No One Mourns The Wicked for nuclearxsquid
Title: No One Mourns the Wicked
Author:
For: nuclearxsquid
Beta: No beta, so if you see any obvious mistakes please feel free to tell me.
Word Count: about 2,000
Pairing(s): Mike/Kevin, Bill/Kevin (no infidelity yet), implied Tom/Joe
Rating: G (they don't even kiss)
Summary: Mike's green, Bill's a diva and Kevin just wants to make Music. Wicked AU/Fusion (book + musical)
Prompt: An AU! Of any sort, alternate universes, crossovers, anything! :D (Your journal says you like Wicked. I like Wicked too!)
Once upon a time in the land of Disney, a very curious baby was born to two perfectly ordinary parents. The mother swore she hadn't been unfaithful, but then again, the baby was green. And so little Mike Carden came into this world, shunned by his father and treated with caution by his mother. He wasn't alone for very long. The mother and father, though not on incredibly close terms at that point, decided to try again. And this time, the mother was taking no chances. Some would argue that trusting the fate of your unborn child to a sketchy man selling potions of dubious quality was taking chances, but anything was better then popping out another freak. Two years after his inauspicious birth, little Mike Carden got a bouncing baby brother. He wasn't geen, much to his mother's relief, and yes, he was paralyzed from the waist down, but what of it? After all, caring for a child who is disabled makes you a strong, brave parent. Caring for a child who's green just means you're an adulterer. This was all too much for Mike's father, and when it was determined that baby Tom would never be able to walk, he split. Mike's mother reverted to her maiden name and so little Tom Carden become little Tom Conrad.
Life was difficult in the Carden household, and not just for their mother, raising two strange children all alone. It's not easy being green, and being confined to a wheelchair while the rest of the kids (including your freak brother) run around isn't a walk in the park, either. Especially when you can't even walk in the park. But the brother's got along, as well as any siblings do. Mike would protect Tom from the bullies, Tom would yell at Mike to leave him be, and apologize later when they were all alone. The only spot of solace in their young lives was Music. When Mike was five and Tom was three, the Wandering Troubadours came into town for the first time. All the kids gathered around the makeshift stage in central square gazed raptly up at the Musicians. Mike, perched on a wall above the crowd, well out of reach of pointy elbows and pinching fingers, waited patiently, Tom squirming in his lap. But the moment the Music started Tom fell silent, and the brother's stared, awestruck as the Musicians conjured flowers and baubles from the air, with just a few chords on their guitars. The Singer made the Baker quack like a chicken, and old man Harris swear up and down that he was actually the Director of Disney. But it was when the Troubadours made a pair of wooden clogs dance across the stage all by themselves that Mike realized: if he became a Musician, a proper Musician, with a capital M, he might be able to cure his baby brother.
Many years passed, and eventually, Mike earned enough money doing jobs nobody but he would do, to afford a guitar. He had to share with his brother, of course, but for once, everything went according to plan. Mike had managed to swing a full ride scholarship to the Disney Academy, and get a work-study job to send money back home so Tom could come up the next year. Tom was good at Music, almost as good as Mike, but not quite good enough to get in early. So Tom bided his time at home, practicing on the old guitar that Mike had left to him, since the Academy provided instruments to those who needed them, and slowly distancing himself from his strange green brother, who was still, somehow, better than he was.
^^^
When Mike Carden met his roommate at Disney Academy for the first time, it was hate at first sight. William Beckett was tall, pretty, vocally gifted and decidedly not green. He was, in essence, the distilled form of all the kids that had picked on Mike in his village, with the added bonus of being comparatively rich. But what Mike hated most about William Beckett (though he wouldn't admit it if you asked), was Bill's boyfriend, Kevin. Kevin Jonas was short and curly haired, with gorgeous eyes and a delightful smile. He always had a grin for everyone, played a mean guitar and seemed to float through life on a cloud of adorableness and charm. But it wasn't actually Kevin that Mike had a problem with, not really. What Mike actually hated, though it took him at least a year to figure out, was that Kevin was Bill's boyfriend, and not Mike's.
It wasn't like Mike set out to fall in love with Bill's boyfriend, much less steal him away. Hell, Mike and Bill, through an ill advised make over, the occasional heartfelt talk and what Mike swore up and down was enforced proximity stockholm syndrome, had become friends, more or less. In fact, Mike could safely say that Bill was his best friend at Disney Academy, and Kevin - well, Bill was never quite sure why Mike didn't like Kevin that much. So Bill, at least at first, put his whole (considerable) influence towards getting Mike and Kevin together. Just as friends, of course.
This had the unfortunate side effect of forcing Mike into close proximity with the object of his affections, who was just as bewildered as Bill was (and honestly a little bit hurt) that Mike didn't like him. But the tipping point came a year and a half after Mike had arrived at Disney Academy. He had saved up enough money, combined with the partial scholarship Tom had earned, to get his brother into the Academy. Tom promptly slotted himself into Mike's group of friends, (though he could never quite shake the feeling that he was just the pity case). Bill had been on his "make Mike and Kevin get along" campaign for four torturous months and Mike was reaching the end of his rope (and his will to resist). Bill's latest plan involved using his in with Prof. Saporta to, quite coincidentally of course, get Mike and Kevin paired up for their final project in his Music crafting class, which involved a strange new Musical procedure called Autotuning.
^^^
The library was calm and almost silent as the two boys sat awkwardly across from each other, Mike tapping his foot on the wooden table leg, Kevin smiling tentatively at his reluctant partner. Kevin broke the silence first.
"So. Um. Autotuning?"
"Yup." Outwardly, Mike was the picture of slightly menacing, vaguely viridescent indifference. Or, as Bill would put it, in full serial killer mode. However inwardly, he was too put it bluntly, freaking the fuck out.
"Uh..." Kevin drew the sound out, obviously trying to think of something more to say, but all Mike could focus on was the way Kevin's lips were slightly open, and a little shiny from his infuriating habit of licking them all the time. "My younger brother actually got an internship with the Disney corporation. They um, pioneered the technique? He uh, was telling us a bit about it." For a minute, all Mike could think of was that the Disney corporation must really be evil if they went around teaching all their interns how to be effortless, but still innocent, teases, before coming back down to earth.
"Joe got an internship? Tom didn't say anything about that." Mike sort of knew Kevin's brother, mostly because he'd been one of Bill's many unwanted suitors, before he began dating Mike's brother, of course.
"Oh, uh not Joe. Nick, our second youngest brother. He's basically a genius. Haven't heard from him in a while though."
"Oh. Um, that sucks?" And god, Mike was really really bad at this.
"Kind of. Yeah." They fell silent again, neither of them actually looking at the other. Mike's foot started tapping out a rhythm on the table leg again, while Kevin seemed absolutely absorbed by the wood grain of the desk. And then suddenly, Sisky, one of Mike's friends through osmosis, strolled up to their table like an angel from the heavens and started talking to Kevin. Mike let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and reached down to pick up his back pack, only to come face to face with Bill, who's head was quite inexplicably sticking out from under one of the adjacent tables.
"Gah, what the..." no sooner had his mouth opened then Bill was lunging forward and placing his hand firmly over Mike's mouth. From above them, Sisky started coughing loudly, as Bill, once he was sure Mike was going to keep silent, using various rapid eyebrow movements and a mouth twitch to get his point across, drew back and surreptitiously slid a thick looking textbook over to Mike. Mike picked the textbook up, befuddled, just as Sisky was saying "Right. Yeah. See you later, bye!" Leaving Mike and Kevin all alone again.
"Uh." They stared at each other for a moment, Kevin's long lashes fluttering against his cheekbones once or twice before Mike remembered the book in his lap.
"Autotuning! Right. I found this book?" He hesitantly lifted it off his lap and presented it to Kevin, who relaxed imperceptibly, smiled with just a little more feeling, and gratefully opened the book.
"So. Autotuning. It says here that this relatively new technique was pioneered in..."
They spent the rest of the afternoon talking. At first, Mike was more interested in Kevin than the subject they were learning but as the day progressed he got more and more into it, his awkwardness abating as they debated and discussed the implications of this new technique and the possible ramifications for the land of Disney.
"But doesn't it cheapen the art? I mean, I understand how it could make Music casting easier, but where's the soul in it? Are they really saying that a machine should take the place of the human voice and spirit?"
"It's not meant to replace the human voice. It's a tool, to help smooth out the rough edges and streamline the process." Kevin's hands flashed through the air, illustrating his point, eyes passionate in a way Mike couldn't ever remember seeing in him before.
"But it could easily become a crutch, couldn't it? There's a reason we study and practice our Music so much. Making mistakes and not just learning from them but using them to improve, really having to focus and work and learn every bit of the music to get it perfect, that's what makes true Music. That's what makes Music more than just a tool, the work that goes into creating it. Sure, Autotuning may start as a supplement to the art. But it could very easily become a way to churn out musicians, with little to no actual talent that can nevertheless fire off basic, repetitive Songs. I'm sure it's a lot more efficient but the innovation is lost. It's all utility and no magic." There was silence from Kevin after Mike had finished his little monologue. The other boy was staring at him, mouth slightly agape, eyes sparkling. Mike didn't quite know how to react.
"Um. Say something?"
Kevin laughed and his smile was one Mike had never seen before. "You know, Prof. Saporta is bringing in a Disney Musician tomorrow, to demonstrate Autotuning. There's a new initiative the Director is planning that he's going to preview for us students. I'm not saying you're wrong about possible abuses, but we should probably wait until we see the procedure in practice before judging it too harshly."
Mike knew this was his cue to respond but Kevin was still smiling at him like that, and leaning forward and oh god. Kevin was touching his arm. Mike was a fourteen year old girl and now Kevin was tugging lightly on his wrist. Right. Mike stood up, letting Kevin pull him along out of the library, Bill's book forgotten on the table between them. It was the longest conversation they'd ever had, and Mike was sure that everything he was feeling was written on his face. Tomorrow, they'd go to the Autotuning presentation, and next week they'd present their project, and Kevin would still be Bill's boyfriend, and Mike would still be his strange green best friend, but maybe, just maybe, Mike would be Kevin's friend too.
^^^
(I stop pretty early in the first act of the musical, so if you want to know what happens next look up the plot summation for Wicked on Wikipedia, the musical or the book, depending on whether you want a happy ending (musical) or a sad one (book). Just keep in mind: Mike is Elphelba, Bill is G(a)linda, Tom's Nessarose and the Jo Bros end up as the friends of Dorothy (with Frankie being Dorothy, of course)).
Author:
For: nuclearxsquid
Beta: No beta, so if you see any obvious mistakes please feel free to tell me.
Word Count: about 2,000
Pairing(s): Mike/Kevin, Bill/Kevin (no infidelity yet), implied Tom/Joe
Rating: G (they don't even kiss)
Summary: Mike's green, Bill's a diva and Kevin just wants to make Music. Wicked AU/Fusion (book + musical)
Prompt: An AU! Of any sort, alternate universes, crossovers, anything! :D (Your journal says you like Wicked. I like Wicked too!)
Once upon a time in the land of Disney, a very curious baby was born to two perfectly ordinary parents. The mother swore she hadn't been unfaithful, but then again, the baby was green. And so little Mike Carden came into this world, shunned by his father and treated with caution by his mother. He wasn't alone for very long. The mother and father, though not on incredibly close terms at that point, decided to try again. And this time, the mother was taking no chances. Some would argue that trusting the fate of your unborn child to a sketchy man selling potions of dubious quality was taking chances, but anything was better then popping out another freak. Two years after his inauspicious birth, little Mike Carden got a bouncing baby brother. He wasn't geen, much to his mother's relief, and yes, he was paralyzed from the waist down, but what of it? After all, caring for a child who is disabled makes you a strong, brave parent. Caring for a child who's green just means you're an adulterer. This was all too much for Mike's father, and when it was determined that baby Tom would never be able to walk, he split. Mike's mother reverted to her maiden name and so little Tom Carden become little Tom Conrad.
Life was difficult in the Carden household, and not just for their mother, raising two strange children all alone. It's not easy being green, and being confined to a wheelchair while the rest of the kids (including your freak brother) run around isn't a walk in the park, either. Especially when you can't even walk in the park. But the brother's got along, as well as any siblings do. Mike would protect Tom from the bullies, Tom would yell at Mike to leave him be, and apologize later when they were all alone. The only spot of solace in their young lives was Music. When Mike was five and Tom was three, the Wandering Troubadours came into town for the first time. All the kids gathered around the makeshift stage in central square gazed raptly up at the Musicians. Mike, perched on a wall above the crowd, well out of reach of pointy elbows and pinching fingers, waited patiently, Tom squirming in his lap. But the moment the Music started Tom fell silent, and the brother's stared, awestruck as the Musicians conjured flowers and baubles from the air, with just a few chords on their guitars. The Singer made the Baker quack like a chicken, and old man Harris swear up and down that he was actually the Director of Disney. But it was when the Troubadours made a pair of wooden clogs dance across the stage all by themselves that Mike realized: if he became a Musician, a proper Musician, with a capital M, he might be able to cure his baby brother.
Many years passed, and eventually, Mike earned enough money doing jobs nobody but he would do, to afford a guitar. He had to share with his brother, of course, but for once, everything went according to plan. Mike had managed to swing a full ride scholarship to the Disney Academy, and get a work-study job to send money back home so Tom could come up the next year. Tom was good at Music, almost as good as Mike, but not quite good enough to get in early. So Tom bided his time at home, practicing on the old guitar that Mike had left to him, since the Academy provided instruments to those who needed them, and slowly distancing himself from his strange green brother, who was still, somehow, better than he was.
^^^
When Mike Carden met his roommate at Disney Academy for the first time, it was hate at first sight. William Beckett was tall, pretty, vocally gifted and decidedly not green. He was, in essence, the distilled form of all the kids that had picked on Mike in his village, with the added bonus of being comparatively rich. But what Mike hated most about William Beckett (though he wouldn't admit it if you asked), was Bill's boyfriend, Kevin. Kevin Jonas was short and curly haired, with gorgeous eyes and a delightful smile. He always had a grin for everyone, played a mean guitar and seemed to float through life on a cloud of adorableness and charm. But it wasn't actually Kevin that Mike had a problem with, not really. What Mike actually hated, though it took him at least a year to figure out, was that Kevin was Bill's boyfriend, and not Mike's.
It wasn't like Mike set out to fall in love with Bill's boyfriend, much less steal him away. Hell, Mike and Bill, through an ill advised make over, the occasional heartfelt talk and what Mike swore up and down was enforced proximity stockholm syndrome, had become friends, more or less. In fact, Mike could safely say that Bill was his best friend at Disney Academy, and Kevin - well, Bill was never quite sure why Mike didn't like Kevin that much. So Bill, at least at first, put his whole (considerable) influence towards getting Mike and Kevin together. Just as friends, of course.
This had the unfortunate side effect of forcing Mike into close proximity with the object of his affections, who was just as bewildered as Bill was (and honestly a little bit hurt) that Mike didn't like him. But the tipping point came a year and a half after Mike had arrived at Disney Academy. He had saved up enough money, combined with the partial scholarship Tom had earned, to get his brother into the Academy. Tom promptly slotted himself into Mike's group of friends, (though he could never quite shake the feeling that he was just the pity case). Bill had been on his "make Mike and Kevin get along" campaign for four torturous months and Mike was reaching the end of his rope (and his will to resist). Bill's latest plan involved using his in with Prof. Saporta to, quite coincidentally of course, get Mike and Kevin paired up for their final project in his Music crafting class, which involved a strange new Musical procedure called Autotuning.
^^^
The library was calm and almost silent as the two boys sat awkwardly across from each other, Mike tapping his foot on the wooden table leg, Kevin smiling tentatively at his reluctant partner. Kevin broke the silence first.
"So. Um. Autotuning?"
"Yup." Outwardly, Mike was the picture of slightly menacing, vaguely viridescent indifference. Or, as Bill would put it, in full serial killer mode. However inwardly, he was too put it bluntly, freaking the fuck out.
"Uh..." Kevin drew the sound out, obviously trying to think of something more to say, but all Mike could focus on was the way Kevin's lips were slightly open, and a little shiny from his infuriating habit of licking them all the time. "My younger brother actually got an internship with the Disney corporation. They um, pioneered the technique? He uh, was telling us a bit about it." For a minute, all Mike could think of was that the Disney corporation must really be evil if they went around teaching all their interns how to be effortless, but still innocent, teases, before coming back down to earth.
"Joe got an internship? Tom didn't say anything about that." Mike sort of knew Kevin's brother, mostly because he'd been one of Bill's many unwanted suitors, before he began dating Mike's brother, of course.
"Oh, uh not Joe. Nick, our second youngest brother. He's basically a genius. Haven't heard from him in a while though."
"Oh. Um, that sucks?" And god, Mike was really really bad at this.
"Kind of. Yeah." They fell silent again, neither of them actually looking at the other. Mike's foot started tapping out a rhythm on the table leg again, while Kevin seemed absolutely absorbed by the wood grain of the desk. And then suddenly, Sisky, one of Mike's friends through osmosis, strolled up to their table like an angel from the heavens and started talking to Kevin. Mike let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and reached down to pick up his back pack, only to come face to face with Bill, who's head was quite inexplicably sticking out from under one of the adjacent tables.
"Gah, what the..." no sooner had his mouth opened then Bill was lunging forward and placing his hand firmly over Mike's mouth. From above them, Sisky started coughing loudly, as Bill, once he was sure Mike was going to keep silent, using various rapid eyebrow movements and a mouth twitch to get his point across, drew back and surreptitiously slid a thick looking textbook over to Mike. Mike picked the textbook up, befuddled, just as Sisky was saying "Right. Yeah. See you later, bye!" Leaving Mike and Kevin all alone again.
"Uh." They stared at each other for a moment, Kevin's long lashes fluttering against his cheekbones once or twice before Mike remembered the book in his lap.
"Autotuning! Right. I found this book?" He hesitantly lifted it off his lap and presented it to Kevin, who relaxed imperceptibly, smiled with just a little more feeling, and gratefully opened the book.
"So. Autotuning. It says here that this relatively new technique was pioneered in..."
They spent the rest of the afternoon talking. At first, Mike was more interested in Kevin than the subject they were learning but as the day progressed he got more and more into it, his awkwardness abating as they debated and discussed the implications of this new technique and the possible ramifications for the land of Disney.
"But doesn't it cheapen the art? I mean, I understand how it could make Music casting easier, but where's the soul in it? Are they really saying that a machine should take the place of the human voice and spirit?"
"It's not meant to replace the human voice. It's a tool, to help smooth out the rough edges and streamline the process." Kevin's hands flashed through the air, illustrating his point, eyes passionate in a way Mike couldn't ever remember seeing in him before.
"But it could easily become a crutch, couldn't it? There's a reason we study and practice our Music so much. Making mistakes and not just learning from them but using them to improve, really having to focus and work and learn every bit of the music to get it perfect, that's what makes true Music. That's what makes Music more than just a tool, the work that goes into creating it. Sure, Autotuning may start as a supplement to the art. But it could very easily become a way to churn out musicians, with little to no actual talent that can nevertheless fire off basic, repetitive Songs. I'm sure it's a lot more efficient but the innovation is lost. It's all utility and no magic." There was silence from Kevin after Mike had finished his little monologue. The other boy was staring at him, mouth slightly agape, eyes sparkling. Mike didn't quite know how to react.
"Um. Say something?"
Kevin laughed and his smile was one Mike had never seen before. "You know, Prof. Saporta is bringing in a Disney Musician tomorrow, to demonstrate Autotuning. There's a new initiative the Director is planning that he's going to preview for us students. I'm not saying you're wrong about possible abuses, but we should probably wait until we see the procedure in practice before judging it too harshly."
Mike knew this was his cue to respond but Kevin was still smiling at him like that, and leaning forward and oh god. Kevin was touching his arm. Mike was a fourteen year old girl and now Kevin was tugging lightly on his wrist. Right. Mike stood up, letting Kevin pull him along out of the library, Bill's book forgotten on the table between them. It was the longest conversation they'd ever had, and Mike was sure that everything he was feeling was written on his face. Tomorrow, they'd go to the Autotuning presentation, and next week they'd present their project, and Kevin would still be Bill's boyfriend, and Mike would still be his strange green best friend, but maybe, just maybe, Mike would be Kevin's friend too.
^^^
(I stop pretty early in the first act of the musical, so if you want to know what happens next look up the plot summation for Wicked on Wikipedia, the musical or the book, depending on whether you want a happy ending (musical) or a sad one (book). Just keep in mind: Mike is Elphelba, Bill is G(a)linda, Tom's Nessarose and the Jo Bros end up as the friends of Dorothy (with Frankie being Dorothy, of course)).