Folie à deux

Chapter 4: Son of a Gun (November 1998)

"Goddamn it, Hudson, don't you die on me!" Syd wails, equally cliched. He looks at the camera, solemn, and says, "War... is hell."

Suddenly, an enemy figure appears behind him (it's Reb, his face just out of frame) and fires a close-range shot into the back of Syd's head, then a shot at the cameraman. The camera falls, skewed on its side, still filming as Reb's boots walk past. It's technically friendly fire, but Reb was the only one tall and intimidating enough to play the surprise assailant. Syd figures once the film is cut together, turned black and white in an editing program, and given the slow-motion and voiceover treatment, Derek should have a decent project for the grading period.

When the filming has wrapped, everyone takes a break at the snack bar. Syd and Taehyun sit together, sipping Cokes. "I hope you don't mind losing a day," Syd says. Weekends are strictly their time together, unimpeded by the presence of the Rebels, and now that the two of them are a couple, alone time is more important than ever.

"This is fun," Taehyun says, grinning. "I wouldn't mind doing things like this more often."

"With them? Or just me?"

"It doesn't matter what we do," Taehyun says, and Syd feels his heart melt. "But with them... I would prefer this to those awful movies."

"I think we just made a pretty awful movie," Syd says. He wanted to make the film a period piece, playing the role of a German soldier (putting his German 101 language class to good use), but Derek overruled him, claiming Taehyun's presence on either side would make the film "historically inaccurate."

"Sure," Taehyun agrees, "but it was fun."

Syd is seized by the urge to kiss him. It's something he can barely control now that he knows Taehyun is cool with it, but he hates that it's something they have to hide. Even Syd's mother doesn't know about them yet; at least, Syd hasn't told her. He doesn't put it past her to know using some parental witchcraft, especially since she was perceptive enough to pick up on his crush in the first place.

"You have a holiday coming up, right?" Taehyun asks.

"Yeah, my dad's coming for Thanksgiving," Syd says with a sigh. "That's going to be a disaster. He's bringing his trophy wife and his shit-head trophy son."

Every other year, Syd's father makes the pilgrimage to Denver for a sit-down Thanksgiving with the family. Last year, Syd and Misty road-tripped to Salt Lake City to spend the holiday with his grandparents. This year, he will be subjected to the presence of Brooks, his stepbrother and replacement in his father's eyes. Of course his dad would trade in the weird loner teen for an upgraded model: the Jock-O-Tron 5000, complete with steroids and a smug sense of superiority. Brains not included.

"You're kind of lucky, if you think about it," Taehyun says. "Your family comes to visit you for the holidays."

"I know what you're getting at, and in any other situation you'd be right. But my dad's new family is terrible. My 'stepmom'"—he nearly gags on the word—"is a gold-digging slut who stole my dad away from my mom. And my 'stepbrother' is a douchebag jock who thinks everything I like is 'retarded' and 'gay.'"

"All families are unhappy in their own way," Taehyun says, paraphrasing the famous Tolstoy line.

"No offense, but I think you're biased because you miss your family. I'd rather spend Thanksgiving with you and my mom, without my stupid dad bringing his fake new family to rub in our faces."

"On the bright side, your Chuseok lasts only one day."

Syd supposes that could be considered a bright side, that he'll only have to deal with his stepfamily for twenty-four hours (probably less, depending on how quickly things get heated). "And you'll have an amusing story to tell your folks back home."