Perfect Harmony

"Who is Alex Hakim?"

That was the headline for most of the articles going around right then, delving into who famed actor Trevor Lars (Gay Icon) was dating. Trevor had already rolled his eyes at the fact that the press had latched onto Alex's Gay Icon bit, though it delighted Alex. What didn't delight either of them was how far some reporters would go to dig up information, including contacting Alex's family.

So far, no one in Alex's family had chosen to comment to the press, but that didn't stop them from continuously blowing up his phone with complaints that he was ruining their lives and "sullying the family name" with his "immoral behaviour." The only reason Trevor didn't rip them a new one over that was because Alex asked him not to, but he was furious with both the press and Alex's family.

While they were gearing up for filming for Extracurricular, which would wrap up a few months before filming on the next movie began, Trevor had asked Hop for some help on writing a book about his life. His agent had been all over the idea, telling him that getting a book out there that speaks to everything the press wanted to know would get him a ton of great publicity, and it would keep the power in Trevor's hands.

Hop may have been in IT now, but his degree originally had been journalism. All Trevor really needed help on was getting it all down on paper and edited. He, of course, would be paying Hop for his help, which Hop had said wasn't necessary but he would never ask anyone to work this much without proper compensation for it.

Trevor asked Alex for permission to talk about their romance in the book, particularly when they were teens and then reconnecting later. Alex told him that it would cost him dearly to sell his secrets but acquiesced after only a little pouting when it became clear that Trevor would not be lured into innuendo and remained serious, though he did take him up on that innuendo once he got a serious answer. Hop gave Trevor a microrecorder that was set up to email him the audio files periodically and sent him on his way.

Their schedules were busy but it was a good busy; a busy that came with meaningful work and paychecks, as well as time spent together. The set for Extracurricular felt like an entirely new set now that Paul was gone. Everyone could breathe easily and the crew and cast were socializing more in the down times while makeup was done and sets were being reset.

They had hired a new actor that would be the new romantic interest for Trevor's character, and they got along well and had chemistry on film, though Trevor's eyes always searched for Alex whenever the director called cut.

Rodney had just called for a brief break while the set got reset and some makeup was fixed, giving direction for some fixes to a few of the dance steps before they got started again. Rodney's phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket, giving a scowl and looking like he wasn't going to answer it before he gave in and put the phone up to his ear.

"What?" he barked into it.

Trevor looked up at Keri who was eyeing Rodney curiously while they stretched out again to be ready to go. When she saw Trevor looking she gave a shrug, as if to say she had no idea but had some guesses as to who could make Rodney scowl like that.

"Oh, hi. Yes," Rodney said into the phone, and then he shot his eyes over at where Keri and Trevor were, listening intently. "Are you sure? Holy shit. Yeah, alright, thanks."

"What, are we getting canceled?" Keri asked, nervous about why Rodney looked so serious.

"That was Paul Grayson's agent," Rodney told them. Trevor immediately looked like he was ready for some sort of bad news, and even the crew around them looked tense at the mention of his name. "It seems they can't keep the press from running this, and his agent wanted the cast to know before the press, because he's considerate. Paul was just rushed to the hospital. Apparently he was shot by his lover."

Trevor heard a snort from behind one of the sets and heard muffled laughter retreating away toward the storeroom in the back of the warehouse. Keri was completely silent, as were most of the other actors, but Trevor couldn't stop the nervous laughter from bubbling up out of his own mouth. In all the times he had imagined a scenario like this, he had never imagined Paul would be the one being hurt.

Trevor clamped his hand down over his mouth and mumbled an apology, but Rodney shook his head. "Don't apologize for natural reactions. There's a ton of mixed emotions with Paul, I'm sure."

Rodney decided to break for the night. They would lose about five hours of filming but they could shoot some b-roll stuff while he let the actors process. They could also make up for it in the next few days by having the actors on set earlier. Trevor walked back to his trailer almost in a daze. He didn't really remember the walk to it; he'd been on autopilot while his mind whirled with thoughts.

He washed off his makeup and hair products still on autopilot, and then sat there for a little bit in black joggers without a shirt while his mind went a million thoughts a minute. Alex made his way out to Trevor's trailer after shooting was over for the day and he had stowed away all of the sets they wouldn't need for the next day. He knocked gently on Trevor's door, waiting for a response before going in.

Trevor looked over at Alex as he came into the trailer and shut the door. "What a fucking day, huh?"

"Are you going to be okay?" Alex asked carefully, leaning up against the counter and giving Trevor his space.

Trevor made some room on the couch for Alex if he wanted to take it, though he was anxious about the space Alex was giving him right then. "I don't know. Eventually, yeah. To be honest, I'm not...I mean, I'm surprised Paul was the victim here and not the one holding the gun. I met his boyfriend though at one of the talk shows, and he was aggressive. I'm honestly a little afraid if they haven't taken him in that he might go insane and come to our house. That's my biggest fear right now. I don't want to put you at risk."

"So let's sleep in the van tonight! I've had my eye on this camping spot for a while..." Alex suggested.

"That's a great idea," Trevor said as he perked up. "It would definitely relieve a lot of stress and worry, and I can shut off my phone while we do that."

Alex came over and sat next to him. "I wasn't sure how you would take the news or my suggestion, so I wanted to make sure you had the space you might need," Alex said by way of explanation.

Trevor took Alex's hand and gave him a thankful look. "It's not news I expected to get, but after everything he's done it's hard to feel sympathy for him. Honestly, it's created a lot of intrusive thoughts about how that could be me instead, whether with the gun in my hand or on the other side of it, and it's hard to quiet those thoughts down."

Alex patted his hand sympathetically and put his other arm around Trevor, pulling him into a tight side-hug. Trevor clung to him tightly, taking comfort in knowing that Alex was there with him and he was safe. Alex pulled out his phone and texted Rodney that Trevor was turning off his phone for the evening out of personal safety concerns and that he could message Alex if he needed to contact Trevor.

They already had clothing, toiletries, and such packed up in the van just in case they ever needed to get away without any planning, so they didn't even stop at their home to pack anything up. Trevor let Alex drive them, since he knew where he wanted them to go and Trevor didn't feel up to driving. He had taken an anxiety med his psychiatrist had prescribed. Instead, he took a moment to get dressed in pajamas before he sat down in the passenger seat and held Alex's hand quietly.

The camping spot Alex had discovered wasn't very far away from the lot but Alex was careful that Trevor had turned his phone completely off in case Paul's assailant had some way to track it. Trevor had put it away inside the glove box once it was off. The upside of turning it off was that he could also ignore all of the press that would likely be contacting him for comment on what happened to his ex. He could give tactful answers but he didn't want to right then.

Still, Trevor was visibly anxious the entire time they were on the road. He didn't really relax until after Alex had parked and turned off the van, and they had gotten into the back and closed it off from sight with a curtain they had put in for privacy. They had grabbed some food on the way there, so they settled down to eat first, and then Trevor leaned into Alex once they had laid down.

"Were you worried I might be upset that Paul got hurt?" Trevor asked Alex. "Or that I would run to the hospital to see him?"

Alex looked a little sheepish as he answered, "Maybe a little. I know the power that abusive relationships can have over a person, even after they're over."

Trevor couldn't argue with that. Before Alex came back into his life, he probably would have run to the hospital in a panic, even if it had been this long. He nodded his head to acknowledge that Alex was right about abusive relationships before he said, "I had two initial reactions: worrying whether Paul was alive and then fear of what his boyfriend might do now. That first one is just a reflex though, and as soon as my head went to what danger I could be in from his assailant, I thought of you and any worry about Paul just vanished."

Alex hugged him close in acknowledgement of his concern. "Well, we're as safe as we can be here. I have cameras set up on the outside of the van in inconspicuous places and they all trigger to my phone and start recording to the cloud with infrared movement. And I locked the doors," Alex said, that last part including a wink.

Trevor smiled, burying his head in Alex's neck. "I feel safe with you, especially away from it all like this. I love you. I love you so much more than I could ever tell you." Trevor kissed his neck, taking in that comforting scent that he loved so much.

Alex snuggled into his warmth and pulled a nearby blanket over them. "Just a head's up, it gets a little chilly in here at night. I insulated the walls, floor, and ceiling, but that can only go so far without sacrificing space eventually," Alex stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, luckily we have each other, and we can find ways of staying warm," Trevor teased, kissing Alex's neck again.

They did, in fact, work to stay warm that night, even though it wasn't as chilly yet. Trevor needed that physical closeness that night to remind himself that he was Alex's through and through, and Alex needed it to see that Trevor was only thinking about him. Trevor fell asleep first afterward, and Alex heard his phone ding with a notice from Naomi letting him know that Paul's boyfriend and assailant had been apprehended.

Trevor had been right to worry, as he had been arrested in their neighborhood, which the police had only told Naomi because she was the one who called the cops when she saw him on their cameras, and because she was pushy and said as his mom and the one watching the house's alarm systems, she deserved to know. Alex managed to see this as he was laying under the covers with Trevor, who was sound asleep and truly relaxed for the first time since they got the news on set.

Alex snuggled closer to Trevor and, finally assured that they were safe, shot off a quick thank you to Naomi and a selfie of the two of them cuddled together before finally falling asleep. In the morning, Alex awoke early and fished Trevor's phone out of the glove box and plugged it in to charge. He started the van and cranked up the on-board heater. He had a generator mounted on the back of the van but hadn't wired it up yet and hadn't seen any reason to make it a priority until recently. He pulled his phone off the charger and settled into a comfortable spot on a chair to read while waiting for Trevor to wake up.

When Trevor did wake up, he reached out on the bed to look for Alex before opening his eyes to search for him. He smiled when he saw Alex was reading a book. "I'd tease you for being a bookworm, but it's pretty much what I do on downtimes on set too, so I can't say anything. Did you wait long for me to wake up?"

Alex set his book down and smiled at Trevor. "There's something I need to tell you. It's been 84 years..."

Trevor laughed and sat up, looking over Alex for a moment. "You look really good for waiting for 84 years."

Alex squared up his shoulders and shimmied a little, placing his hand against his chest, saying, "Oh this old thing? I just threw this on. There have been amazing advances in modern medicine. For one thing, we passed universal health care..."

"Ah, yeah, that would do it," Trevor replied with a knowing nod of his head.

Alex laughed, then said, "I always lose track of time when I read but I've managed a couple of chapters, so it's fine. Your phone should be fully charged by now. Naomi texted as I was drifting off to sleep to let us know they caught and arrested Paul's poor unfortunate partner. I can only assume he was driven to an extreme place, given what I know of Paul from other folks he's dated."

Trevor looked thoughtful at that as he let out the deep breath he had taken in. "Probably, yeah, though the one time I met the guy, he seemed very...Not even jealous, but obsessive. I'm sure part of that is Paul's doing though, even if the guy was already a little obsessive to start. He was so aggressive with me and all I was doing was sitting there. It's like he wanted to remind me that Paul was his, but I wasn't even fighting for the man.

"I know that type of abuse can do different things to different types of people though. The first time I caught Paul cheating, I cried and screamed at him for a while, with him giving apologies and promising to do better. The second time I was just numb. I decided to pretend it wasn't happening. If I didn't see it, I could pretend things were good. Even ignoring it though, the broken things, the holes in the walls, and the bruises kept coming. It didn't stop him from losing it at any little thing."

Trevor let out another sigh and ran his hands over his eyes. "I sometimes wonder if he wouldn't have killed me the night we broke up had I not hit the alarm system to call the cops. It was when I did that that he grabbed as much as he could and ran, because I never gave him the code to give to the security team. When they called my phone I told them it was done by accident, bolted the door, and passed out."

Alex looked deeply sympathetic. "I'm so sorry you went through that," he said, then shook himself as if shaking off the unpleasantness. "What do you say we go find some coffee? I already messaged Rodney and he said to take our time. He gave the whole cast and crew the day to themselves to deal with the news however they feel the need to but he wants me to come in and go over some changes to the set list at some point."

"Sounds good," Trevor agreed. He got into their clothes and found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to wear, which he quickly pulled on before he crawled over to get into the passenger seat while Alex got into the driver's seat.

They stopped to get coffee first and then drove over to the studio. Most of the cast and crew were empty from the lot, but Rodney was there on the phone. He nodded over to them when they walked in. When he got off the phone, he looked over at them with a somber look.

"So, according to his agent, Paul's family is coming to the hospital. The bullets did too much damage," Rodney told them. "They have the choice of keeping him on life support or pulling the plug. Not sure what they'll choose, but either way, his life is over. How are you holding up, kid?"

Trevor shook his head. "I don't know. The whole thing is really surreal. I feel bad for his family. They were always really kind and warm towards me. I just...for myself, I don't feel much. I feel..." He stopped for a moment, swallowing hard because it was hard to admit this, especially out loud. "I feel relieved. Like a danger I didn't realize I was constantly watching for is gone."

Alex patted his shoulder sympathetically before rubbing the same area gently with an open palm. Rodney gave a nod to show he had sympathy for Trevor's position in all of this too. Most of this crew had watched the rise and fall of that relationship, even if they missed some of the key stuff.

"If you need anything from any of us, just let us know," Rodney told him.

It didn't take long for some tabloid reporter to connect the shooting to the day off of production from the show and conflate the two more exaggeratedly than necessary. Rumors abounded, ranging wildly between Trevor flying into a depressive state, forcing production to stop and Paul dying in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and the show taking a day off to mourn. Paul's family was naturally keeping the press out and police were not disclosing anything about the situation either. How that reporter got word that the show wasn't shooting that day was a sore subject for Rodney as he scrutinized his entire staff to try to find who might have leaked information.

It was a sore spot for Trevor too, because the idea that someone might be talking to the press upset him greatly. Whether or not he wanted to speak publicly about any of what was going on was for him to decide, and Trevor was much more distant with the crew than he normally would have been. Not cold, but not talking and laughing with them either. More to himself, withdrawn. Even with his fellow cast, he was quieter and just listened.

Trevor was silent with the press until it was decided that Paul's boyfriend, Noah Carmen, would be going to trial instead of taking a plea deal. As soon as it was announced in the press that Noah was putting in a plea of temporary insanity, Trevor decided he wanted to talk to Noah and his lawyer.

He waited for a day when the scenes being filmed didn't include him except in the morning. Alex delegated out the work that needed to be done to his staff so he could be with Trevor when he went to where Noah was on house arrest while he waited for trial, and for Paul to be pronounced dead.. His family had bailed him out, though his passport had been revoked and he was put on an ankle bracelet to make sure he didn't go anywhere. Trevor was surprised to learn that ankle monitors came in pairs.

The charges right then were still only attempted murder, because Paul's family hadn't pulled the plug quite yet. Once the plug was pulled though, the charges would change and Noah probably would be taken back to prison to await the trial.

Noah's lawyer, Mr. Denison, was with them, as well as Naomi and a detective that had some sympathy for Noah through this to make sure Trevor was safe. They all sat down in Noah's living room. Noah looked like hell. He had lost a significant amount of weight from the last time Trevor had seen him, and he had bags under his eyes. There were some yellowing bruises still on his body where he hadn't covered them up.

When he looked at Trevor now, he didn't have any anger or hatred in his eyes, just weariness. "I'm surprised you wanted to see me after I came to your house to harm you."

Trevor gave a nod. "Yeah, I considered the risk when I made the phone call, but I didn't think your lawyer would let you near me if I was still in danger."

Noah laughed at that, though there was no real humor to it. "You're right. Mr. Denison is a smart man, and expensive. You were out of danger by the time the sun rose the next day while I was in jail."

"Can I ask what happened?" Trevor asked, and Noah seemed a little surprised by it.

"I can only really tell you what parts I remember," Noah replied, his eyes losing their focus. "Paul had been in a bad mood all day. He'd been extra pissy since you came out with your relationship. Nothing I did was right. Do you know he had nude photos of you that he'd jerk off to when he was really down? It caused so many fights."