Logan Hayes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dancethenightaway) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
muserevival2014-04-17 11:38 am
dancethenightaway) wrote in muserevival2014-04-17 11:38 am
Entry tags:
063.6. Misc/Random
"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."
Logan knew it wasn’t fair to be jealous of a sixteen year old kid. He wasn’t even sure if it was jealousy, and more just envious that he couldn’t join in. Justin was a pretty special kid. He was a battler, one of those kids who had to face a lot of shit in his short life, but still got back up like a fighter because he had too much inside him to let go to waste. He had fluked a Broadway audition for a reprisal of Footloose, which Logan had been going to audition for himself before he got injured and rendered himself too incapacitated to dance.
Not only did Justin nail the initial audition, he got a callback and then a meet and greet with the producers. He was a perfect match for what they were looking for in the lead role. Kevin Bacon’s shoes were far too epic to fill, and they weren’t intending on the production being a cheesy carbon copy of the movie. They wanted their own edge, their own spin. Which is how Logan came to be standing here in the dance studio he had trained at since coming to New York, watching the kid nervously run over a part of the script clutched in his hand.
Singing was Justin’s main talent. The kid a natural gift, and yes, he could dance. He knew the whole infamous Footloose routine off by heart just from watching the movie so many times. The kid was like Logan’s spirit animal, and he found himself tapping into more of his own drive helping him out. Justin was going to need formal training, of course he was, but in the interim, his dad had asked Logan if he could do some mentoring with his son, who had been through a lot in the recent months and needing someone to take him under their wing to build his confidence.
It was funny. Logan remembered when he was sixteen. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, already well on the path of his dance career. In the words of Queen, he wanted it all and he wanted it now. Of course, any career had to start at the bottom to work the way up the ladder. Justin had been thrown in the deep end, though, and before they even got down to business, Logan had sat down with Justin (well, he was already sitting in the wheelchair, technically) and asked him if he was ready to face this whole thing.
It was then that he realised how much he had been wallowing in his own self pity, getting stuck on whirlwinds of thoughts worrying he might never dance again. Since his accident, he had felt like this was it, it was all over. The doctors weren’t helpful as to his prognosis, and he had been working his butt off in physiotherapy to try to rebuild his strength and conditioning. But he had this cold ball of fear in his gut that he would never professionally dance again. He had been lamenting it, almost willing it, if he was honest with himself.
But then there was Justin. Heading on to 17 years old, a recently diagnosed mental illness, and a tortured past of falling in with the wrong crowd to try to fit in and getting mixed up with the destructive side of drugs and alcohol. Now he was on the straight and narrow, had found his biological father who had taken him in, and was settled. And despite the nerves, there was something in his face and eyes that told Logan this kid was ready to take on the world. Carpe diem, and all that.
Logan was doing some serious thinking as he sat watching Justin sit down at the nearby piano and play the music to one of the songs in the production. If a 16 year old kid could pick himself up and grab an opportunity to just take life by the horns, whatever the outcome, then Logan could too. Not knowing if he would dance again didn’t mean he wouldn’t, something he realised when Justin had confided in him that this time last year, he had brush closed to wanting to kill himself because he never thought he would be something he liked.
He wheeled himself over to where Justin was seated at the piano. “Do you want to help me with something too, dude?” he offered, determination edging his tone. “It’s time I got my ass out of this chair and remembered the spirit of dance…”
- Logan Hayes, Original Character ( Justin islikefatherlikeson )
Logan knew it wasn’t fair to be jealous of a sixteen year old kid. He wasn’t even sure if it was jealousy, and more just envious that he couldn’t join in. Justin was a pretty special kid. He was a battler, one of those kids who had to face a lot of shit in his short life, but still got back up like a fighter because he had too much inside him to let go to waste. He had fluked a Broadway audition for a reprisal of Footloose, which Logan had been going to audition for himself before he got injured and rendered himself too incapacitated to dance.
Not only did Justin nail the initial audition, he got a callback and then a meet and greet with the producers. He was a perfect match for what they were looking for in the lead role. Kevin Bacon’s shoes were far too epic to fill, and they weren’t intending on the production being a cheesy carbon copy of the movie. They wanted their own edge, their own spin. Which is how Logan came to be standing here in the dance studio he had trained at since coming to New York, watching the kid nervously run over a part of the script clutched in his hand.
Singing was Justin’s main talent. The kid a natural gift, and yes, he could dance. He knew the whole infamous Footloose routine off by heart just from watching the movie so many times. The kid was like Logan’s spirit animal, and he found himself tapping into more of his own drive helping him out. Justin was going to need formal training, of course he was, but in the interim, his dad had asked Logan if he could do some mentoring with his son, who had been through a lot in the recent months and needing someone to take him under their wing to build his confidence.
It was funny. Logan remembered when he was sixteen. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, already well on the path of his dance career. In the words of Queen, he wanted it all and he wanted it now. Of course, any career had to start at the bottom to work the way up the ladder. Justin had been thrown in the deep end, though, and before they even got down to business, Logan had sat down with Justin (well, he was already sitting in the wheelchair, technically) and asked him if he was ready to face this whole thing.
It was then that he realised how much he had been wallowing in his own self pity, getting stuck on whirlwinds of thoughts worrying he might never dance again. Since his accident, he had felt like this was it, it was all over. The doctors weren’t helpful as to his prognosis, and he had been working his butt off in physiotherapy to try to rebuild his strength and conditioning. But he had this cold ball of fear in his gut that he would never professionally dance again. He had been lamenting it, almost willing it, if he was honest with himself.
But then there was Justin. Heading on to 17 years old, a recently diagnosed mental illness, and a tortured past of falling in with the wrong crowd to try to fit in and getting mixed up with the destructive side of drugs and alcohol. Now he was on the straight and narrow, had found his biological father who had taken him in, and was settled. And despite the nerves, there was something in his face and eyes that told Logan this kid was ready to take on the world. Carpe diem, and all that.
Logan was doing some serious thinking as he sat watching Justin sit down at the nearby piano and play the music to one of the songs in the production. If a 16 year old kid could pick himself up and grab an opportunity to just take life by the horns, whatever the outcome, then Logan could too. Not knowing if he would dance again didn’t mean he wouldn’t, something he realised when Justin had confided in him that this time last year, he had brush closed to wanting to kill himself because he never thought he would be something he liked.
He wheeled himself over to where Justin was seated at the piano. “Do you want to help me with something too, dude?” he offered, determination edging his tone. “It’s time I got my ass out of this chair and remembered the spirit of dance…”
- Logan Hayes, Original Character ( Justin is
likefatherlikeson )