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Chapter 71 - A Hard Day Focusing

- Chapter 71 - Be Careful When Reading this Chapter as it is Sad -
Warnings: getting overwhelmed and overstimulated, frustration, crying, bad voices
A/N, thank you, as per usual, to VaquitaLibra for helping me make sure this chapter was as accurate as possible
Third Person POV

Emilio took a breath and started the trick again.

It was the third time he had attempted it.

He kept falling out of it and was getting more and more frustrated with himself. He was having a hard time focusing.

Emilio landed the trick, but barely. He gritted his teeth, growing even more frustrated.

All of the cast members on stage were tired and sweaty.

They had run "Seize the Day" multiple times in a row now.

Mr. Johnson watched Emilio. "Emilio," he started, "if you're getting tired and you feel like you won't make it or you didn't push off hard enough, you can always pause for a moment in between one of the tricks and push off harder," he reminded him.

Emilio nodded, still seeming a bit annoyed with himself.

"Do you want to try it again, or should we run "Seize the Day" again to give you a bit of a break before you have to try again?" Mr. Johnson asked, his voice clearly light to not stress the boy.

Emilio looked over at his foster father. He met his eyes and swallowed hard.

Mr. Miller watched him, seeming a bit concerned. He was trying to figure out if Emilio was in the right mindset to try again or if they should have a break.

There were times when Emilio got like this that he could do it and just needed another attempt. However, there were also times where he pushed himself too far, and as much as Quentin hated to admit it, he had yet to learn the difference between those two. It was hard to figure out, but he was trying and he had made a lot of progress with reading Emilio over the past few years.

Emilio looked back at himself. "I can do it again," he mumbled.

Mr. Johnson was silent for a moment, before he nodded.

The cast got back into their places.

Emilio took a deep breath when he heard his cue. He opened his eyes and ran forward, pushing off.

Everything went well for the majority of the trick, before Emilio felt his foot slip a bit after the second back handspring.

Panic flooded him as time slowed for a moment when his foot slipped, before time sped back up again.

Emilio didn't have time to react when he landed on his butt on the floor. He yelp escaped his lips, him biting down hard so that nothing else came out.

Emilio didn't look up at the cast as he winced in pain. He felt concerned eyes on him.

Emilio felt tears sting his eyes and behind his nose. He heard talking, but his mind wasn't focused on them.

He knew he could do this trick. He had done it many times before.

Emilio didn't understand why he was having so much trouble focusing. He didn't understand why he couldn't land it today.

Emilio flinched when he felt a hand on his arm.

"Hey, hey, are you okay?" Jesse's warm and soft voice suddenly graced his ears. "That was a pretty rough fall. Are you hurt, Lio?" he asked, sounding concerned.

Emilio bit his lip as he tried not to start crying.

He didn't want to cry. He didn't want to be seen as a baby. He knew he could hit the trick, so he didn't understand why he was having such a hard time focusing.