Jose shows the crowd what a dancer can do

Jose didn’t want to look like a fool in front of a sold out stadium, even if he was in an anonymous shark costume. He would not go out without a fight. At least then, if he ended up looking foolish, it would be on him.

“Hey, show me a routine,” he asked Right Shark.

“Wha? Don’t worry about it dude, the audience eats it up!” the other dancer replied.

“Yeah, but what if we gave them something to talk about?” Jose asked. “Don’t worry, I can handle it!”

Right Shark stared at him for a moment, contemplating if he should give him what he asked. It must have been a silly sight. Finally, he decided, “Shit, alright, let’s show them something!”

Jose only had twenty minutes to prepare a routine with his partner. They got their moves down working off of memory of the song that would be playing. There was no telling if this would be fully in sync, but it was something. Mid practice, they were ushered onto the elevators hidden beneath the stage. Jose could hear their song start up and the elevator started to rumble to life. Throughout the practice, Jose could hear the rumbling of the crowd and Katy leading them on, warming them up and the ovation they gave her when she went into her first song. That noise was muzzled by the ceiling. Now, as they were exposed to the mainstage, Jose could see and hear everything!

Jose was blown away by the response. The audience's cheer was deafening! Screaming, adoring fans, blinding spotlights, the giant expanse of the stadium itself; it was all senses shattering for the young escort. He lost his place and nearly stumbled off the platform they were standing on.

Fortunately, that was part of the act as well. Jose was going to waffle like he was expected to for the first bit of the number, doing his simple flipper waving, but as the song went on, he regained his bearings and was able to jump into the choreographed sequence he and Right Shark had put together.

When the shark duo expertly did their dance, hopping, spinning and sliding in unison, the crowd went into another uproar!

Katy was singing in front of the pair and didn’t witness their routine, but she quickly realized that the cheers were not for her. She turned around, but kept singing like a professional. Jose saw her give him the brightest grin as he continued his sequence with Right Shark, dancing up a storm while the audience went wild!

Not missing a beat, the pop star jumped right in, matching the choreography. The crowd cheered even louder! Jose figured this was the proper routine, since Katy seemed to know it by heart. There were a few flourishes that Right Shark had added to spice things up which deviated from Katy’s movements, but those only helped make the routine even better!

By the end, as the song closed, Jose could finally slow down and take a breath. He and Right Shark held mirroring freeze poses and Katy finished up the song. After the music died, the crowd were cheering for both sharks. Katy turned to them and gave the two a big smile, nodding her head and holding her arms out as if to hug them. She murmured to them out of mic range, “You blew them away! I loved it!”

Suddenly, the stage elevators started to lower. Jose hopped off in surprise, circling around like a dog chasing its tail, unable to see his footing clearing through the mesh of the shark mouth. The audience laughed it up, thinking it was part of the show. Right Shark called out for him to get on the lift to get off the stage, so Jose stumbled back onto, falling on his face. Fortunately the costume was well padded. He slipped out of sight like a shark swimming out to sea.

“Left and Right Shark everybody!” Katy announced on the mic.

The crowd gave one more loud cheer for the two dancers.

Backstage, the handlers helped Jose out of the mascot head and he could finally breathe open air again.

“Left Shark!” called out a familiar voice.

Jose turned to see a black man in short cropped hair and a goatee approaching him wearing the lower half of the shark costume.

“Right Shark?” Jose asked.

“Yeah, buddy! Call me Trey!” he told him, as he walked in for an embrace. They slapped fins like they were old buddies, having bonded from the experience.

“I’m Jose, good to meet you!” Jose replied, all grins.

“You got moves, Jose!” Trey praised. “Usually we get people off the streets with two left feet, but you picked up the set just like that! You dance?”

“Thanks! I do… sort of,” Jose answered. “Not professionally like you, but I like to think I have some skills.”

“Well, you definitely showed it, bro,” Trey replied. “Did you hear the audience? They loved it!”

“I know, right?!” Jose said, excitedly. He was still riding a high from the ovation they received. “I’ve never experienced anything like it!”

“Yeah, nothing better than a full stadium cheering you on!” Trey agreed.

“Jose?” asked a stage hand, interrupting their rapport.

Jose turned to see the woman who had led her inside earlier.

“Hey,” he said to her. She didn’t appear impressed. “We met earlier, before the concert?”

“Katy wants you in her dressing room in 30 minutes,” she replied, ignoring his small talk.

Trey gave Jose a parting fin slap and said, “I’ll see you around.”

“Thanks for everything!” Jose replied as the other shark departed.

When they got Jose out of the costume, he realized just how much he had been sweating under the thing. His clothes were matted to his skin. He was amazed that Katy could do an entire concert out there when he was a wreck after just one song!

Thankfully there were showers and clean clothes waiting for him. The stage crew took care of everything. After he was clean and dressed in Katy Perry merch, the escort was escorted to Katy Perry’s dressing room to wait. The concert was still going on strong and Jose wasn’t sure if he would have to wait for the whole thing to finish before he could see Katy, so he sat back on the couch and turned on the television to see what was playing.

The screen showed a feed of the live concert. Katy was on stage, finishing up her latest song. Then, she announced that she had a special guest singer for the audience. To Jose’s surprise, she brought out Rihanna! The crowd were all into it and Katy let her friend take the stage. Jose was curious if this was a normal thing for her concert. He was also a little inflated by the knowledge that he had been with both of these women.

Jose sat back and enjoyed the concert, snacking on the food tray. He felt pretty good.

That was when the door opened.