Meet Us at the Barre: A Series of SAB Oneshots

that's up to you // sab x creature

SAB x Creature (coffeesandcacti) Oneshot

TW: eating disorder, swearing, general anxiety, vomiting

Based on real events, though they have been dramatized.

"I gotta go get into costume." Katherine smiled softly, kissing James' forehead as she left. She had finally gotten him to eat a salad, after he kept fighting her. James was obviously very upset about having to eat. His nerves were getting the best of him.

James made sure that his door was completely closed before throwing the rest of his salad into the trashcan.

James tiptoed his way into the dressing room's bathroom. He shut that door and turned the lock. He pressed his back against the wooden door and worked hard to steady his breaths. James pressed his ear against the door solidifying his notion that nobody else was in the dressing room.

He threw himself onto his knees, taking one more deep breath. James raised his right hand and slowly moved his fingers towards his tongue.

~~~~~

"Height order, please! Thank you!" Peter shouted, waving his pen in the air as he looked down at what was written on his clipboard.

Peter and Bastian looked up as the dancers rounded themselves into the line that they had memorized how to get into by now. They mumbled off some names, checking their names off of their list.

"Emmie, Kate, Mark, Julian...James. Wait, where is James?" Peter froze, asking with a snap. Nobody knew. "Who is James' partner in the Peasant Pas scene?"

Katherine gently raised her hand.

"Katherine? Go find your partner." Bastian yipped at the young girl.

"Yes, Sir." Katherine nodded before scattering backstage. Her pointe shoes gently click, click, clicked against the stage.

Katherine wandered around the dressing rooms, peeking into ones with the doors open. She came across one of the boy's dressing rooms.

"Is everyone in here decent?" She asked, making sure she wouldn't walk in on anyone that wasn't dressed. When Katherine knocked on the door, this time with more force, the door simply swung open. "James? Are you in here?"

Katherine stepped slowly into the dressing room, halting in her place when she heard retching from the opposite side of the door.

"James?" Katherine whispered, pushing the bathroom door open. She gasped delicately at the sight of James, who was still kneeling on the bathroom tile. "James, holy shit!"

"Katherine!" James exclaimed as tears welled in his eyes. His voice scratched. "It isn't what it looks like!"

"James, are you making yourself--"

"Katherine, listen--!" James tried to explain himself.

"You are!" Katherine bellowed.

James parted his lips to fight back, but Katherine stopped him.

Her face softened. "Shh...shh..." Katherine hushed him, pulling him up out of his puddle of sadness and onto his weak and shaky legs. She helped him over to the sink, locking eyes with his glassy ones through the mirror.

In silence, Katherine pumped soap onto James' palms and helped him in the act of washing his own hands. Once his hands were dried, James gave a few gentle sniffles, and Katherine instructed him to sit down on the now shut toilet seat.