Quiet Backstage: A Series of Lippa Oneshots

See You On Stage

It would be an understatement to say that everyone was nervous for tonight’s performance of Hamilton. It was opening night on Broadway. Sure, they had had major success off Broadway, but this? This was the big leagues now. This was the real deal. And it was beyond obvious that Lin was stressed out of his mind.

“Knock knock?” Pippa knocked on the wooden door that led to Lin’s shared dressing room with Jonathan Groff, who she passed in the hallway on her way over to the dressing room.  

“Come in!” She heard Lin call from the other side of the door. Pippa slowly opened the door. She smiled at Lin as she walked in. “Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of being visited by the Phillipa Soo?” Lin chuckled. The two shared a hug for a moment.

“How are you feeling?” Pippa grabbed both of Lin’s hands in her’s. He broke their soft eye contact for a moment, looking down at their joined hands. “Because everyone else is a lot a bit panicky, and you, My Love, you have been pretty quiet.” She smiled gently as Lin’s eyes met hers again. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah, why would I be nervous?” He forced a chuckle that made Pippa’s smile become one of sympathy. “You can tell I’m lying, can’t you?” Lin sighed and took his hands away from Pippa’s. He turned around himself, untying and retying his hair into a bun as he paced the dressing room floor. She just stared at her co-star as he walked across the same five tiles over and over again. After a while, she decided to stop him before he wore through the tile from all of his pacing. Pippa parted her lips to speak, but she didn’t speak up when she saw Lin untie his bun once more. Lin tossed the tie to the side and Pippa glanced down at it for a moment. As she turned her full attention backed to her worried friend, she noticed Lin had began to gather locks of hair between his fingers, tightening his grip on them as he kept pacing.

“Stop, stop, don’t do that! You’ll hurt yourself.” Pippa gently took his hands away from his hair and laced their fingers together once again. She made eye contact with Lin and she could see how scared he was about this whole thing.

“Curtain's up in an hour!” Someone called from the other side of the door. Pippa yelled back a, ‘thank you’, then turned her complete focus back to Lin, who’s breaths seemed to have become more shallow.

“Hey, hey, no, breathe, Lin. Breathe.” Pippa coaxed, her voice as sweet as her singing.

“Pippa, what if they hate it? What if they laugh like everyone did when I first demoed it? What if I forget the choreography? What if there’s a blackout? What if nobody shows up? What if--” Lin’s eyes ran everywhere, taking glimpses of the room around him, but never focusing on the girl in front of him.

“Lin, what is four times two?” Pippa asked, and right as she did, Lin’s eyes snapped and connected with her’s.

“What?” He asked, panicking still.

“What is four times two?” She repeated herself.

“What?!” Lin was obviously taken back by this totally random math question.

“Four times two, Lin.” Pippa rubbed her thumbs in comforting circles on the backs of his hands.

“Four...two...eight…” Lin mumbled. “Eight! It’s eight! Four times two is eight!” He exclaimed once he came to his answer.

“Good.” Pippa chuckled and smiled to herself because her attempt at making him focus and stay in the moment actually worked. It was something her director from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 did for her on opening night. “Now, listen, everything you were just saying, that’s a lot of “what if” and not a lot of “they will”. Am I wrong?” She smirked playfully to get Lin to smile.

“I mean...no.” Lin looked down, focusing on the feeling of Pippa’s thumbs against his hands.

“Exactly.” Pippa smiled. “And look, you have every right to be nervous, this is crazy!” She laughed. “But look where we are now, and look where we started.” Pippa winked, earning a laugh from Lin in response.

“Thanks, Pip.” Lin kissed the back of her hand.

“Of course.” She smiled and let go of his hands after he had kissed her right one. “I’ll let you be for the next…” She looked at the clock. “Forty five minutes. The Sister’s and I are probably going to warm up and hang out with the cast a bit, if you’d like to join. I’m not too sure why you wouldn’t want to...but…” Her voice trailed off with a laugh.

Lin laughed as well. “I’ll meet up with you guys in just a minute.” He smiled.

“You got it.” Pippa smiled her perfect smile and started leaving the room.

“Wait.” Lin said, and Pippa turned back around. “Shouldn’t I have been calming you down? I mean, I’m still your director, and--”

“And you’re still human, aren’t you?” Pippa asked, tilting her head to the side. “I’ll see you on stage, Miranda.” Pippa started to fully leave the room.

“See you on stage.”