Chapter Text
Trevor huffed his way up the never ending stairs whilst cursing everything about Jonathan, from his decision to live in an apartment block with no lift, to him choosing to get a flat on the fourth floor, and the fact he'd called on Trevor to sort out his Jonathan-ness just as the stage manager had settled on the sofa with a beer and some left over pizza after getting back from the meeting. It was sadly not the first time he'd had to make this journey. Trevor was the logical one to call seeing as he only lived five minutes walk away, plus had somehow ended up with the spare keys of everyone in the group over the years from being asked to pop in and fix various things. Most months he found himself heading over to Jonathan’s several times to free him from one thing or another, the most memorable occasion being when the man had ended up trapped handcuffed to the bed. Naked. The door on that occasion had been answered by a very embarrassed, thankfully fully dressed, woman, who had started to try and explain, before Trevor had cut her off. He had no desire to hear any details along those lines about his friends, thank you very much. He'd strode into the bedroom with his bolt cutters, freed a red-faced Jonathan, and exited the flat within sixty seconds - sincerely wishing one of them had thought to throw a blanket over the naked actor. The image of Jonathan decorated in whipped cream still haunted him.
At least on this occasion Trevor entered the flat to find the actor fully clothed. Jonathan was standing in the middle of his living room with his back to the door, both hands pushing against thin air. At first glance he seemed fine, but as he attempted to twist round on hearing someone enter the room he gave a yelp, and Trevor could see his head was stuck in place, left ear not visible.
“Trevor?”
“Yeah it's me. Hang on a sec, I'll get you sorted.”
Trevor maneuvered round the coffee table to a position where Jonathan could see him, doing a quick scan as he did so to check for anything else holding the actor in place. There was nothing he could see.
“Is it just your ear mate?”
“Yes. I'm sorry Trevor, I've tried and tried to pull it free, but it's just not budging.”
“No worries, this shouldn't take long.”
The stage manager went to grab Jonathan by the waist, then hesitated. With the actor pinned by the head he didn't want to risk giving him a neck injury whilst pulling him free.
“Am I alright to hold your head?”
The other man started to nod, then winced. “Of course. Anything you need to do to get me out.”
Trevor carefully positioned his hands either side of Jonathan’s head and gently leaned back, hoping his bodyweight would be enough to unstick the unfortunate actor. No such luck. He repositioned his legs and braced himself.
“Right, looks like it's gonna need a bit more force. On three. One. Two. Three.”
This time the stage manager threw his full weight into it, leaning back and tugging as hard as he could. There was a moment of resistance, then the barrier between planes gave way, and Trevor found himself hurtling backwards for the second time that day, to land with a horrible splintering sound on Jonathan's coffee table.
“Oh shit,” he pushed himself up off the semi-collapsed piece of furniture to examine the damage. “I'm really sorry mate. I think I can fix this though, I'll pick it up tomorrow and take it to the workshop, see what I can do.”
There was no response from Jonathan, and Trevor looked up to find him staring into the space he had just been freed from, his expression an odd mix of shock and thoughtfulness.
“Jonathan? You ok? I didn't hurt you pulling like that did I?”
At Trevor's question Jonathan finally turned back to him, concern quickly replacing the previous emotions on his face as he seemed to notice the wreckage surrounding the stage manager for the first time.
“Oh God, are you ok Trevor? You didn't hurt yourself did you?”
“Nah, I'm fine,” Trevor accepted the hand offered to haul himself to his feet, brushing off splinters as he did so. “I was just saying I can call round tomorrow and take this to the workshop, hopefully I should be able to fix it for you.”
Jonathan’s eyes had slid back towards the same spot in the air as Trevor was speaking, but they now refocused on him and the actor nodded.
“Thanks, that would be great. Don't worry if it's not fixable though, it only got broken because you were trying to help me. It's not a problem.”
Trevor reached over to grasp the other man's arm in acknowledgement, just as Jonathan’s eyes wandered back to that same spot, eyebrows furrowed. The stage manager frowned.
“You sure you're OK mate? You didn't hit your head or something did you?”
He didn't see how Jonathan could have done, he had remained standing this time after all. Unless the injury had occurred during their fall earlier? But Trevor seemed to recall providing some pretty effective cushioning for the actor on that occasion. Jonathan’s gaze switched back to him again, and he gave the stage manager a reassuring smile.
“No, I'm not hurt. Ear stings a bit, but that's all.” He bit his lip and seemed to consider saying something else, before shaking his head slightly. “Thanks for offering to fix the table Trev, and for coming to help me out, I really appreciate it. I know it's an inconvenience.”
“No worries,” Trevor studied the actor carefully. “You're sure you're OK?”
“Absolutely fine!” Jonathan grinned at him, and Trevor reluctantly nodded. Something didn't feel quite right, but if the man said he was ok then he had to believe him. He'd drop him a message later and check in, just to be on the safe side.
Jonathan leaned on the door after it closed behind Trevor, and closed his eyes.
Their creators could see them.
Of all the things he could have expected to overhear as he'd been trapped with his ear in a different plane to his body, that would never have made it onto the list.
A decade of the group appearing in various houses, offices and theatres at their call, bickering and arguing in front of them, Robert insulting them to their faces on numerous occasions, how had he never noticed? Now that he knew he could recall numerous signs - a slight flinch, eyes shifting to look at one of them for a fraction of a second, the silence that had descended across the whole room after Robert's comment earlier today - but somehow he'd never put two and two together.
He wondered if any of the others had noticed? He'd nearly asked Trevor in the living room, but something had held him back. If he told the group it would change everything, and he wasn't sure if that change would be for the better or worse.
But it would be a huge thing to keep from his friends. And he could only imagine their reaction if they found out later that he'd known and kept it to himself.
He'd experienced being ostracised from the group once before, after the incident his creators had written with Annie during Peter Pan. Three months of Sandra and Annie refusing to talk to him, with Max awkwardly following Sandra's lead, and Robert taking great delight in stirring everything up as much as possible, whilst Vanessa and Chris tried desperately to avoid doing just that - resulting in the pair barely talking to him for fear of making things worse. The only two to treat him normally had been Dennis - who hadn't followed what was happening, and so didn't understand why everyone was so upset - and Trevor. Trevor, who had listened in silence to Sandra's incensed lecture when she'd caught the stage manager sharing lunch with the actor one day, before glancing Jonathan’s way, then looking her steadily back in the eye and calmly stating, “It's not like it was his choice though, is it?” That response had left Sandra speechless, and Trevor had simply turned back to carry on their conversation. He'd continued to steadfastly refuse to take sides, and treat Jonathan normally no matter what was said to him, until slowly the rest of the group had followed suit. The whole thing had left Jonathan feeling a lot more lonely and isolated than he would have expected though, and he had no desire to repeat it.
So should he tell the rest of the group or shouldn't he? For the life of him, Jonathan had no idea.