Kill the Lights - sidetrack 3.3

Tony asked in a desperate and worried tone. Mason, who held a cold towel on his closed eyes, moaned and insincerely answered, ‘I don’t know.’

“Ugh, my back is ringing…”

Mason sniffled to himself. His back was ringing, and his insides were throbbing and his body was burning with no energy whatsoever. Because he cried so much, his throat was hoarse and his eyes were swollen. Especially the injured leg; the wound seemed to have reopened and it was as painful as when he got shot. Since it was a late afternoon shoot, he was able to crawl out, but his condition was intolerable. He put a cold towel on his eyes and a medicated patch and hot towel on his back. His face has recovered somehow, but his body was still aching. Honestly, yesterday and today were his first time experiencing the aftermath of sex, so he didn’t know how to treat this.

“……”

Yesterday was…. He didn’t know why he acted like that. Mason tended to be a little loose in his former life, but he was always a professional when it came to his job. He had to be to avoid death, anyhow. He was definitely not a person to suck a man’s dick and forget about tomorrow’s work. If this was a battlefield, he would be dead already and his eyeballs would be rolling on the ground. Of course, this was not a battlefield, but while accepting 110 thousand dollars, he couldn’t even take care of his body condition and caused everyone trouble. Also, the reason why he became like this was sex, Mason thought; he was stupid and pitiful to have lost himself in sexual desire last night. Drrrr, the cellphone vibrated in his pocket, and Mason slipped his hand inside and slowly pulled it out. When he didn’t even check who it was and answered, ‘Yes,’ he heard a low voice say, [Mm…] on the other side.

[Are you okay?]

The main culprit who shook him last night, Noah, asked in a sweet voice, and Mason moaned and answered.

“Ah….. Well, maybe I should have taken it slow.”

Noah wasn’t the only one who couldn’t hold back, so it wasn’t something that he should resent him for, yet he couldn’t help it. He answered back with a slightly depressed tone, and Noah’s quiet laughter tickled his ear.

[That’s true. Honestly I didn’t think you would really go to the shoot.]

“I thought I told you that I have a shoot.”

[That’s right, but…. Since you have not fully recovered yet.]

Noah sounded worried. In fact, the media raised concerns about Haley, who returned to the scene without even taking a break of 20 days. They were saying the movie was coming up well and the job consciousness was good, but it’ll be a big problem if he suffered from a sequela on his leg.

[I understand that your body is itching, but if you run around like you used to after receiving a stab or a gun shot wound and resting for only one or two weeks, I don’t think your body can handle it.]

‘Apart from sex, it looks pretty weak, that body.’ -Noah whispered, sounding like he kind of liked it.

“Um…. I took it for granted.”

Mason said pressing the towel on his eyes. While grumbling about Haley’s body being weak, it was definitely his fault for moving around like in his former days.

“Still I said I would do it.”

Since he said he would do it, he had to do it well. But if there were a situation where he cannot, then that would be too bad.

“Anyway, if you are not busy, can you keep talking to me? I think hearing your voice through the phone is very…. relaxing and nice.”

Is it because it’s sweet? Strangely after hearing Noah’s voice, he felt like his shoulders that were a little stiff had loosened up.

[……]

“If you are not annoyed, of course.”

‘If you are busy, we can stop.’ Mason said while thinking quickly, ‘Did I annoy him too much?’ and Noah laughed a while later.

[No, I’m neither busy nor annoyed. -So, what should I talk about? Is there anything you want to hear from me?]

“…. How’s your body?”

Mason asked quietly closing his eyes. Noah was worrying about his health right now, but Noah was also shot. Mason stayed in the hospital for at least two weeks, but Noah didn’t. After getting the wound treated, he visited the hospital once every two or three days, but barely took a break. Mason suffered the worst aftermath of sex, but he did worry about Noah’s injury. Noah laughed lowly at Mason’s question.

[I’ll be okay as long as I have you.]

“…. That’s not what I asked.”

Mason said feeling his cheek under the towel getting warm.

[It might be strange, but I meant it. My oldest and stubborn illness comes from my head. Insomnia, narcolepsy, seizure, stress… Those threaten my health.]

“……”

[If you meant the other wounds, they are healing well. It seems like I’m producing a lot of endorphins. The doctor was amazed at my healing ability. Four days from now, on Saturday, I’m going to unwrap the bandage, and it’s already not bothering my daily life.]

‘Of course that includes sex.’ -Noah added languidly in a sultry voice.

“….. It does seem like it.”

Yesterday and the day before yesterday, it definitely weren’t the actions of an injured person. Mason, who answered with a little bit of a sigh, moved his lips and asked.

“Now…. Can you sleep well?”

Could Noah’s old illness really be cured just by him staying at his side? When he was 17, he stayed with him, but at that time Noah was in an extremely bad situation.

[Mm.]

Noah dragged the word like he was thinking.

[Who knows? I can’t say it is completely cured, but it’s getting better…. It’ll be even better if you sleep next to me.]

Noah laughed slightly and made it sound like a joke. Mason took off the towel on his face and opened his eyes.

“That is…”

When Mason tried to open his mouth, Gloria shouted, ‘We’re going to start soon! Haley, get ready!’ from behind his back. It seemed like the previous shoot had ended.

“Uh…..”

Mason hesitated, and he heard Noah’s laugh lowly over the phone.

[I forgot that the person who’s busy is actually you and not me. Go. We’ll talk more when you get home tonight.]

“No, wai… -Huh, okay.”

Mason, who was about to stop Noah, looked around and just nodded his head. Sophie and other staff were waiting to do the makeup that got pushed over in order to soothe Mason’s face.

“Later then…”

Mason bit his lips as he said it, and Noah replied, ‘Don’t overwork, just do a passing job,’ in a un-sponsorly manner and hung up the phone.

“Makeup, can I start?”

Sophie asked smilingly. Mason hesitated, clutching the turned off phone and said, ‘Sorry.’

“It’s okay. After this scene, we’re going to film under water, so I’m not gonna apply a lot of makeup. Your skin is nice anyway.”

Sophie put down the makeup equipment and started right away. While she was cleaning up the redness around his eyes, Mason put on the black contact lenses.

“You seemed to have some fever… Are you okay?”

Sophie asked because she could feel the heat over the sponge.

“Ah, it’s okay.”

He wasn’t sure whether it was because of Noah that his cheek got hot or if his body was just unwell, but Mason replied it was all right anyway, waving his hand.

“You have to run in the rain later, your legs are not good, and add to it the fever, whew… Because the Director is too desperate, you must feel compelled.”

‘Since it got postponed, we can relax a little,’ Sophie said and Mason smiled perplexedly.

“While you weren’t here, the Director kept babbling ‘Haley, Haley’…. He was getting unbearable, as if he was the one who got shot.”

Sophie said that he was complaining so much that she wanted to shoot him.

“Is that so?”

“Don’t even mention it. Today his face is bright, as if he could fly.”

‘And yesterday he was acting like the sky had fallen’. Sophie spoke as she tapped the makeup on Mason’s face.

“Of course, I like putting makeup on you, Haley.”

Sophie said smiling, ‘Your skin is nice, your face is small and it is over so fast that I feel sad.’

“After listening to a gentle lip service, I feel like I’m really back at the set.”

“Oh my, it’s not a lip service!”

Sophie giggled and put down the equipment. Mason glanced at the mirror. His eye area that was red, were definitely covered up.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I won’t come out like a carp on the screen.”

“How can such a beautiful face look like carp?”

If that face comes out like a carp, the Director has to close down his business. She said gently and cleaned up the equipment. Right then, Gloria approached them.

“Are you done? -Mm, good. That looks passable. The swelling went down just like that? It’s a good face to do plastic surgery.”

With an enviously animated smile, Gloria said, “Well, there’s nowhere to be fixed,” and turned away causally.

“……”

Mason, who looked at the mirror in confusion, thought, ‘I’m already used to it. It looks so much like my face. Is it because of the eye and hair color?’ and turned around.

“Good. They are ready to go, so let’s get started right away.”

Gloria said, checking Mason’s clothes, hair, and makeup in detail.

“…..”

Mason saw Vick, who was looking at him with a face full of expectations. He straightened up his back that was slouching slightly. As he took a brief breath, Gloria, who was checking the script, turned around to face him.

“Are you nervous because it’s been a while?”

Has it been 16 days? At her question, instead of answering, he simply smiled. He was indeed nervous. Not because it had been a while, but because whenever he stood in front of the camera, he grew nervous little by little. That strange feeling of becoming another person, who was unfamiliar to him and moved like something possessed him; those things made Mason nervous. Gloria probably understood something from Mason’s smile; she swiped away the dust on his shoulders and said.

“I said something useless. You’ve lived in front of the camera your whole life.”

‘And look at you smiling so relaxed right now.’ -She smiled brightly and pushed him lightly to go and stand in front of the camera. Mason walked to the camera and stared at the lenses recording him. Soon, the filming started.

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Hi guys! On time this time!