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thedailyshow_rpsTitle: Kinsey
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
linaerys
Pairing: Jon/Stephen
Rating: PG
Notes: This was inspired after I saw Kinsey this weekend. There are references to the movie, but no spoilers, and if you didn't see it, all you really have to know is that Kinsey was a sex researcher.
Summary: Jon interviews Liam Neeson, and there is some offscreen tension with Stephen.
"No, we are not having Liam Neeson on the show, I don't care how good the movie was. Let's get Laura Linney instead, she's got this vulnerable MILF thing going on," said Jon. He put a fake whiney note into his voice, but Stephen could tell that there was some real objection there.
"Is it because he's too tall?" asked Stephen. He stood six feet to Jon's five seven, but Jon could still make him feel like the smaller man sometimes.
"Well, he is, like, seven feet tall. You don't say no to Kerry, but we can say no to Liam Neeson's publicist, can't we? Who else do we have?"
"I think Paul Krugman wanted to come on and promote the paperback version of his book," said Stephen with a sigh. "But we could try for Laura Linney, or maybe Peter Sarsgaard. He's only five-nine." Jon glared at him for a moment.
"I saw it, Stephen," he said. "Things haven't changed as much as we'd like to think from the fifties." He stretched his hands out on the conference room table, as if trying to draw strength from the wood veneer. "How long, do you think, before they're putting gays back in jail. Before they're branded and beaten again." He looked up with a mournful expression creasing his brow and pulling down the corners of his mouth.
"So you did see it. So you know why we should promote it. Come on, you can be political and Hollywood all in one day. You love that."
Jon threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. As long as if he bails you come out and pretend to be him. Can you do that Scottish accent?"
"I think sscho," said Stephen.
"Yeah, uh, that's Sean Connery, genius. Come on, rehearsal."
The next week, the day Liam Neeson was set to appear, Jon found a basket just inside the door to his dressing room. In it were a pair of high-heeled shoes, a bouffant wig sprayed like his own, dark, with gray at the temples, and a bottle of miracle-gro. As soon as he went in he heard muffled movement and snickering outside the door. He opened it quickly to see Rob and Stephen looking carefully nonchalant.
"You guys don't know how this got here, do you?" he asked, holding up the red pumps.
"It wasn't me," said Rob, "but Stephen thought you might be a three on the Kinsey scale, so maybe you'd like them." Rob grinned for a moment, then took off running down the hall. Jon threw one of the shoes and hit Rob in the upper back. Rob clutched his chest and fell dramatically to the ground. Jon tapped Stephen's chest with the heel of the other shoe.
"High heels?" Jon said quietly. "That's a little . . . easy, don't you think." Jon raised an eyebrow and went back into his dressing room, leaving Stephen feeling a little deflated.
Jon put on his suit and a blue tie--he chose blue as often as possible these days--and pressed the intercom for make up. Nancy did her work fast and effortlessly; she said Jon was more flushed than usual today so she needed to use less blusher to bring the pancake base back to a human tone. He still had a few minute before it was time to go on, just enough time to work some mischief.
He walked through the halls to Stephen's dressing room. Stephen had shared it with Steve Carrell, but now Steve had moved on to bigger and better things, so it was Stephen's alone. Jon had stolen--borrowed--one of Nancy's redder lipsticks and he made ready to do something unforunate to Stephen with it as he walked into his dressing room.
Stephen didn't turn as Jon came in, so intent was he on . . . putting makeup on himself? "I never knew you had such talents," said Jon with his voice full of mirth.
"I do a better job," said Stephen seriously, as he rubbed some concealer under his eyes. "Nancy makes me look pale."
"Well, here, let me help," said Jon, advancing on him with the red lipstick. "Pucker up." Stephen smiled disbelievingly, and sprang up from his chair. He backed away a little.
"There's only one way I'm letting you put lipstick on me," said Stephen. His eyes were wide, and he smiled a little, but something in his voice sounded perfectly serious. Jon flushed in spite of himself at the memory. Lipstick on the collar wasn't supposed to come from his co-worker. Stephen's posture was a challenge.
"Put it on me yourself then," said Jon, raising the stakes.
"Fine," said Stephen, but Jon suddenly didn't feel like he'd won. "Sit." Jon took a seat in Stephen's chair. It was a little too high. Stephen knelt in front of him, his face inches from Jon's. "Nancy uses the wrong color on you," he said quietly. He studied Jon's face intently, and Jon tried to keep from smiling nervously under the scrutiny. "I've got a good one. Let your mouth hang open a little."
Jon did as he was told. Stephen's face was so close to his he could feel the warmth from his skin, and the air of his breath. Stephen put the lipstick on him slowly and carefully, and Jon barely breathed. When Stephen was done he stayed in close for a moment, and the air grew thick with tension, but then the one-minute bell rang, and Stephen jumped back. Jon tried to steady his heart rate and looked at himself in the mirror. The color really was better; it made him look much less sallow. He took a few deep breaths and went out to the sound stage.
Liam Neeson was frighteningly tall. Maybe not seven feet, but over 6' 2" or so, Jon had trouble telling the difference. Jon sat down again as soon as possible. The chair was nice and high, and the couch low to keep them at the same level.
"So I saw your movie," said Jon. "It was either the most scientific movie I've ever seen about sex, or the sexiest movie I've ever seen about science."
"Well, I hope it's both," said Liam Neeson. No, that probably wasn't Scottish. Damn it, Jon had really meant to read the research this time, but instead he'd gone and flirted with Stephen. He smiled a personal smile that the audience would probably misinterpret as an attempt to charm his guest.
"So was that your first, uh, on screen kiss with a man?" he asked, inwardly berating himself for cutting right to that subject.
"Well, the first one that made it to the final product," said the actor.
"Oh?" Liam Neeson smiled coyly.
"Well there was the deleted love scene between Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace," he said with a grin that he tried to hide behind his hand.
Jon smiled broadly. "Don't give them any ideas!" he said gesturing out at the audience. "They're crazy! Next thing you know the video will surface on the internet. 'The Phantom . . . ahem'. Actually I think someone already made that one. So, anyway, your character asks a lot of personal questions in the movie. Was that kind of freeing for you, as an actor, to be the interviewer this time?"
"I suppose so. It amazes me that even in the fifties people were so candid. I don't know if they would be now."
"Are you kidding? Now they'd only do it if they got to be on a reality show and the cover of People magazine. So do you think this movie has anything to say about current . . . ?"
"Oh yes, definitely. I think there's a choice to either go forward and be more accepting or go even further backward than the fifties. I think Kinsey was not just a man too advanced for his time, but maybe even too advanced for this time. There is still so much homophobia. Oral sex is still illegal even between husband and wife in nine states. That doesn't mean people aren't doing it, but probably every adult in Oklahoma has now been made into a criminal. I . . ." Jon glanced up at the studio clock, and Neeson seemed to catch the gesture.
"Well, remind me not to move there," said Jon, going for the cheap joke to end the interview. "It was a pleasure having you on. Kinsey playing in . . . select? right, select theaters all over the country. Go see it."
After the post-taping meeting Jon found Stephen waiting outside his dressing room door. Jon invited him in, and started taking off his suit. Stephen leaned up against Jon's dressing table and looked at the floor, his brow furrowed.
"Do you think that's true? We're still not there?" he asked.
"We?" asked Jon. "You mean . . ."
"People in general," said Stephen quickly.
"You saw the election, Stephen. What do you think?"
"No," said Stephen glumly. "Kinsey thought feelings were the problem, the insoluble problem, but I think they're the only way it will ever be solved."
"Mmmm?" said Jon as he hung up his coat jacket. He looked deeply into his closet, as if the answer might be found there. "I think Kinsey knew that honest communication was the answer, don’t you? If he knew anything at all."
"Maybe so. Anyway, you left this. Before." He had Nancy’s red lipstick in his hand. Jon took it from him, and their fingers touched briefly. He leaned down and brushed Jon’s lips lightly with his own then left without a word. Jon turned the small tube over in his hand for a moment, then stood it up in front of his mirror, turned out the lights, and closed the closet door.
Author:
linaerysPairing: Jon/Stephen
Rating: PG
Notes: This was inspired after I saw Kinsey this weekend. There are references to the movie, but no spoilers, and if you didn't see it, all you really have to know is that Kinsey was a sex researcher.
Summary: Jon interviews Liam Neeson, and there is some offscreen tension with Stephen.
"No, we are not having Liam Neeson on the show, I don't care how good the movie was. Let's get Laura Linney instead, she's got this vulnerable MILF thing going on," said Jon. He put a fake whiney note into his voice, but Stephen could tell that there was some real objection there.
"Is it because he's too tall?" asked Stephen. He stood six feet to Jon's five seven, but Jon could still make him feel like the smaller man sometimes.
"Well, he is, like, seven feet tall. You don't say no to Kerry, but we can say no to Liam Neeson's publicist, can't we? Who else do we have?"
"I think Paul Krugman wanted to come on and promote the paperback version of his book," said Stephen with a sigh. "But we could try for Laura Linney, or maybe Peter Sarsgaard. He's only five-nine." Jon glared at him for a moment.
"I saw it, Stephen," he said. "Things haven't changed as much as we'd like to think from the fifties." He stretched his hands out on the conference room table, as if trying to draw strength from the wood veneer. "How long, do you think, before they're putting gays back in jail. Before they're branded and beaten again." He looked up with a mournful expression creasing his brow and pulling down the corners of his mouth.
"So you did see it. So you know why we should promote it. Come on, you can be political and Hollywood all in one day. You love that."
Jon threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. As long as if he bails you come out and pretend to be him. Can you do that Scottish accent?"
"I think sscho," said Stephen.
"Yeah, uh, that's Sean Connery, genius. Come on, rehearsal."
The next week, the day Liam Neeson was set to appear, Jon found a basket just inside the door to his dressing room. In it were a pair of high-heeled shoes, a bouffant wig sprayed like his own, dark, with gray at the temples, and a bottle of miracle-gro. As soon as he went in he heard muffled movement and snickering outside the door. He opened it quickly to see Rob and Stephen looking carefully nonchalant.
"You guys don't know how this got here, do you?" he asked, holding up the red pumps.
"It wasn't me," said Rob, "but Stephen thought you might be a three on the Kinsey scale, so maybe you'd like them." Rob grinned for a moment, then took off running down the hall. Jon threw one of the shoes and hit Rob in the upper back. Rob clutched his chest and fell dramatically to the ground. Jon tapped Stephen's chest with the heel of the other shoe.
"High heels?" Jon said quietly. "That's a little . . . easy, don't you think." Jon raised an eyebrow and went back into his dressing room, leaving Stephen feeling a little deflated.
Jon put on his suit and a blue tie--he chose blue as often as possible these days--and pressed the intercom for make up. Nancy did her work fast and effortlessly; she said Jon was more flushed than usual today so she needed to use less blusher to bring the pancake base back to a human tone. He still had a few minute before it was time to go on, just enough time to work some mischief.
He walked through the halls to Stephen's dressing room. Stephen had shared it with Steve Carrell, but now Steve had moved on to bigger and better things, so it was Stephen's alone. Jon had stolen--borrowed--one of Nancy's redder lipsticks and he made ready to do something unforunate to Stephen with it as he walked into his dressing room.
Stephen didn't turn as Jon came in, so intent was he on . . . putting makeup on himself? "I never knew you had such talents," said Jon with his voice full of mirth.
"I do a better job," said Stephen seriously, as he rubbed some concealer under his eyes. "Nancy makes me look pale."
"Well, here, let me help," said Jon, advancing on him with the red lipstick. "Pucker up." Stephen smiled disbelievingly, and sprang up from his chair. He backed away a little.
"There's only one way I'm letting you put lipstick on me," said Stephen. His eyes were wide, and he smiled a little, but something in his voice sounded perfectly serious. Jon flushed in spite of himself at the memory. Lipstick on the collar wasn't supposed to come from his co-worker. Stephen's posture was a challenge.
"Put it on me yourself then," said Jon, raising the stakes.
"Fine," said Stephen, but Jon suddenly didn't feel like he'd won. "Sit." Jon took a seat in Stephen's chair. It was a little too high. Stephen knelt in front of him, his face inches from Jon's. "Nancy uses the wrong color on you," he said quietly. He studied Jon's face intently, and Jon tried to keep from smiling nervously under the scrutiny. "I've got a good one. Let your mouth hang open a little."
Jon did as he was told. Stephen's face was so close to his he could feel the warmth from his skin, and the air of his breath. Stephen put the lipstick on him slowly and carefully, and Jon barely breathed. When Stephen was done he stayed in close for a moment, and the air grew thick with tension, but then the one-minute bell rang, and Stephen jumped back. Jon tried to steady his heart rate and looked at himself in the mirror. The color really was better; it made him look much less sallow. He took a few deep breaths and went out to the sound stage.
Liam Neeson was frighteningly tall. Maybe not seven feet, but over 6' 2" or so, Jon had trouble telling the difference. Jon sat down again as soon as possible. The chair was nice and high, and the couch low to keep them at the same level.
"So I saw your movie," said Jon. "It was either the most scientific movie I've ever seen about sex, or the sexiest movie I've ever seen about science."
"Well, I hope it's both," said Liam Neeson. No, that probably wasn't Scottish. Damn it, Jon had really meant to read the research this time, but instead he'd gone and flirted with Stephen. He smiled a personal smile that the audience would probably misinterpret as an attempt to charm his guest.
"So was that your first, uh, on screen kiss with a man?" he asked, inwardly berating himself for cutting right to that subject.
"Well, the first one that made it to the final product," said the actor.
"Oh?" Liam Neeson smiled coyly.
"Well there was the deleted love scene between Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace," he said with a grin that he tried to hide behind his hand.
Jon smiled broadly. "Don't give them any ideas!" he said gesturing out at the audience. "They're crazy! Next thing you know the video will surface on the internet. 'The Phantom . . . ahem'. Actually I think someone already made that one. So, anyway, your character asks a lot of personal questions in the movie. Was that kind of freeing for you, as an actor, to be the interviewer this time?"
"I suppose so. It amazes me that even in the fifties people were so candid. I don't know if they would be now."
"Are you kidding? Now they'd only do it if they got to be on a reality show and the cover of People magazine. So do you think this movie has anything to say about current . . . ?"
"Oh yes, definitely. I think there's a choice to either go forward and be more accepting or go even further backward than the fifties. I think Kinsey was not just a man too advanced for his time, but maybe even too advanced for this time. There is still so much homophobia. Oral sex is still illegal even between husband and wife in nine states. That doesn't mean people aren't doing it, but probably every adult in Oklahoma has now been made into a criminal. I . . ." Jon glanced up at the studio clock, and Neeson seemed to catch the gesture.
"Well, remind me not to move there," said Jon, going for the cheap joke to end the interview. "It was a pleasure having you on. Kinsey playing in . . . select? right, select theaters all over the country. Go see it."
After the post-taping meeting Jon found Stephen waiting outside his dressing room door. Jon invited him in, and started taking off his suit. Stephen leaned up against Jon's dressing table and looked at the floor, his brow furrowed.
"Do you think that's true? We're still not there?" he asked.
"We?" asked Jon. "You mean . . ."
"People in general," said Stephen quickly.
"You saw the election, Stephen. What do you think?"
"No," said Stephen glumly. "Kinsey thought feelings were the problem, the insoluble problem, but I think they're the only way it will ever be solved."
"Mmmm?" said Jon as he hung up his coat jacket. He looked deeply into his closet, as if the answer might be found there. "I think Kinsey knew that honest communication was the answer, don’t you? If he knew anything at all."
"Maybe so. Anyway, you left this. Before." He had Nancy’s red lipstick in his hand. Jon took it from him, and their fingers touched briefly. He leaned down and brushed Jon’s lips lightly with his own then left without a word. Jon turned the small tube over in his hand for a moment, then stood it up in front of his mirror, turned out the lights, and closed the closet door.
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 11:49 am (UTC)Thanks for reading!
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 11:57 am (UTC)But, hey, at least you'll get to see him on Thanksgiving.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 12:42 pm (UTC)I have Strangers with Candy on order from Netflix, so at least I'll be able to see him on a small screen.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:09 am (UTC)lol, good one Steph... er
As long as if he bails you come out and pretend to be him
If only that happened again... I could die happy. :D
he had really meant to read the research this time, but instead he'd gone and flirted with Stephen
Hee! So *that's* why he was so unprepared for Woody Harrelson!
and their fingers touched briefly
I love the unintentional light touches between Jon and Stephen.
Awesome fic! And I want to see that movie now. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 01:20 pm (UTC)Yeah, the Woody Harrelson interview was so cute, second only to the "Al Sharpton" interview for cracking Jon up.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:14 am (UTC)You should really write more often, you know, mainly to keep us entertained. ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:28 am (UTC)Awesome like whoa.
<3
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Date: 2004-11-23 10:46 am (UTC)I adore make-up geek!Stephen, partly because I'm the same way. Once I learned how to do my own stage make-up, I started hating having anyone else do it.
Yay for Stephen. <3
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 01:30 pm (UTC)I <3 my sublimated Stephen/Jon.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 02:10 pm (UTC)Also, it killed me with laughter.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 02:12 pm (UTC)mind . . . rebelling . . . yet, the hotness . . . compelling
no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 04:45 pm (UTC)Ohmylordyes.
*squee!*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 08:59 pm (UTC)