Luke was busy in halls of the arena, checking out security. He'd left Val
onstage for the soundcheck, since it wasn't something he could help with,
and he was able to hear some of what was said by radio, and the rest through
the sound system as it was checked out. From the way the stage manager was
talking, things weren't going well at all. Luke finally gave up and headed
towards the stage to see if he could stop this before things spiralled out
of control.

"Stop, STOP," Val yelled halfway through the song. When the instruments
fell silent, he turned glaring eyes towards his new backup singer. Val
hadn't appreciated the newcomer's somewhat abrasively confident attitude.
He'd shown Val no deference for what Val thought he was owed, and he was
going to make SURE that this person realized - quickly - who he was dealing
with.

The performer merely looked back at him with irritating self-possession and
a patient smile that said he knew all about star performers. Val strode over
microphone leads and stray drummers, aware that the regular band members
were melting out of reach rapidly with proper deference.

"For a START, you don't know the music," he said sharply. "I can HEAR how
little you know the music; this is supposed to be a DRESS rehearsal. And
secondly-"

"I know the music as it's written, it's not exactly my fault if you sing as
you feel like on the day. With your OWN timing and your own slur on the
lyrics," the singer said bluntly. "I'm not going to slur MY performance to
keep up with yours."

"In case," Val began patiently, "You HAVEN'T noticed, you're employed to be
MY backing singer?"

The man just smiled, jaws clicking, and Val's blood pressure promptly
rocketed.

" ARE YOU CHEWING GUM?"

The stage manager had left the booth and was quickly headed towards the
stage. Luke was nowhere in sight and things were going downhill quickly.
He had just mounted the stage when the backup singer answered.

"Yes, I chew -"

"SPIT IT OUT!" Val promptly demanded, stamping his foot. He was at a slight
loss for words when the singer spit it out near his feet.

"Five minutes!" the manager announced as he strode towards the two and
everyone else abandoned the stage as if it were a ship in danger of
sinking.

Val recovered his breath, stared at the gum and produced one of his steam
engine shrieks that made people flee still faster.

"HOW DARE YOU-"

"You said spit it out," the singer said easily, with enough amusement to
really boil Val's blood. Val, beyond reasonable thought, lunged a step
closer and slapped the singer across the face with all his strength.

The stage manager got in between the two before another blow could be
exchanged. He was facing Val. "Val, get off this stage and cool down," the
stage manager managed to say levelly.

Val, beyond all reasonability, slapped him too. " DON 'T speak to me as though
I'M some cheap, second rate little tart like HE is; do you have any clue how
much I'm PAID to stand here by the hour and work despite all this shit!"

The stage manager, at the end of his tether, pulled out his radio and hissed
into it, the hiss of a distracted man.

"McNeil, report to the stage, immediately."

Luke's purposeful walk immediately became a jog as he made his way back to
the auditorium.

The backup singer had recovered from the shock, and piped up from behind the
manager. "You just earned yourself a lawsuit, you talentless queen-"

"For Pete's sake SHUT UP!" the stage manager thundered, finding someone he
could safely shout at. "OFF stage, I'll speak to you later!"

"You will NOT!" Val screeched back. "You're fired, and if you set FOOT near
this stage again I'll walk out of this venue!"

Hurling over the microphone stands in his way he stormed off stage
performing one of his Vivien Leigh flounced that ended with a door slammed
so hard the stage shook. The stage manager took a deep and somewhat unsteady
breath and picked up his radio again.

"McNeil, Luke, PLEASE-"

Luke burst through a door on the far right of the stage, bounding up the
stairs two at a time. He strode quickly over to Mr. Edwards. "What
happened? Where's Val?"

"That little shit -" the singer began.

"Get OFF THE STAGE," Mr. Edwards bellowed, shocking the backup singer into
complying quickly.

When he could gather his thoughts, he faced Luke. "Mr. Quentin had a
disagreement with that prat there. He -"

"Where did he go," Luke interrupted quickly, having seen both of the
handprints making their presence known.

Mr. Edwards pointed toward the door that Val had pranced out of.

"We'll take an hour lunch while I get Mr. Quentin sorted," Luke said,
striding towards the door.

The stage manager breathed a mute sigh of relief and turned, raising his
voice.

"OKAY, EVERYBODY, LUNCH. ONE HOUR TO SOUND CHECK."

"Bill?" Luke demanded from the door. The stage manager glanced at him. Luke
raised an eyebrow, hand on the door.

"Whose fault?"

The stage manager hesitated. Like all the permanent staff, he was actually
very fond of Val. But his head was aching, his ears were ringing and the
slap outlined across his face still hurt.

"Fifty-fifty to who started it," he said honestly, "But Val finished it."

Luke nodded and headed out of the door.

He ran Val to earth where he expected to find him: sitting on the stairs
under the stage, alone, arms wrapped around his knees, outraged- as the
hurled phone and keys at the foot of the stairs showed- but with tear-filled
eyes and dripping lashes that promptly raised to his with appeal that would
have knocked Bambi out of any Oscar running.

"What happened?" Luke asked immediately, having grown used to the look,
which had no effect when there was a story to get to the bottom of.

"That singer, he was MEAN!" Val began, wanting to get Luke on his side
immediately.

"Don't give me ANY crap, Val. I want to know what was said that gave what
you thought was the right to slap both him AND Mr. Edwards," Luke said
sternly.

Val jumped a little, not at all happy that Luke knew about those slaps. They
were the kind of thing that Luke tended to take VERY seriously- a good deal
more seriously than Val thought at all necessary.

He put his head down on his arms again, letting the tears flow and sobbed a
little, focusing on just how unkind everyone was and how much pressure he
was under and how much he needed the sympathy and support of Luke-
who put a hand under his chin and turned it up, pulling his arms down.

"Turn it off, Val, I'm waiting."

When the pitiful attack didn't work, Val got angry again. "That stupid fu-
man," he amended, having at least enough self preservation at the current
time not to add to it, "wasn't following my lead! I'm the one he's supposed
to be backing up, NOT the other way around!"

"Did you confront him about that?" Luke asked without a beat.

"Yes, I did!" Val stated forcefully. "He then proceeded to tell me *I* was
the one that was screwing up!"

"Were you?" Luke said bluntly.

"NO!" Val said furiously. "Whose side are you on?! He's a stupid, arrogant
little tart who thinks he's putting up with me on his way to the top and he
can't sing for bloody toffee, AND he's upstaging me as hard as he can! AND
HE WAS CHEWING GUM! GUM! On MY time!"

"So you slapped him?" Luke was relentless.

"He wasn't listening!" Val yelled. He was at a disadvantage, not able to
get up with Luke standing over him.

"DOES that give you the right to slap someone?" Luke said firmly, his
eyebrow raising questioningly.

"He spat GUM at me!" Val said furiously, "I don't have to take that from
ANYONE; he actually SPAT the gum at me!"

Luke stifled the urge to smile, then a following surge of grim displeasure
at anyone showing that kind of disrespect to his brat in public.

"Did he? I'll speak to him about that."

"He's FIRED, I won't work with him!" Val said furiously.

"You'll do what's in the best interests of this company, young man." Luke's
gaze never wavered from Val's. "Now, tell me why you also slapped Mr.
Edwards."

Val swallowed audibly, knowing there was probably no reason in the world
that Luke would accept for that loss of control. He dropped his eyes.

"I'm waiting," Luke said unhelpfully.

"He sent me offstage!" Val said, trying to sound pitiful and instead coming
out with plaintive.

"In front of ALL the cast, like I'm some bratty kid-"

"Which let's face it, is how you were behaving," Luke said shortly. "Why did
he try to send you offstage?"

"To shut me up!" Val said furiously. Luke waited, looking at him until the
fury turned slowly to a flush.

"How about to try and prevent you causing any more of a scene and to let HIM
handle things the way he's paid to? Bill Edwards has been a good and loyal
friend to you, Val; how dared you hit out at him? How dared you hit out at
ANYONE, especially in an environment where they're intimidated from hitting
back as you deserve? You're in a powerful position on that stage."

Val sat, stung by those words. His anger left him about as quickly as it
had come, leaving him with a nagging twist in his stomach that things were
going to only get uglier from here.

He hadn't really meant to slap Bill. Bill had been a pretty good stage
manager, always willing to work with Val when things didn't sound right.
Trusting that Val could hear some things he couldn't, and knowing that Val
knew his limits and exactly what the audience wanted to see from him

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Luke asked mildly.

"He didn't do anything to defend me!" Val said with an attempt at sustaining
heat, scanning furiously through to try and find an excuse- any excuse- that
might hold water.

"That bitch SPAT at me and he just ordered me offstage-"

"WHAT do you have to say for yourself?" Luke said again, a little louder.
Val flushed.

"I lost my temper.... I WAS provoked-"

"What should you have done?"

Val flushed still more. "Spoken to you."

"And I would have dealt with it, quietly and efficiently, in a way that
maintained your dignity in front of the crew. Seeing you screaming and
stamping and behaving like a five-year-old in a tantrum won't have done much
for it. Will it?"

"He said he was going to sue me," Val tried.

"That is something that could have been handled FAR easier if you'd kept
your hands to yourself," Luke said firmly. "We'll discuss that later.
Right now, we're going to head into your dressing room. Come on," Luke
said, holding out his hand.

Val stood to his feet slowly, putting his hand in Luke's and trying to hold
his composure for the long walk to execution.

The corridors were full as they were always full, but the crew were too used
to Val hand-in-hand with the large and grim-faced bodyguard to look twice.
Everyone melted out of Luke's way and a few looked curiously at Val, there
was a lot of muttering and whispering as they passed. Val quickened his
stride and burst into the dressing room ahead of Luke, hot-faced.

"EVERYONE's gossiping, did you hear all that?!"

"They're bound to gossip, Val; you just gave them a star performance to
admire." Luke shut the dressing room door and locked it firmly. Val stamped,
near tears of frustration and strained nerves.

"It's NOT FAIR!"

"What's not fair, Mr. Quentin-" Luke took a seat and yanked Val to him by one
hand, tipping him easily over one knee. "That you took unfair advantage of
your position to behave like a brat? Bill and the singer you're less than
happy with would be at risk of their jobs if they slapped you back. I, on the
other hand, am not."

Luke shifted Val's weight and began to peel him out of tight jeans.

"Luke!" Val spat, trying to fight his hands to no avail, finding himself
bareassed and vulnerable before he could coherently fight this attack on his
dignity.

Luke easily handled his squirming lover, used to all the moves he'd make and
preventing most of them with ease. As soon as he had Val's pants down, he
pulled him closer around the waist and rested his hand lightly across his
bottom.

"Remind me, please, of what you'll NOT be doing in the future," Luke said
conversationally.

"Slapping ANYONE!" Val said trying to twist around. "Luke, pleeeeeeeeease,
not here-"

"You made a scene here without any concern for who was watching or how
embarrassed your victims were." Luke brought his hand down hard across Val's
small and perfectly formed behind, eliciting a shrill screech from his
penitent.

"You're in a responsible position, you have a duty to behave BETTER than
anyone else in this arena."

"I WILL!" Val said quickly, twisting again. "Ple- OW!" he yelped as a
second swat caught him on the other cheek.

"When you have a disagreement and find yourself getting too angry to think
straight," Luke swatted again, "you STOP and take a break. And if you find
that you can't come to an agreement, you find me, and we'll sort it out.
You do not ever raise your hand to an employee of yours, or anyone else for
that matter, again!" Luke said, punctuating each word with a solid swat on
the rapidly reddening bottom.

Val kicked, squirming and yelping, mostly in temper. Luke, reading the body
language and long since familiar with it, quit talking and concentrated on
spanking, quickly and soundly turning Val's tight little backside scarlet
and continuing until Val's screeches became softer and a good deal more
pathetic and tearful. Then he paused and rubbed his smarting palm over both
hot cheeks.

"What are you NEVER going to do again?"

"Hit out at anyone," Val said quickly and emphatically, "I won't, I really
won't Luke, I promiiiiiiiiiiiise-"

In that tone he sincerely meant it for the moment. Luke gave him six more
measured swats to drive the message home, hardening his heart to the sobs
following each one, then set Val on his feet and helped him dress.

"You'll apologise to Bill AND to that singer- WHOM I will speak to," he
added before Val could screech. "But right now you're going to spend twenty
minutes looking at that corner and thinking just how someone representing a
nationally famous corporation like Orion ought to be behaving."

Val grimaced as he pulled his pants straight, tears still coursing down his
face. He walked over to the corner and laid his hot face against the cool
wall, giving into feelings of self pity. When that didn't elicit any
response from Luke, he settled down and worked on catching his breath again,
knowing he was going to have to look as if he'd not been spanked in less
than an hour, which was going to be a tall order.

Luke went around the corner and found the tray of sandwiches he'd ordered
for their lunch and quickly ate one. He kept an ear out for Val, hearing
him settle down fairly quickly once he realised he was stuck there for the
long term. When the twenty minutes were up, he went back in to the main
area.

"Figured out how you're supposed to behave?" Luke asked.

"Yes, sir," Val said from the corner.

"Then come over here and eat a sandwich. You can stay right here, I've got
someone to speak to," Luke said, opening the door and locking it behind him.

Val threw himself into a chair. And then very hastily got up again.





Half an hour later, Luke watched Val glide across the stage, once more the
soul of charm and sweet temper, and throw his arms around Bill's neck. From
the hug he got, Edwards bore no grudges. Few of the committed, permanent
staff did, accepting Val's quirks with quite remarkable affection
considering what they put up with.

Across the stage, Luke caught the somewhat cautious pout of the young
backing singer. Backed into a corner by a large, soft-voiced and steel-eyed
bodyguard, he'd quickly admitted his behaviour had been provocative, he was
lucky to be keeping his job and he needed to rein in his attitude
immediately. Luke actually suspected that some of what he'd just given Val
would do the young man a world of good. But watching Val expertly adjust the
microphone, just as expertly flick his hair into position and fix the sound
crew with a smile that dazzled them into stopping drinking coffee and turn
on his mike, Luke shook his head.

The young backing singer was fiddling with his own mike, unnoticed and
without anything like Val's natural and entirely artless magnetism. The
staff might be staring, they might be gossiping, but they moved around Val
onstage like people circulate around a fire on a cold day. Luke fixed the
boy with a somewhat amused smile, long used to prima donnaeing of a style
and flair this boy would never be able to aspire to.

"Kiddo, you are outclassed, outmanoevered and OUT of your league."