Chapter 3
Nathaniel looks tense, and Milo can practically read his thoughts.
There aren't many more waiting for their auditions; there might even be none left at all.
There aren't many actors at Milo's level that are willing to work in such a movie with such risky themes, let alone rookie actors that are eager to jeopardize their careers before they've even started.
Sebastian is bright-eyed and hopeful, and Milo finds him to be such a breath of fresh air in such a jaded industry that he can't bring himself to say what he knows both he and Nathaniel are thinking.
A sudden knocking at the door startles all three of them, and Nathaniel opens the door just a sliver to see a dark-haired boy standing hunched over in the doorway, hands braced on his knees as he pants a little.
Nathaniel opens the door wider, and Milo watches as the boy looks up and then hastily bows three times in quick succession, his waist bending the full ninety degrees every time.
Milo can't tell if it's hero worship or just extra-politeness anymore.
The boy's clutching a script, and as Milo catches his first proper glimpse of his face he's struck by how
young
the boy looks.
Milo knows that Nathaniel had put out a word for rookie actors, but this kid looks like he's straight out of cram school, not acting school.
He's got wide, drooping eyes and a thick-lipped smile and Milo finds his uncommon features oddly refreshing.
"My name is Peter Dennis?" The boy phrases it like a question.
He seems to notice his nervous faux pas and quickly clears his throat to try to cover it up.
Nathaniel suppresses a smile, but Sebastian outright laughs.
Peter's ears tinge red, but he continues speaking.
"I was told that you're currently auditioning actors for the part of Adrian Vale?" Peter asks a little more confidently, swiveling his head between Nathaniel, Sebastian, and Milo as if he's not sure who to focus on.
Nathaniel turns and shoots Milo a worried look, one that he can understand.
Auditions had begun an hour ago, which means Peter is
late
.
And a late actor means late filming, which means a late premier, and Milo is painfully aware that having a late premier is only a small step away from having no premier.
But still, they really do need someone to fill Adrian's role quickly, so Milo nods at Nathaniel and watches carefully as Peter cheerfully walks into the room.
"I'd like to read the scene where Adrian comes across his dead mother," Peter says, looking at Nathaniel for the nod of approval.
Milo's by no means memorized the entire script yet, but he's well aware of the passage Peter wants to perform.
Not many of the people that had auditioned earlier had attempted this particular scene, in which Adrian returns home and comes across the dead body of his mother in her bed.
It's ultimately the turning point for his character, and the script just reads
[Adrian returns home and is shocked to see the body of his mother],
and so every single auditionee had approached the scene with variations of crocodile tears and loud emotions.
That's why Milo is surprised when Peter suddenly drops to his knees, and is silent.
He doesn't make any noises, but the wide set of his eyes and the trembling of his hands is more than enough to set the mood.
Peter reaches out slowly, eyes fixed on some horrible sight in front of him that only he can see, and the quiet hitch of his breath seems deafeningly loud in the silence of the room.
"Umma," Peter whispers, his face crumpling slowly as he bites at his lip.
He turns his head down, and while Milo can't see his face anymore, he can see teardrops hit the ground, and he's secretly impressed because realistic fake crying is something that Milo has a hard time with even now.
"I shouldn't have..." Peter speaks, his voice wavering just enough to seem genuine, "I shouldn't have told you about us, right?"
He smiles, then, slow and sweet and sad and Milo takes a moment to glance in surprise at Nathaniel because no other auditionee had
smiled
in this scene, and Peter's method is unconventional enough that Milo can't tell if he's brilliant or plain crazy.
Peter reaches out carefully and then pulls back again, rubbing at his cheek.
"I should have kept quiet," Peter mumbles, pulling his knees up.
His smile wavers, and then breaks into something terribly, terribly sad.
"Maybe then you would have been alright."
He doesn't say anymore, doesn't even finish the rest of the scripted lines because he's too busy trying to keep down his sobs, gasping in deep breaths of air.
And then it's suddenly over, and Peter's standing up and bowing and smiling brightly as if he hadn't just been playing the part of an unexpectedly-orphaned boy just a few seconds ago.
"Uh, that was really all that I memorized," Peter laughs nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck.
"I'm sorry it was so short.
If you want, I'll also improvise another section?"
Nathaniel shakes his head, and Peter suddenly looks terrified.
Milo sighs as he prepares himself to see yet another young hopeful get rejected.
Peter had been better than most, yes, but the role of Adrian requires a little something extra, and honestly, Milo doesn't know how Nathaniel expects a complete newbie to be able to fill the role of the second male lead for this—
"You're hired!" Nathaniel exclaims, breaking Milo out of his thoughts.
Milo gapes at him.
Peter's mouth falls open as well, and he clasps his hands together gleefully.
"Really?
Oh my gosh, thank you!"
He darts forward and pulls a pen out from his pocket, and then scribbles his name and number down on an extra copy of the script which he hands over to Nathaniel.
"Thank you again, really, this means everything to me!
Here is my contact information, you can call me to let me know when you have dates and timings fixed!
I'm really sorry, I have to leave now or my manager's going to beat my ass, but really, thank you!"
And then Peter Dennis is gone, and Milo still hasn't shut his mouth.
Nathaniel and Sebastian are both staring at him, twin grins on their expectant faces as they wait for his opinion, and then Milo simply shakes his head and says, "What the
fuck.
"
\-
Adrian Vale works at his mother's family-style restaurant.
He's a good cook, and he loves his mother, and he's happy to help her out, but he's terribly bored with his life.
He meets Wilder because he eats at the restaurant regularly.
Wilder likes the side dishes.
Adrian likes Wilder.
\-
Filming starts a month later, and Milo and Donovan make the long drive down from Swiha to Daemonport.
The streets feel familiar, and Milo thinks that maybe the familiarity of them must be the "homesickness" he's often heard about.
He thinks about visiting his mother, but then remembers that she's at the vacation house on Emerald Isle that Milo had bought for her two years ago.
"It must be nice being back here, huh?" Donovan asks, showing off his patent sunny smile.
"Maybe we can go have a night out on the town?"
Milo, as expected, scoffs and tells Donovan to go alone, and then goes and locks himself in his bedroom until the first day of filming.
Milo always has a ritual for the first day.
He wakes up at five in the morning, just to ensure that he can take his time puttering around his Daemonport condo and getting ready slowly.
He always eats a cup of yogurt and tries to leave it at that, but then Donovan always shows up at six in the morning and forces Milo to eat an entire pancake breakfast because according to Donovan, pancakes can prepare a grown man for anything.
Milo's grumpy just as he always is, because out of all the days of filming, the first one is always the hardest.
It's the one where the crew is the most enthusiastic and cheerful and happy, and nothing grates on Milo's nerves more than
happy
.
"You're like a vampire or something, I swear you never smile," Donovan mutters, trying to fix Milo's hair so that it looks like anything other than a bird's nest.
"Vampires don't
sleep
, not smile," Milo replies, swatting his manager's hands away from his face.
"Stop messing with my hair, it doesn't matter what it looks like because the coordis will just fix it anyway.
Can we go now?"
And Donovan knows that it's useless to argue with Milo, so they arrive at the set with Milo's hair in complete disarray.
The coordis let out a collective sigh, but everyone in the industry is aware of Milo's less-than-cheerful disposition and they're all too afraid to comment on his appearance.
"Milo!"
Sebastian is the only one who dares to approach Milo this early in the morning, and even though Milo doesn't mind Sebastian's company, his blindingly bright smile just pisses him off more.
"Isn't it exciting?" Sebastian marvels, sitting down in the chair next to Milo's.
It's marked 'Director,' but Nathaniel is nowhere to be found yet and Milo has the feeling he wouldn't mind Sebastian stealing it anyway.
"Yeah, super exciting," Milo mumbles, hoping that Sebastian will be able to hear the lack of enthusiasm in his voice and get the memo to back off.
He doesn't, sadly.
"I love seeing everyone get ready to film," Sebastian continues, looking around the set in excitement.
"At first I didn't know that there was so much that went into making a movie.
It all seems so simple, but actually it's a lot of work.
Although, I guess you'd know more than I do, with all your experience and all."
Milo shoots him a tired look.
"Yeah.
It's a lot of work, and the first day is always the most work."