A Cure for Boredom

Chapter 1“I’m bored.” Dante rested his elbows on the table in his dressing room at the theater Friday night, staring into the mirror. He looked like an old man, thanks to the makeup he was wearing. It was a part of his character for the last act of the play in which he was the star. “Bored? You’re kidding. We had the best opening night for a show in, hell, forever, according to Martin. You got more standing ovations—” Kade grinned “—than you deserved. How can you be bored?” “Easy,” Dante replied, looking at his partner in the mirror. “No matter what, it’s the same old same old. Learn lines until I can say them in my sleep—” “Which is the idea,” Kade pointed out as he spun Dante around to face him so he could remove the latex prosthetics that altered his appearance and store them in their containers until he needed to reapply them the following evening. “Yeah, I know. Then rehearse, rehearse some more, then perform for the masses, half of whom only come to the theater to be seen by the rest of the masses. And the Tuesday after opening night? Usually, I start the whole thing over again with the next play in line.” “Poor baby.” Kade patted his shoulder before continuing what he was doing. “And the man of my dreams reappears. Or he will when he…you take off the bald-cap and the rest of the makeup.” “Bossy,” Dante grumbled, but he did as Kade said, including putting the bald-cap that had covered his dark brown hair on a Styrofoam head on the corner of the table. When he was finished, he took off his costume, hanging it on the rack with the ones from acts one and two, and began putting on his street clothes. There was a rap on the door and when Kade opened it, Jim, another of the actors, was standing there. “Are you guys going to take all night? We have a party to go to, in case you forgot.” “How could I?” Dante muttered, but he was smiling so Jim didn’t take offense, merely telling him to move it. “Another boring tradition,” he groused when Jim left. Putting his hands on Dante’s shoulders, Kade shook his head. “You really are a grouch tonight.” He would have added, “And have been for the last couple of weeks,” but he didn’t want to exacerbate the situation. “I know. I’m sorry.” Dante gave him a quick kiss. “I don’t know what’s going on with me.” “Stress of opening night. Take a deep breath, relax, and as Jim said, ‘move it’.” Dante finished dressing, and then checked to be certain he hadn’t forgotten anything before they left his dressing room. Because it was late February and still cold outside, they were wearing their jackets even for the short walk to Dante’s car. Ten minutes later he found a parking spot, and soon they had joined their friends inside the club where the opening night party was being held. * * * * It was close to midnight and the party was in full swing. Kade and Dante were standing at the bar, talking with their friends, when Dante c****d his head. Whatever he’d heard—Kade couldn’t tell what it was because of the other conversations whirling around him—made Dante smile. About time. Kade took a drink, watching the man he loved. Maybe you’re finally letting go of whatever it was that was bothering you? Boredom, you said, but come on, Dante, how the hell can you be bored when you barely have time to breathe with all the shows you’re doing. The truth, as far as Kade was concerned. Since they’d met three years ago, when Kade had joined the company as the resident makeup artist, it seemed as if Dante had been cast in every show, more often than not as one of the leads. If I wasn’t working at the theater, too, I’d never see him, I swear. The first year, that had been close to the truth. They’d taken to each other and begun dating, when they could fit it into Dante’s busy schedule. Things had improved after they decided to live together. Kade had been more than willing to give up his apartment to move into Dante’s larger one. “Having fun?” Dante wrapped one arm around Kade’s waist. “Yep, but I’d have more fun if you’d dance with me.” “Done, and done.” Dante set his beer on the bar, Kade did as well, and they made their way through the crowd to the dance floor. “You seem to have gotten over whatever was bothering you,” Kade said a few minutes later as they moved to the beat of a slow song he couldn’t put a title to. “I think I have.” Dante smiled, pulling Kade tighter to him. “I had an idea,” he whispered against Kade’s ear. “You’re going to leave it at that?” Kade murmured when Dante didn’t expand on what he’d said. “For now. To begin with, I have to decide if it’s crazy or not. No, we have to decide because you’ll be involved if we think it’s workable.” “I’d hope so,” Kade said dryly. “I seem to remember you saying, in the far distant past, something like ‘It’s you and me against the world, kid—forever.’ Not that I’m a kid, as I pointed out to you, but…” Dante laughed. “Nope. You’re a mature adult who hooked up with a crazy actor for some reason.” “Because I love you.” “Damned good thing, because I love you back.” Dante looked into Kade’s eyes for a long moment. “Yeah, I do,” he said softly and then kissed him. A few moments later they broke the kiss when one of the actresses tapped Dante’s shoulder and grinned. “PDAs are verboten in public.” “I think that’s what the ‘P’ stands for,” Dante retorted. “Yeah? Well, I’ll be damned. Guess you’re right, now that I think of it. Maybe I’ll go PDA with my husband.” She kissed Dante’s cheek and bounced away. “Children,” Dante muttered. A misnomer since she was at least five years older than his ‘twenty-eight and counting’ as he’d complained to Kade with a laugh when they celebrated his last birthday. “When do I get to find out what you’re planning?” Kade asked, getting back to the initial, albeit brief conversation. Dante smiled. “Tonight, if we can get away from here before sunrise.” “Since closing time is two, I think that’s a given. We could sneak out when no one’s looking.” Dante replied self-importantly, “I’m the star. Everyone is watching me.” Then he winked at Kade because, despite what he did for a living, Dante was not the least bit egotistical. Playing along, Kade said, “In that case, I guess I’ll never find out because by the time we get home, if we stick around until two, we’ll be so horny we’ll screw each other’s brains out and fall dead asleep. By morning, you’ll have forgotten whatever it is you were thinking.” Dante pressed one hand to his chest in horror. “Me? Forget? I spend my life remembering things, like lines for the shows. I think I can hang on to one stray thought until tomorrow. Or—” he took Kade’s hand, leading him off the dance floor, “—we go out the back way. Everyone will think we’re heading to the men’s room so it’ll be a while before we’re missed.” Kade pictured what some people thought guys like him and Dante did when they went to the restroom together and laughed. “How about we say our goodbyes instead, like normal people, and get the hell out of here.” They did, which only took them twenty minutes as some of the company, and many other people there who had seen the show, tried to forestall Dante’s leaving. Finally, they made it out to the sidewalk. Not too much later, they were home. * * * * Kade made coffee and they put together sandwiches as they hadn’t eaten anything other than the hors d’oeuvres on offer for the company and their guests at the party. Settling on the living room sofa, they ate in comfortable silence. After taking their empty plates into the kitchen and refilling their cups, Kade sat again, his head c****d in question. “What’s this bright idea you had?” “Okay, hear me out before you say anything.” Dante looked at him, waiting until he nodded before he continued. “I told you I’m bored.” “Yep. You’ve been very restless the last few weeks. And that doesn’t count as ‘saying anything’ by the way.” Dante rolled his eyes before admitting he had been restless. “It’s the same old thing, day after day. I’ve been trying to figure out how to change that. Tonight, I overheard someone talking about a robbery that happened yesterday and it got me thinking.” He put a finger over Kade’s lips when he started to reply. “Listen first, okay? What if we used our theatrical experience to see if we could pull one off without getting caught?” Kade eyed him warily. “You are not serious.” “Yeah, I am. Can you think of anything more exciting than successfully managing the perfect robbery?” “Umm, skydiving, swimming with sharks, climbing Mount Everest. I’m sure I can come up with a dozen more that are equally as dangerous and wouldn’t land us in prison for the next ten years.” Dante ignored what he’d said as he continued with his thoughts. “It would take careful planning, combining my acting skills and yours with makeup. The theater’s dark next month for renovations. It would give us time to work out all the details and put things in motion.” “Dante, you’re insane.” Kade nodded hard. “Totally insane.” Then, he grinned. “Believe it or not, I kind of like it, at least in theory.” Dante looked at him in shock. “I thought I was going to have to spend the next few days trying to convince you we could pull it off, if you were willing to even think about it.” “Hold on. I’m not saying we’ll do it, but it could be fun figuring out if it’s possible. That, love, will take a lot of research on how to do it, and where other thieves screwed up.” Puzzled, Dante asked, “Why are you even considering it?” “It would give you something to do so you’d stop being crazy restless. If we decide it’s too risky, we give up the idea. But—” Kade tapped a finger to Dante’s chest, “—if we think we could pull it off, it would be the ultimate boredom killer. As you said, it would be exciting. Something we’ve been lacking in our lives recently.” “No kidding.” Dante hugged him hard. “If you change your mind, tomorrow, I’ll understand.” “Same with you. This discussion could just be the result of a bit too much to drink, and don’t deny it. We may not be drunk, but we’re not sober, either.” “You have a point. So, we’ll sleep on it and see what happens.” Dante grinned, suddenly. “If nothing else, we could still plan it out and then turn it into a new play.” “Like either of us are writers.” Dante chuckled. “Stranger things have happened.” “Uh-huh. Us actually robbing…whatever? Now that would be strange. Planning it will be an exercise in logistics, but that may be, probably will be, as far as we take it.” By mutual if silent agreement, they dropped the subject, deciding their time could be better spent together in bed—sleeping once they’d made love. Will he really consider it? Will I, or is it the booze and my boredom talking? Dante knew he’d find out the following morning, one way or the other.