(A/N: Hello. *hangs head* Yup. Another multichapter. LOL. This was supposed to be a one-shot for the wonderful OQ Week happening right now. Then I realized how much I wanted/want to do with this story and it was either going to be a 50,000 word OS or I would finally relent and make it a MC. And my devilish friends on Twitter, Zoe, Gabi, Marion kept encouraging me. So if this sucks and no one wants the following chapters, they are to blame. :P
The original idea behind this story was loosely inspired by the most INCREDIBLE CaptainSwan fanfic called "The Trouble With Faking It" by nowforruin. I BEG of y'all to go read it! I like CS, but I'm not a HUGE fan and yet I am OBSESSED with that fic.
So, yup. Another in progress fic, if y'all think I should continue, that is. Just means my lazy ass needs to get better about updating, I suppose. LOL.
Disclaimer: I do not own 'Once Upon A Time', nor it's characters. I write this purely for fun.)
"Ms. Mills, you can't just go in there!"
Regina barely hears the reprimand, spoken in the secretary's thick Austrailian accent, as she breezes by the the front desk of the offices of Golden Spun Entertainment. Her Manolo Blahnik heels slap against the white marble floors as she expertly navigates the narrow hallway, several doors adorning both sides, but her focus is on the set of double doors at the end of the corridor.
Robert Gold
President & CEO, Golden Spun Entertainment, inc.
She opens both doors (she loves nothing more than a dramatic entrance. Well, maybe, with an exception to the gorgoeus Chanel handbag hanging from the crook of her elbow), bursting into the office. She holds her iPhone in her palm and immediately holds the screen out in front of her, her voice rising in volume, and anger, with every syllable as she demands, "What. The. Hell. Is. This?!"
"Regina," Gold, a man in his early 50's, who dresses in impeccably designed, tailored suits, yet, contrastingly, allows his shoulder-length hair to hang freely, framing his thin, tan-skinned face, is sitting behind his large, gold-trimmed, marble top desk. The Los Angeles sun is streaming in through the windows that completely make up the wall that sits behind Gold and it stings Regina's eyes as she continues to glare at him. "How lovely of you to join us."
"Cut the bullshit, Gold," She snarls as she continues to thrust her phone in his direction, "What the hell is this?"
"Ah, I do believe they call that electronic mail, e-mail for short, dearie," He responds, folding his hands in front of him, leaning back in his white, leather office chair.
Regina feels her blood boil beneath her skin, detects a dull thumping at the base of her skull, wants nothing more than to forget this entire stressful nightmare, go home and soak in a bath while reading through new scripts.
But that is the reason why she has to stay.
Suddenly a new voice emerges, the petite brunette from the front desk rushing in, breathless, exclaiming, "Mr. Gold, I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop her. I called secruity-"
"That's quite alright, Belle," Gold dismisses, his tone relaxed, his eyes flitting from Regina, to the secretary, back to Regina as he says, "Ms. Mills always has a free standing invitation here."
Belle nods, shyly, muttering a "Yes, sir", and backing out of the room, closing the doors as she leaves.
When she's gone, Regina whirls back around to Gold and stalks forward until she is directly in front of his desk, slamming her phone down in front of him as her hands find purchase on top of the marble. "Damn straight I always have an invitation here. I made this company, which makes me ask you, one more time: What is the meaning of this?"
Her voice is low, a mere growl from the base of her throat contorted into words, and her jaw starts to become sore from being clenched in anger.
Gold smirks, leaning forward towards her, "That, my dear, was your wake up call."
"Enough with the riddles, you twisted imp," Regina hisses, curls her hands into fists on the desk, her fingernails biting into the skin of her palms, "I get an e-mail from you saying that I'm fired from Heroes & Villains, are you insane? Do you have any idea what I have done for this company, I-"
"You," He interrupts her, his word sharp, slicing through Regina's, rendering her silent as he stands to his feet, "have done nothing these past few years except bring this studio negative press."
"There would be no studio if I-"
"Ah, ah," Gold, again, cuts off her words, lifting his index finger in the air, "That is a mutual pathway, is it not? You were one late rent payment away from doing porn before I cast you in The Dark Curse, so don't threaten me with your misplaced sense of entitlement, dear."
Regina flushes, can sense the heat that involuntarily rushes to her cheeks. It's not so much the words he spat at her, not the mention of her less than glamorous past of when she was just a fledging actress, it's the fact that he's right that vexes her. She hates when this smug bastard is right.
She wets her lips, finds her mouth to be parched, her throat dry, her stomach still as knotted as it was when she had originally opened that message not a half hour ago. She wants to say something, wants to scream and yell and, just maybe, push Gold through those floor-to-ceiling windows and down the 23 stories that his office sits upon. But as she opens her mouth, no words materialize.
Gold grins, stepping out from behind his desk, walking towards her and she takes a step backward. He seems unfazed, simply stretches his hand out to the side, directing Regina's attention in that direction, "Perhaps it's time you introduced yourself to our guest."
For the first time, Regina notices a man sitting in one of the two white, leather lounge chairs that sit across the front of Gold's desk.
Hmm.
He's attractive, whoever he is- in a rugged sort of way. Not the type of man, the pretty boys with fake tans and their hair full of gel and sprays, that Regina is accustommed to being in the presence of. He looks to be just a few years older than she is, no older than his early 30's, but he has signs of age, a few wrinkles, a sun spot on the edge of his forehead, that most men would have Botoxed and lasered away by now. This man has scruffs of hair covering the lower portion of his face, not clean-shaven and well-moisturized; he's wearing a loose-fitted white button down shirt, with boot-cut khaki pants, as opposed to the tailored polo shirts and skinny jeans she usually sees in men these days; his eyes are big and bright and so blue that she thinks she may just fall in them and drown in the oceanic pools- and not a single trace of eyeliner to be spotted around them.
"Oh, no introductions necessary," His accented voice replies (British, Regina notes with appreciation) and he waves off Gold as he stands to his feet, reaching his hand towards her, "I'm well-aquainted with your work, Your Majesty."
And just like that, any moderate interest Regina had in this man is extinguished.
"Your reputation proceeds you," He follows up with, his hand still outstretched out to her. She glances down at it with disdain, then back up to his face, a smile resting on his face.
"I'm well aware of my reputation," She sneers, folding her arms across her chest, the man finally taking the hint and dropping his hand, "Perhaps you shouldn't believe everything you hear."
It didn't always used to be this way, Regina thinks, bitterly. Ten years ago, when she met Gold, a former talent agent who had taken to starting his own production studio, looking for an unknown actress that he could mend and mold, help skyrocket to success to further launch his own, she had the world at her feet. After their first collaboration, The Dark Curse, a suspenseful, epic drama in which she portrayed a powerful sorceress who had to sacrifice the ones she loved in order to fulfill a magical prophecy, became a surprise box office success, Regina Mills became a household name. She covered magazines, went on talk shows, won three Golden Globes and was nominated for one Academy Award, in addition to turning out money-making hits for Golden Spun Entertainment. It had been all she had ever dreamed of and, frankly, more than she thought she would have accomplished when she had made the cross country move from her childhood home in upstate New York to Los Angeles to live out said dreams.
And then the dream became a nightmare.
It had begun three years ago. Regina was working on a movie called Forbidden Fruit, where she fictionally was rivals with an up-and-coming young actress, Mary Margaret Blanchard. Where Regina was known for being more sultry and spiritous in her work, Mary Margaret's image was one of innocence and shyness. So shy, in fact, the damn girl could barely stutter out her lines properly and after weeks upon weeks of unusable takes and delayed start times, Regina had finally snapped at the flightly girl, telling her, in so many words, to get her act together. Mary Margaret had started to cry, had mumbled broken apologies, and that was that.
Except "that was that" no longer exists in this digital world.
Someone on the set had recorded Regina's outburst and it, of course, had been sold to every gossipy media outlet in the country. It was debated on The View, it was reported in People magazine, and it was viewed more than 20 million times, within the first week, on YouTube. But because the public never receieves the full story, hadn't a clue about Mary Margaret's unprofessional behavior, she was the victim of an "envious, aging actress" who was "terrified" that her star power was "fading into the blackness of irrelevance with the likes of Nicole Kidman and Keanu Reeves."
The press apparently drew comparisons between Mary Margaret and, the fairy tale, Snow White (both painfully boring and sickeningly sweet, Regina could see) which, as the person who "verbally assaulted" the actress, Regina was dubbed "The Evil Queen" in every tabloid, on every blog, and joked about in the monologue of every late night talk show.
Film roles, since the "Evil Queen" moniker was given, have been scarce and the few she has retained, false reports are constantly made to the media to make Regina look worse and worse to audiences around the globe. If it weren't for her passion of acting, her love of her craft, she's sure she would have left the business by now. But here she stays, still facing ignorant individuals who know nothing about her or her past or her life, yet think they do because of rumors and headlines.
"Perhaps you're right," He concedes and Regina starts to soften towards this man, especially when his grin widens and the dimples that bookend his lips dig into his skin- until he tacks on, "Your Majesty."
Regina narrows her eyes and snaps, "I prefer Regina", then turns her focus to Gold and asks, "And who is he?"
"Meet your new costar in Heroes & Villains. Your love interest, actually," He answers, almost proudly, a little too content as far as Gold goes, it has Regina's intuitions standing alert, "Robin Locksley."
The name is familiar, Regina racks her brain, searching for recognition, which she finds, raises her eyebrows at the man, at Robin, "A Thief."
Robin sinks his teeth into his bottom lip, biting back a smile, "You've heard of me, I'm honored."
It was hard not to, honestly. A Thief was the most popular film out of the U.K. last year, with Robin Locksley as the featured star, becoming a "one-to-watch" in the acting community, even in the states.
"'Heard of' being the operative words," Regina smirks, "Heist movies aren't exactly at the top of my Netflix que."
"No, I suppose you'd prefer something more regal, wouldn't you?" He says with a sly grin of his own, "Though you may want to start getting down and dirty if we're to play outlaws together."
Regina doesn't volley back another set of words with the Thief (and swears she can see a shred of disappointment cross his features), instead turning towards Gold again, "So if this is my costar, I assume that means I'm not fired."
"You know what they say when you 'assume', dearie..."
"Gold," Regina hisses, trying to reign in the tone of her voice.
He simply smiles and gestures towards the seats in front of his desk, before going to resume his own seat. "Yes, Regina, you still have your job."
She barely resists releasing a sigh of relief. Heroes & Villains is one of the best scripts she has read in a very long time. It is based off of popular sci-fi/fantasy novel by Isaac Heller, who had also penned the screenplay. She would be playing the character of Wilma, a simple peasant woman, living in a land controlled by a deranged, evil sorceress, who, with the help of, apparently, the character Robin would be playing, rises to greatness to defeat the villainess.
It is something new for Regina, to be portraying someone grittier, real. She would no longer be the witch or the villain, no, she would be the hero and, God knew, that her public persona could use that kind of fictional boost. It also gives her a chance to really use her body, since her character is a bandit, someone living in the forest, trying to survive. Regina has already begun physical training, as well as archery lessons for when her character was to hold a bow and arrow.
But then her heart sinks as Gold continues, "With one condition."
She snorts, shaking her head, in disappointment at herself for believing the first words that had come out of the studio head's mouth, "There's always a price with you. What is it this time?"
"He," Gold points to Robin, who is leisurely sitting back in his chair and who catches Regina's eye when her's dart towards him, something unreadable in his expression that keeps her stare locked in his as their boss continues, "will be your love interest in the film- and off-screen, as well."
"What?!" Regina barks, her head snapping back to Gold so fast she's shocked that she didn't break her neck with the movement.
"For the duration of filming and up through the nation-wide release, you two are to be in a relationship."
"You're out of your mind," Regina exclaims, nearly laughing at the absurdity that is leaving Gold's mouth. He wants, expects, her to date this man that she's known for mere minutes?
"Regina, you are at the precipice of being involuntarily retired at the age of 29, now is that something you want?"
"You know it's not," She whispers, darkly. This seems to amuse him, judging by the smirk that swipes over his lips.
"Robin has a pristine image in this industry. He's who every woman wants their own spouse to be, who every man wants to be. If the world sees that he's willing to see through 'The Evil Queen', they will, too."
"You want me to surrender my life, my personal life, the one piece of me that I still manage to have after this shit, to be in a publicity relationship? To trick people? And for how long? It'd be at least a year! No way, no deal."
"Then no job."
Regina's jaw clenches, "You can't do that. That's illegal, I'll sue your ass-"
"And who will win that, dear? Not only in the law's courtroom, but in the court of public opinion? I see the headline now: 'Evil Queen Refuses to Work with British Heartthrob, Sues to Get Her Way.'"
"You son of a bitch," She fires back, her stomach doing somersaults as she is metaphorically backed into an impossible corner. Then a thought springs to mind and she vocalizes it instantly, "Did you talk to Cora about this?"
"Whose idea do you think it was?" Gold chuckles.
"Of course," Regina scoffs, "Why the hell would my mother want to think of my feelings ahead of my image?" Cora Mills, her mother and manager (after The Dark Curse's success and realizing her daughter was not the failure she had originally dismissed her as) wasn't just a shark when it came to contracts and media appearances, she had the ability to tear Regina's heart out at any moment.
She sobers, swallowing down the bile of disappointment that her mother's actions still managed to draw from her as she flings her arm towards the chair beside her, "And he knew?"
Gold nods, folding his hands in front of him on the desktop, "I told him shortly before you arrived."
"Did you blackmail him, too?"
Now it's his turn to snort in derision, "With what? Unlike you, he has nothing to use against him."
"Did you pay him off? An 'extra million in his contract to sleep with his costar' clause?"
"I am not some sort of pimp, Regina, which is what I would be if any monetary support was employed in this situation."
"Then why the hell would he agree to this?"
"'He' is right here, Your Majesty," Robin, silent until this moment, grumbles. Regina's head whirls back in his direction at his words.
"Fine. Why the hell would you agree to this, Thief?"
Robin shrugs nonchalantly, "This is my first American film, anything to bring it more publicity, good publicity, seems reasonable to me."
"Reasonable?!" She is near shrieking now, hands shaking in her lap, "You think us being in a relationship is- "
"It's just a farce, Regina," It's the first time he's used her name and Regina ignores the flutter it ignites in her chest, scoffing instead as he speaks, "It's a public romance, nothing more."
"You think you can still date around while is insanity is happening? Any girl will run to the tabloids so fast- "
"I've been single for nearly three years, Your Majesty, one more certainly will not be a strain to my self-control."
Regina opens her mouth, then closes it. Open, then close, open, then close. She doesn't know how to respond, what to do. Her eyes leave Robin's, focusing on the floor, on anything but what is happening.
Suddenly she feels something warm enclose over her hand and she looks down to see it be a hand, Robin's hand. He has leaned forward in his chair, his hand covering her own, which is still shaking in his grasp, and is smiling softly, supportively at her.
Support. Well, that's something she hasn't had in quite some time.
She sighs, allows her hand to remain in the hold of Robin's, her boyfriend's, she supposes, then looks up at Gold, "So what would we have to do?"
"So you agree?" Gold questions, eyebrows raised, yet the curl of his lips tells Regina he's pleased.
Regina narrows her eyes, about to bite at him when Robin does so, instead, "That's not what she said."
She glances at Robin beside her, unable to stop herself from being touched at the gesture (and, hell, anyone else who stands up to Robert Gold gets her respect), but she cannot be 'touched' by this man. This is, or will be, a fake relationship, a PR stunt, nothing more, and she needs to view this as a job, a performance, and if there's anything she's learned, it's to detach yourself from a role when you aren't on set.
So she rips her hand out of his own, out of his reach, as she snarls, "I can speak for myself, Thief."
His mouth hangs loose for a moment, obviously confused by her sudden seperation, but then his eyes darken and he holds his hands up, "I wouldn't dream of thinking you couldn't, Your Majesty."
The tense moment is broken by Gold clapping, regaining both Regina and Robin's attention, "Bravo. Acting like an old, married couple already. Marvelous. Though you'll have to be a bit more playful than that for your audience."
"What. Do. We. Have. To. Do." Regina repeats herself, emphasizing every word with the same acidity she feels pumping through her veins.
"It's quite simple, really. Shooting begins in one month. Until then, I want you two to go out, casually. To lunch, a walk, etc."
"Where cameras will be," Robin seems to finish, earning a snap of Gold's finger and a point towards him.
"Smart man, Locksley. Exactly. When you'll be asked about your... relationship, you'll be coy. Say you're getting to know each other for your roles."
Regina nods along, "And then?"
"Once filming begins, you'll be utilizing social media. Playful tweets towards one another, cryptic Instagram pictures, anything that will get people sharing and talking."
"What is an Instagram?" Robin asks and Regina guffaws, while Gold simply ignores the inquiry, continuing to prattle off instructions.
"On set, you will be spotted going in and leaving one another's trailers, you will be not-so-secretly attached at the hip."
"And our fellow actors?" Regina asks, crossing her arms once more, "You know the problem I've had in the past with people leaking out fake information."
"As far as anyone outside of this room knows, you are a couple. Your costars, your friends, everyone. If anyone dares say anything negative, Robin, you will be the 'knight in shining armor' and defend her, repel any rumors if they are to occur."
"I don't need a 'knight in shining armor'!" Regina argues, chewing the inside of her cheek.
"No, you need to look good in the press. Someone finally saying something nice about you will do that." Regina sighs and Gold finishes his set-up, "When it comes time for the press tour, you will do interviews together. Flirting, touching, the whole nine yards, and then right before the premiere, you will announce you're a couple."
"Move over Brad and Angelina," Regina mutters sarcastically, but Gold's eyes light up.
"Hopefully, dearie. That is, if you two can pull it off."
"And when does this charade end?" She wonders aloud, feels Robin's eyes land on her, so she turns to see him wielding a cheeky smile.
"Already that anxious to get rid of me, Your Majesty?"
She doesn't get the chance to reply, as Gold interjects in, "A month after the release, you'll make a statement, 'better as friends', blah blah blah, fans' hearts will be broken, but both your careers, and this studio, will profit. So, do we have a deal?"
"It's up to you," Robin murmurs, having swayed further towards her as he had earlier, but he doesn't touch her this time, but their eyes connect, "What do you want to do?"
She knows Gold's staring at them, waiting for her response as well, but in this one moment, for this one second, before this craziness truly begins, Regina permits herself to believe that she is normal, that the handsome (if not, albeit, maddening) man in front of her is normal, that this is normal, as say says to Robin,
"We better be going somewhere Italian for lunch."