The Fire's Secret (Cinder and Grapedrank)

[The Almighty Cutie]

@grapedrank


'The only thing worse than being hated by others, is hating those who have done you no wrong.'





Oliver sat in his empty New York condo, script in his left hand and a glass of Bourbon whiskey in his right, studying his character lines for the next day's shoot. It was nearing three in the morning and he had yet to memorize his lines. "The only thing worse than being hated..." he rehearsed, standing from his seat at the edge of his unmade bed and pacing across the room. Turning the script away from himself, he repeated the first portion of the sentence. "The only thing worse than being... Than... Damn it." The Bourbon was getting to him and he knew it. He had been working on the same line for five minutes before he finally got the first half down, saying each word perfectly and in the right order. He wasn't working on characterization at the moment, so the words simply came out as he would normally speak to a person. No- They came out as he would normally speak to himself. His green eyes grazing over the second half of the line, he sighed and downed the remained of the alcohol in his glass before setting it down on the small wood-framed glass coffee table that stood in front of the black reclining chair that overlooked the city from his apartment. "Hating those who have done you no wrong," he muttered under his breath, dropping into the recliner and setting the script over his face, his eyes closing. He was soon softly snoring, hands on his stomach and face covered by the booklet of papers. On the face of the cover was "The Fire's Secret. Written By Ethan Hawthorne"


~~





"You know what's wrong with you? Nothing," Oliver snapped, slamming his messenger bag down on his onset makeup table the next day. Having gotten only two hours of sleep, he was in a worse mood than usual. The watch on his wrist read seven-thirty am as he turned his cold stare to the woman who was fixing up his appearance, Leila Hoberman. She had been complaining about her head hurting and her throat scratching, and Oliver couldn't help but point out that she was perfectly fine, otherwise she'd be laying in a hospital bed or otherwise dead already. "If you want a day off so badly, why don't you just sleep with your boss like I heard you did with the director?" he added, sneering at the sniveling woman. "Oh wait, no don't do that. You'll probably give him your non-existent illness."


He watched as Leila, offended and looking slightly pale, hastily packed up what little she had managed to take out from her kit and stormed off, pausing in front of the director to probably say something along the lines of: I'm sick of that bastard and his bullsh*t. I don't care if you've already lost a hair stylist and another makeup artist this week, I am done. Goodbye. After she was done with her small outburst, she sneezed and turned away from the director, stomping away and opening the door with a loud thud. Over everything, Oliver felt terrible that he had just done that, but he had to. It had been necessary. As he turned back to his makeup table, he saw in the mirror that the director was walking up behind him, looking more exasperated than anything else.


"Oliver," Augustus sighed, his tone slow and warning. "That is the third employee you have lost us, just this week. If your character weren't such a big part to this story, I would fire you and make sure you don't ever get a job in this industry again." The words struck fear into Oliver's heart. He did not want to stop acting. Not ever. He nearly voiced this before he became aware of to whom he was speaking to. His face void of all emotion, voice monotonous as he spoke, he replied with:


"Right, Gus. I'll try not to do it again."


His watch read seven-thirty two.

 

[grapedrank]

Ethan was woken up from his sleep by the sound of commotion down the hall. He had stayed at his small office overnight to work on a scene for episode 6 of "The Fire's Secret". They were still filming for The Pilot but they needed to be ahead of the game in case the airing gets good ratings. And besides, there were a lot of fight scenes to come up and Ethan and the director had to go over those shots and how the stunt doubles would work.


Ethan hadn't meant to stay here over night, but he had gotten caught up working and by the time he looked at the clock he realized that he had missed the last train to Queens over an hour ago so he decided to keep working. There was a small couch in one of the lounges where he could doze off on and that was exactly what he did. Ethan had only planned to doze for an hour or so but it seemed he had slept until the morning.


He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of more commotion and what looked like their new stylist storming down the hall. "Ethan," he heard, and Ethan turned to the sound of his name being called. Augustus, the director, approached him. Ethan raised a brow. "Something wrong?"


Augustus huffed. "It's Oliver," he said simply and Ethan hummed an "Ah" of understanding. He had never personally met the guy, but had heard more than enough from others to know what the problem was. "Leila quit," Augustus said after, causing Ethan to frown.


"This Oliver seems like more trouble than he's worth," Ethan commented. The man was singlehandedly being the biggest pain in the ass and a thorn in Ethan's side and Ethan hadn't even met the guy. "Is he really worth all the trouble."


Augustus sighed, "Unfortunately, yes. He's good at what he does despite how much grief he gives us." To which Ethan's brows furrowed. In his mind, anyone who stood in the way of production was not worth the trouble. They needed to get work done, and Ethan didn't care if this guy was some super talented actor or whatever, he would not hold back filming because he felt like being a diva.


"Let me talk to him," Ethan said simply before heading towards the dressing room, Augustus simply watched after him, a part of him both dreading and wanting to see what would unfold when both of these stubborn individuals talked.


--


Ethan arrived at the dressing room and saw Oliver. The man definitely looked like the part of Cecil, the main character of The Fire's Secret, even in his half made up state. Augustus was right that this man was the only one for the part, but Ethan still couldn't determine if it was worth it. So he cleared his throat in an attempt to get the man's attention. "Are you singlehandedly trying to prevent this show from happening?" he said in his dry voice and expression giving away nothing but a raise of his brow. "Because that's what it sounds like to me."

 

[The Almighty Cutie]

Oliver was sitting in front of the mirror in his dressing room, head in his hands and eyes closed, when he heard someone clear their throat at the doorway. Thinking it was Augustus again, he didn't bother lifting his head. However, when he heard the person's voice, which was new and unknown to him, he looked up and glanced at the stranger through the mirror. The words registering in Oliver's mind, he sat up, his eyes drifting back down to the surface of his makeup table. He didn't know exactly who the person was, but he had a slight idea. Sighing softly to himself, he turned to look back at the man and crossed his arms over his chest, chin jutted out confidently.


"And who are you?" Oliver demanded, leaning back in his chair, his green eyes narrowing. He had forgotten that he was only partially made up for the shoot; the question of what poor makeup artist would be stuck with him completely slipped his mind. "You know what? Don't answer that, because I honestly don't even care. What I do want to know is what exactly you are doing in my dressing room."

 

[grapedrank]

Ethan simply raised a brow at the actor sitting in the make up chair. He was running on practically no sleep and was way too tired to deal with this shit. "Well, you should care who I am. My name is Ethan Hawthorne, and I told Augustus I would talk to you," he said simply, leaning against the frame of the door and crossing his arms over his chest.


"There's nothing more I would enjoy than to go back to writing what needs to be filmed, but you've been such a persistent ass that it's holding back production. I'd greatly appreciate it if you could suck up the diva act and be professional so we can filming," he said, narrowing his eyes at Oliver. Perhaps he was being harsher than he should, but Ethan was nothing if not brash and he was never one to beat around the bush and bullshit with people, he was always upfront about everything. That was one of the reasons he was so efficient at getting work done, and currently, this melodramatic actor was standing in the way of getting said work done and Ethan greatly did not appreciate it.

 

[The Almighty Cutie]

The tone of the man's voice told Oliver he was walking on extremely thin ice, but if he wanted to keep his distance he would have to push further. However, he was careful where he stepped as he learned the stranger's name. Ethan Hawthorne. As in the writer of this series, Ethan Hawthorne. Narrowing his eyes, Oliver stood from his chair and walked towards Ethan, not stopping until he was merely a few inches away from the other. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked Ethan in the eye. They were just about the same height, so there was no looking up or down. "Look, Mr. Hawthorne, you tell me to 'be a professional' as if that's not what I am at what I do," he said, his voice dangerously low. "I'm sure you've seen other things I've worked in, and you know that I'm the only one who can play Cecil Lancaster. That's why I haven't been fired yet. I'm too valuable to this production and no matter what I do, I know Augustus, or any of the producers, will not fire me, and you don't have enough leverage on set to be able to get me fired. Believe me when I say that I put work above all. But, you see," Oliver looked around the room, shaking his head as his eyes landed back on Ethan. "I don't see any cameras rolling in here. Or out backstage. What I would suggest is you try to keep out of my business and I'll gladly stay out of yours. Manage that and we shouldn't have a problem - with production or between ourselves."


Oliver knew he could be pushing it a bit too hard, but he knew what he said was true. In his few years of acting, he had always gotten his way on set, whether he was being true to himself or true to his reputation. He knew for a fact that the director of the show could not afford to lose such an important actor with such little time left until the series premier; which was why he dared to always step over the line and disregard any and every rule to working with others.

 

[grapedrank]

Ethan raised a brow at the man. "Wow," he said, his arms crossing in front of his chest once more. "You are a Grade A asshole." And Ethan was far too tired for this shit. "You don't get it, do you? You might be professional on camera but if we never get to film because of all the shit you're causing on set then that 'professionalism' means jack shit," he said making air quotes around the word 'professionalism'. All Ethan could see was a bratty kid in front of him.


"And frankly, I don't care if you have a problem with me or not because you're the type of person who thinks their talent makes up for being an asshole and it doesn't. Not with me and not with this set. Because what you don't understand is that this little series you're filming is based off of my books. And I signed a contract with Augustus that he could have the rights to my story so long as I have my say in this show. So don't cut the crap and stop trying to intimidate me," he said, jabbing a finger into Oliver's chest and looking him in the eye now that the man had stood up and tried to seem imposing. "Because if it comes down to it and I want you gone and Augustus refuses? He just breached the contract and I have the right to pull the plug on this whole series." He takes a step back and crosses his arms once more, his hands clenching against his biceps as he lifted his chin defiantly at the man. "And don't think I won't pull the plug," he said, dead serious. It was all true. Frankly, without the pilot airing, they had no idea how much revenue the show would or would not make so they're low on funds as it is, and yet Oliver didn't seem to realize how much a person quitting on them greatly affected their funding and production. After all, it costs money to hire someone and when that person leaves it costs even more to hire someone else qualified on such short notice, and then when that person also quits, well.. Let's just say several thousand dollars have been lost due to Oliver driving people away and it was so much more trouble than it's worth. "You better hope this show does well," Ethan said, "for your sake."

 

[The Almighty Cutie]

Oliver's eyes grazed over Ethan's appearance, taking in the sleep deprived eyes, the rumpled clothing. It was obvious to him that the other man hadn't gone home, and for that, Oliver felt instant guilt because of the fact that he was stressing the other even more. His features softened, but his glare remained cold and his shoulders relaxed. "Yeah," he began, his voice softer than it had been. "Well, I'll just let you know that I wouldn't have driven off those employees if they were any good." Oliver stepped back, moving to stand in front of his mirror and examine his unfinished make-up. "That Leila... I've worked with her before. A terrible make-up artist and a sl-t, she is." The words were quietly spoken, as if Oliver didn't want to rile Ethan up any more than he already had. "She was working this production because she slept with Augustus and he put in a good word, not because she knows what she's doing with a brush."


His movements slow and ginger, he ran his index finger along a horribly painted on scar that ran from his right cheekbone to the edge of his jaw. "I have a friend who's really good at this stuff," he continued, straightening himself and turning back to Ethan. He crossed his arms over his chest and cleared his throat. "He's out of a job now and needs the money, so he'll do it for cheap if I call in a favor." Oliver's head tilted upwards, his eyes focused on Ethan. "It's a really good book and script, and I don't want the show to fail, either. So just- try to stay out of my way and I'll do my best to stay out of yours."