Ecstasy

Brian Quinn was running - almost full-speed - to the on-set restroom. He sped past his friends and crew members staring and laughing at him as he made his mad-dash. Reaching the bathroom, he slammed the door shut behind him, locking it. He was shaking; he could still feel the multiple tarantula legs crawling over his body. Tears stung his eyes as he quickly turned the faucet on and pulled his shirt off, pumping soap from the dispenser into his hands to wash his arms, chest, abdomen. Everywhere. He could hear laughter outside the bathroom and it pissed him off more than he already was. He splashed water up into his face, gritting his teeth as another shudder ran through his body, goosebumps rippling on his skin.

This was the worse punishment thus far for Brian. He would never forget the way it felt to have tarantulas crawling on him. The psychological aspect of it was affecting him the most at the moment. The not knowing where they'd go, what they'd do, unable to watch them out of pure fear...only able to feel them, since being handcuffed to a platform was part of the punishment, too.

Brian cried quietly to himself, needing to just get it out of his system and over with. He washed his face harshly, his upper body nearly soaking wet now. His tears began to subside and he grabbed bundles of paper towels to dry himself off. He felt sort of silly at his breakdown but really couldn't help it.

Brian handled his punishments well - usually - but this was different. This was almost torture; mental, anyway, seeing as though tarantulas aren't necessarily venomous and couldn't have fatally harmed him. Not the ones used for the stunt. But the little bastards scared him to tears and that was enough to claim mental torture.

And it was Sal's doing.

"Q!" - Brian heard his name being called by multiple people and someone wiggled the locked door handle. "You all right in there? Open up!" - A pause to laugh and then, "You have to watch the shot, man, your face was the greatest thing I've ever seen!" It was Sal. "Pumpernickel!" Brian clenched his jaw and grabbed his shirt, slipping it back on and calling out, "Give me a minute," in response. More laughter echoed from behind the door. Brian brushed his fingers through his wet hair to fix it, looking his reflection over in the mirror. He noticed his eyes were slightly red from his brief emotional break but wasn't worried about it.

Brian loved what he did for a living and wouldn't trade it for anything, but that didn't change how he felt at the moment. He felt dirty, creeped out and wanted nothing more than to curl up with his precious Benjamin Cat.

With that thought in mind, Brian unlocked and opened the door only to be greeted by the laughing faces of his friends. "Did you take a shower in the sink?" Murray asked through his shrilly laughter, Joe chiming in, "You look like a homeless Portuguese Water Dog!" Brian laughed a little at that; the homeless jokes were old but always funny to him. "All's I wanna do is get home and shower. Again." Brian said as he made his way towards the exit. "I'll call one of you later after I see my psychiatrist." He added with a half-smile. Sal jogged to catch up to Brian before he reached the door, touching his shoulder to stop him. "You gonna walk home or something?" He asked, holding Brian's car keys up. Sal noticed Brian's eyes and knew right away that his best friend was upset. He glanced over at the crew and then back to Brian, quietly adding, "Are you all right, babe?"

Brian stared at Sal for a moment before responding, "I understand what we do and how it works. I get that. I love that. That's what's beautiful about what we do as a team. But this has got my head fucked up right now. I couldn't have even...imagined this is what you had in mind. Fuck you, Sal. And you can drive me home, I don't think I should. Or can." Sal felt his face flush red and Brian walked away from him, heading outside to walk to his car. Instead of firing back, Sal headed back to where their equipment was set up and gathered up his and Brian's backpacks they always brought to set.