn't been able to convince the Big Brass to call in outside help. The longer it goes on, the more frustrated Luca moves toward infuriated Luca.

All that aside, he's been stealing every chance he gets to see Olivia. Today that just happened to be while him and the boys were out fueling the rig. Fortunately, they've stayed outside. Unfortunately it also means that Luca shows up in this fancysmancy theater in full turnout gear, minus the helmet and firecoat - those are probably in the truck.

"But I really don't think there's a cat stuck in one of the stage lights, Sir. I really..."

Luca lets the man prattle a moment before breaking out into a grin. "It's a joke..." A beat. "Never mind." 'Outsiders never seem to get the 'stuck cat' jokes.

So there he is, in all his firefighter garb from his dark t-shirt, those suspenders hanging free from his shoulders and those big old boots.

For now he just stands off to one side, watching.

Olivia Gaudin has posed:
    Liv knows he is here, of course. That heartbeat of his is her favorite sound in the world. It's hard for her not to get flustered just thinking about him. But she is a professional, and she has to deal with this Fiyero. So she will go through this song with him.

    "Okay, you know this song. Every theater kid in the country has heard it dozens of times. I've heard you rehearse it. So let's go into this, and we will act out the entire scene. Am I clear?"

    William looks past Olivia towards Luca. He's curious. And Luca may notice, he's just been 'looked at' in a way that may make it clear that William is a lot less interested in Liv than he is in her boyfriend.

    Nonetheless, he can sing, and he does well. Well enough that Liv is relieved. As in thank god this guy is finally behaving normally. And then it gets to the end, where Liv delivers her key line, "It's just... for the first time... I feel... wicked!"

    This is meant to be punctuated with a kiss. Not just any kiss, but /the/ kiss of the musical. Fiyero is supposed to be expressing passion and desire and while Liv is doing her best, William is just... not.

    "Okay, what the /hell/ was that!" Liv demands, pulling back. "We have to get this figured out!" At this point, Glinda can no longer help it. She will head over to stand by Luca and while she does her level best, she's finally unable to avoid laughing.

    At this point, Liv gets up and says, "You gotta be able to kiss better than that. Think of your hottest girlfriend, or boyfriend. Someone like that, and try it again."

    William, clear as day, says, "I haven't had any great ones, but yours may do!"

    Liv at this point gets up and just heads over to Luca. Breath in, breath out. She smiles. "Hello, Luca," she says warmly. He may detect her frustration, he knows her well enough, but wow does she do a good cover.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Luca's eyebrows shoot up when he gets that look from William. He even looks behind himself to see if maybe he's missing something. When the realization finally dawns that 'the look' was actually meant for him? He actually smiles and winks in return. What a tease.

Now most alpha male sorts might get all up in arms about seeing some random dude kiss their girl. Luca's not most alpha males. He knows this is Liv's job and he's pretty sure who she's going home with at the end of the day and it sure ain't William.

He's grinning when Liv approaches. "I could take my shirt off if you think it'd help," he says. His voice isn't loud, but he's also not trying to be quiet. It's not a whisper. It might just carry to poor William up there.

He probably wouldn't really take his shirt off /here/, but that doesn't stop Luca from giving William a show. He steps in close to Liv, cups her cheek with one hand. That kiss? It's a kiss to end all kisses and by the time he pulls away, Liv might just need to comb her hair with the way that one hand strayed to curl fingers into those blonde locks.

Olivia Gaudin has posed:
    Sara (who plays Glinda), watches that kiss with her eyebrows shooting up. She turns away after a while, laughing to herself. Some privacy seems in order! She shoots William a disappropving look when she notices he's just staring like a fool. Apparently the shirt thing got to him!

    As for Liv, she's grinning playfull at the suggestion that Luca might remove his shirt. She does have this fantasy of making love on stage, after all.

    Just as she is about to go for a hug, Luca's hand is touching her face and she looks into his eyes. Her bright eyes are wide with wonder as it is clear he's going for so much more than a light kiss.

    She draws in a breath just before it begins. Liv has no clear sense of time. She's lost in this moment and wishes it could go on for at least the rest of her life. When it at last ends, she leans against Luca, letting out a sigh. She has the silliest, happiest smile on her face, too.

    "So you expect me to kiss you like that?" William asks, wide-eyed. Liv laughs and shakes her head a little. "You... there's no way you ever could." She's still in shock herself. Wow!

Luca Bandoni has posed:
With one more wink tossed in William's direction he calls out, "I could give you lesson?" Luca turns his attention back to Liv. "Give the boy a chance, huh? I mean maybe he could rock your world?" She gets the wink treatment too. He's wearing that grin that brings the little crinkles to the corners of his eyes and shows off that perfectly imperfect little gap between his front teeth.

"So, this is where you are when I'm at the firehouse?" he asks. "I bet the coffee's better here."

Truth be told, he's only been in this place one time when one of the stage hands got all tangled up in some ropes or the like and wound up hanging upside down. It's a call that lives in his memory banks not because of the blood and gore and burned bodies, but because of how damned hard the entire crew were trying not to laugh at the poor man's misfortune.

"I don't have too long," Luca informs Liv. He's wearing a slightly pensive expression when he says it, his brow all furrowed when he deadpans, "Please don't leave me for William. I promise I'll try to cut back my shifts."

William is very likely to be a standing joke from here until the end of time. It'll be their first real 'inside' joke.

Olivia Gaudin has posed:
    Liv laughs at the very idea of Luca trying to teach William to kiss. She'd hate to kill her new Fiyero before he got to start, though! "I am afraid William's going to have to settle for at least looking somewhat believable from thirty feet away. Maybe we an turn so they only see my face for the first shows."

    Sara is helping Fiyero to his feet. "Let's step away for a bit. You have to work with me as well. You aren't through everything yet." Sure, she doesn't need to do that, but she's smart enough to know when a girl needs privacy.

    Liv's eyes are locked on to Luca's and she nods in understanding. "I know. I can hear the truck," she says softly. "But you stopped here and quite frankly made one hell of a memory for this girl to wrap her dreams around." She's smiling. Arms are wrapped around him.

    "I am not going anywhere, Luca," she says seriously. "Cut back when you really want to, okay? I don't want you trying to change yourself too much. I love you." She smiles. Wow. She just said that, didn't she. And meant it. "And you are a firefighter, Luca. I don't want to take that away from you. I want to fit into your life. Truly."

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Luca wraps Liv up in his arms and pulls her even closer. No way to miss that heartbeat now, she'd feel it without her powers. "It would be easy if it was a matter of wanting too." It's am impossible thing to explain. That drive, that near obsession with the work that someone has to have to do what Luca does for a living. It's like a drug; no it's worse than that. An addict can stop using drugs, recover and even gain something more of themselves. A firefighter like Luca? They lose more than just a little bit of themselves if they quit their 'drug of choice'.

"I love you too," he murmurs quietly, pressing a kiss to the top of Liv's head afterwards. Has he ever said those words? Even to Amanda? No. And saying them now absolutely terrifies him.

Saying that he /is/ a firefighter? It's a literal thing. He was born a firefighter.

"You'll change your mind after you meet my family," he teases in an attempt to slow the racing of his heart after speaking those three words.

Olivia Gaudin has posed:
    Hiding that heartbeat from her is impossible. She tries to make it fair. Her expression opens up more. She's really, really excited by those three words. That they scare him a bit? That makes her more excited. They mean a lot.

    "Like you said, you were a firefighter since birth," she whispers. "There may be a day when you have to change some things," she says seriously, "but until then, I understand. To be the man I love, you have to be yourself, Luca. And your family is going to be amazing! I'm so excited." And she laughs at herself, "And a bit afraid, honestly. I mean, your firehouse has been really accepting, but I think your family has a really high bar for me to clear."

Luca Bandoni has posed:
"As long as you impress Nonna, you're good," Luca explains with a chuckle that tries to make it sound like he's joking when, in reality, he's not.

Hopefully changing some things doesn't happen for a long time, because Luca has his future plotted out in that regard. Become Lieutenant, but after that, climbing higher into the ranks doesn't matter to him, he'd rather not play the political game climbing higher requires. He figures he'll retire OFI.

But that's getting ahead of himself.

"So, when do I get to come see you up there?" he asks with a nod toward the stage, "I promise the guys'll behave if we all come." Sitting alone in a theater doesn't really appeal much to him, so it'll be a night out for the whole crew.

Olivia Gaudin has posed:
    "Nonna is everything, yes," replies Liv. Oh she knows this is no joke. She is not Italian, but she is fully aware of the most important woman in the room! All she can hope is that being herself, being respectful, and loving Luca with all that she's got will be enough. That and baking and eagerly learning how to cook Nonna's way.

    She laughs softly at the question about seeing her on stage. "Well, tomorrow night soon enough?" she asks curiously. "I can get you guys all together and provide some kickass seats. Honestly we love honoring firefighters here, so you'd all get backstage, too, if you like."

    She tries to picture all the guys backstage and has a hard time imagining anything but a lot of laughs. "I can't wait to have you see me perform." A pause and a little blush, "On stage, that is." Innuendo!

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Well, he's already seen the other performance and Luca's thinking this one won't measure up. It'll be good, maybe even great, but it won't be mind blowing. It just so happens that, "I'm off shift tomorrow, mandatory twenty-for off." Just not save having a firefighter on longer than forty-eight so there's that.

Question is, how is he going to get the guys to agree to spend their night off sitting in a theater? Answer? They're family and families show up when it's important.

"So, tomorrow night. I promise I won't let them heckle any one. But I also promise that none of them will be able to keep a straight face if William's giving me any of those looks." He leans in one more time for a kiss, but it's cut short this time by static from his radio and dispatch calling for rescue one to a motor vehicle accident. Calling rescue one out for a car accident? It's a bad one and someone's either trapped or in the water.

He pulls back, letting his fingers trail down Liv's arm until they reach her hand for a gentle squeeze. "Gotta run," he offers, stating the obvious. Then he's moving at a slow jog toward the door he came through. That's what life with Luca Bandoni will consist of, kisses cut short, dinners cold on the table and long nights with only thoughts of one another to keep them going.

Olivia Gaudin has posed:
    Olivia laughs and shakes her head. "No, tomorrow night we have the current Fiyero, and he is very good at what he does." She quickly amends, "It's not a candle to your kiss, but he at least makes it look right." She momentarily thinks of doing that scene with Luca. They'd have to bring the curtains down for at least an hour or two cause there's just no way she'd stop at a kiss...

    She blushes and laughs at herself. "Sorry, daydreaming. But yes, and..." She pauses, listening to the radio. At the end of it, she is smiling brightly.

    "Yes you do have to run," she replies. She squeezes his hand back. "I'll be waiting for you..." The word isn't added, but it sure feels like 'forever' is implied. There's no regret. She got a moment with him. He and the guys made that happen. It's a gift she will not forget.

    After he disappears from her hearing at last, she turns and her voice sounds, well, like it does when Luca isn't there to hear her. "Get your ass out here, William! And if you give me another half-assed kiss I'm going to kick your ass so hard your teeth fall out!"

    One would just... never guess that Liv's patience has an endpoint. Or maybe she's just been around the firehouse a lot lately.