shelter_diner | Fic: Beautiful Disaster (Reply)

Title: Beautiful Disaster
Author:

fizzerbass
Pairing: Zach, Shaun, Cody
Rating: PG (for cussing)
Notes: I heard the song Beautiful Disaster by Jon McLaughlin the other day and the title stuck in my head.

Zach flips through the pages of his portfolio with a vengeance, the angry phfft sound they make as they fly through his fingers matching his mood perfectly. God, nothing’s right, nothing looks good enough for this project, nothing looks any better than a two-year old could draw. Why in the hell did he wait so long to get started on this? Why in the hell did he ever listen to Shaun?

‘Don’t worry, babe. The right idea will come to you…just be patient.’

Yeah, right. Patient. He’d been patient…for more than two weeks…and now here he was all alone in the studio at school, standing in front of a 8’ X 10’ canvas unfurled on the floor, both it and his mind as blank as blank could be. And only fourteen short hours until this project was due in front of Professor “You’ll Never Make an A in my Class Because I Hate Your Gay Guts” Johnson. He was so totally lynched.

Sighing, he throws his portfolio down on the nearest table in disgust, taking a bandana out of his backpack and tying it backwards on his head. Fuck it. He’s going to fail anyway, so he might as well just get started. He picks up a can of black spray paint and falls to his knees, outlining the first thing that comes to mind: the bridge outside his house back in San Pedro.

He’s got the uprights and cables down on canvas, wondering what the heck he’s going to put on the other side of the bridge when the door opens behind him and Shaun and Cody walk in. Shaun has a sack of tacos from Sam’s Last Stand and Cody’s carrying a pizza box from Pele’s along with a six-pack of orange soda.

“Hi Zach! We brought you dinner!”

Zach tries to hide his irritation at the interruption and gets to his feet, taking the pizza from Cody. Tousling his hair, he pulls him in for a hip-high hug and takes a quick peek at the clock. Seven o’clock. Thirteen hours ‘til Doomsday. “Thanks, buddy. I’m not real hungry though, so why don’t you and Shaun sit over here and eat while I get back to work?”

“Because,” Shaun says, as Cody’s face falls, “It won’t take more than five minutes to eat and even Artists on the Verge of Making it Big need to take a break every once in a while.” He puts his bag of food on the table and takes the pizza box out of Zach’s hands, his eyes silently pleading.

Zach looks down at Cody’s hopeful face and up into Shaun’s slightly reproachful one. He bites his lip and looks at his watch, mentally trying to calculate how much more he has to do. “Alright…but only five minutes. I’ve got to get this done before nine o’clock if it’s going to have time to dry tonight.”

“Yes!” Cody pumps his fist in the air and turns to hi-five Shaun. “I told you he’d cave, Uncle Shaun. He loves Pele’s pizza too much to turn it down.”

Shaun chuckles as Cody clambers up onto a stool and grabs a slice of pizza. He slides his arms around Zach, pulling him into a hug to whisper in his ear. “I’m sorry, babe. I know you’re busy…but he was missing you pretty bad. We both were. We haven’t seen too much of these past two weeks.”

Zach lays his head on Shaun’s shoulder for a moment and sighs. “I know, I know...I’m sorry.” He pulls away from the embrace and goes to stand in front of his canvas, resting both hands atop his head as he shifts the bandana back and forth. “It’s just…I’ve got to do good on this project. This Professor hates me to begin with and he hates all my work even more. And now he tells us today, the pieces we turn in for this project are going to be the ones he puts in the Student Art Show next month.”

Shaun reaches into the bag and pulls out a taco dripping with cheese and salsa. “So? That’s great! That way everybody can see what a great artist you are.”

Zach rolls his eyes and walks back to the table, resting his hand on Cody’s shoulder to make the boy stop spinning around on his stool. “You always say that” he mumbles dejectedly. “It’s like, your genetically programmed response or something.” He picks up a slice of pizza, stealing all the black olives off Cody’s slice to add them to his.

“Because it’s the truth,” Shaun says around a mouthful of taco. “You are a great artist. I don’t know why you’re stressing so bad over this one piece. You’ve been a maniac for days now…Cody, stop spinning and eat.”

Cody stops and takes a gulp of his soda as Zach puts his pizza back down, untouched. “Because this is big, Shaun. This guy has a real problem with me because of what I am and…Cody, put your drink down before you spill it.” Cody complies and Zach continues. “I want this piece to be really good. I want it to make him see past me and see the art, you know?”

Shaun walks around the table to Zach’s side, grabbing his shoulders and massaging the tense muscles underneath. “You’re going to do fine, babe. Stop worryi-“

At that moment, Cody’s spinning causes him to lose balance and both Shaun and Zach jump to catch him before he can fall; Zach’s arm knocking over the soda, Cody’s flailing legs taking out the pizza, and Shaun’s knee banging the table to dump the tacos on the floor…right in the middle of Zach’s canvas.

Nobody says anything as they stand in stunned silence, the only noise the slight fizz of the soda as it makes an orange river snaking along the canvas to pool in the corner. Cody, who ended up half in Shaun’s arms and half in Zach’s, clambers over fully into Shaun’s embrace and buries his face in his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Zach! I didn’t mean it, I promise.”

He starts to cry and for a moment, Zach wants to join him. His project is ruined, absolutely totaled, and there’s no way he has enough time to start another one now. He’s staring at nothing more than a big, fat “F” on the floor in front of him.

“We can clean it, Zach. Dry it off or something.” Shaun puts Cody down and grabs a handful of napkins, hastily mopping up red smears of pizza and yellow blobs of cheese.

Zach feels frustration and even anger mount within him as he watches Shaun frantically trying to clean the canvas. “Shaun. Stop. It’s ruined.” He says, balling up his fists and turning away. “Just stop, dude.”

He’s standing there, listening to Shaun’s scrambled scraping and wondering what the fuck he’s going to do now when he feels Cody put his hand in his. “I’m sorry, Uncle Zach.”

Zach looks down at his nephew’s tear-stained face, his little lip still quivering as he stares bravely right back up at him. God, what is he doing? What is he thinking? Making this one stupid piece of art more important than the beautiful boy standing in front of him, making it more important than the man three feet away from him trying to save him from certain ruin. “It’s okay, buddy” he says as he kneels down to Cody’s level, pulling him close and holding him tight as he stands back up.

“Shaun. Stop. Seriously, dude.” He picks up an unopened bottle of soda and twist the cap off, stepping onto the canvas right next to where Shaun is kneeling. “I think I kind of like the way this looks just like it is…kind of like there’s a rainbow at the end of the bridge or something.” He turns his head to look at Cody. “What do you think, Buddy? Does the rainbow need more orange?”

Cody looks from Zach to the soda bottle and back to Zach again, his eyes as big as saucers. Zach smiles and nods encouragingly, handing him the bottle. “Go for it, little man.”

Cody giggles through his tears and leans forward to pour the soda out onto the canvas, Zach turning so they draw a circle around themselves, splashing Shaun in the process.

“Hey, watch it! I don’t need an orange rainbow on me!”

“Oh yes you do, Uncle Shaun.” Zach says as he stops spinning and picks up his uneaten pizza from the table. “Matter of fact, I think you could use some red to add to your orange rainbow.” Stepping forward, he slaps the pizza right in the middle of Shaun’s shirt, smearing the sauce from side to side.

“Oh, that’s it. You’re dead.” Shaun bends down and picks up a soggy taco shell, whipping off Zach’s bandana to plaster the Mexican mess on Zach’s head, wiping his gooey hands in Cody’s hair when he’s through. “How do you like that?”

“Food fight!” Zach yells and puts Cody down, grabbing another bottle of soda and shaking it rapidly. Zipping off the cap, he sprays both Shaun and Cody, dancing out of the way when Shaun tries to tackle him. Cody picks up two slices of pizza and sticks them to both Zach and Shaun’s butts, laughing hysterically when they fall off and plop to the canvas. One fistful of food leads to another and before long, all three boys are rolling on the canvas making a mess…tangled helplessly and hopelessly in cheese and salsa, covered totally in happiness and love.

They’re having too much noisy fun to hear the door click open and someone enter the room. It’s not until the newcomer clears his throat disdainfully that Zach looks over to see Professor Johnson staring down at them, none too happily.

“Well, Zachary, I hope you’re proud of this disaster.”

Zach looks over at Shaun and Cody…at his family…at his life…and remembers something he already knew but forgot in his haste to do instead of just be.

“Yes sir, I am. Very proud. It’s the most beautiful disaster I’ve ever seen.”

~*~*~

NOTE: “Beautiful Disaster” was the first painting sold at the Cal Arts Student Show later that month…for $2,300.00. The highest price ever obtained for a student’s first offering.

Beautiful Disaster (the song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww0kqkX4vXQ