Hey! Rysaspirit here with a "movie star" AU for TWIW! The title is based off the phrase "Lights, Camera, Action" except instead of "Action" it's "Selection". It's a bad title, but I couldn't really think of anything else, yeet.
This is from Raph's POV, but I welcome anybody else to write another movie star AU one-shot in this story! It'll be super interesting to see what others come up with in terms of how our favorite boys would act if they were actually just starring in a movie. Hopefully, we can turn this story into a little collection of companions set in a movie star AU.
Kiera Cass owns the Selection series, Abizeau owns the fantabulous TWIW, and I technically own Raph and my own writing, but nothing else. Enjoy!
ps. this is very unedited
pps. all the boys are probably super OOC :( also if i didn't include your character, i'm so sorry lol i tried!
ppps. come hang out with us on the discord server! link is in the profile of this account
pppps. i didn't plan for this to be so heavy on the raphliza but… that's what ended up happening lol. for the sake of the movie, i guess? i'm sorry, have fun!
The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the birds were singing, and Raphael was smiling.
After all, why wouldn't he be? The moment was perfect. He was enjoying a lunch in the castle gardens, sharing the picnic blanket with none other than the love of his life, the ethereal Princess.
As her beautiful bottle-green eyes met his hazel ones, he felt his pulse quicken. Unable to resist the undeniable magnetic pull between them, he leaned in closer.
And closer.
And closer.
Their lips were mere inches apart when he closed his eyes—
"CUT!"
Raphael and Eliza broke apart. Around them, the crew started clapping as Raphael rose to his feet, offering Eliza a hand. She smiled graciously at him as she stood up, dusting some stray grass off her expensive dress.
"Great job, you two!" Ruby Wright, the young director of The Selection, announced through the walkie-talkie attached to Raphael's hip. "We might need to re-shoot the first part later, just to be safe, but that was perfect. Raphael, you're off now. Eliza, we need you in hair and makeup to prepare for Scene 349 with Tomlin. Wardrobe team, I need someone to fetch me Dress 27 for Scene 349."
Eliza grimaced jokingly. "Well, looks like that's my cue." She let go of Raphael's hand, but not before shooting him another award-winning smile — quite literally, since she had won three awards already in the span of 10 years — that made him flush a bright red.
"Uh, yeah… Good luck!" he called after her retreating figure. Not that Eliza needed it. As one of the most successful actresses of the century, the protagonist of The Selection was only one of the many characters she had immersed herself in. Raphael was immensely glad to be working with such a talented co-star for his first main role — behind-the-scenes Eliza had turned out to be just as kind as the public persona he might have developed a small crush on over the past few years.
He wandered over to the actors' waiting room, which was really just a large tent set up inside the palace garden. He found his own chair and sank into it, greeting the other boys with a wave.
"Nice job out there, Raph!" Rama said, coming over from where he had been chatting with Xander. "Great acting. Almost looked like you were actually in love with her."
"Very funny," Raphael muttered, taking off the pile of medals on his suit and groaning. "These things are way too heavy. Why don't any of you have to deal with this?"
"Because we're not playing the Military Guy," Rance sing-songed. "But hey. At least you get the coolest boots."
Rafe chose that moment to come over as well. "Yeah, I'm sure Eliza would agree."
"Rafe!" Raphael hissed, pointedly looking around the tent and ignoring the heat which crept up his cheeks. "There are others here, you know!" Even as he said it, his gaze fell on Alek — who promptly crouched down to tie his shoelace — and Sebastian — who swiveled his head in the opposite direction.
Yeah, that was the issue when you had one main actress and more than twenty different co-stars. Aside from the gays, everybody ended up falling in love with Eliza. And honestly? Raphael couldn't blame them. Just being alone with Eliza — or as alone as one could be when in the middle of filming a movie — made him feel like a teenage schoolboy all over again. But he barely stood a chance against the other successful actors like Tomlin or Caspian, who were not only devilishly handsome but experienced in the industry. He had several romantic scenes with Eliza's character, but they all did. He wasn't anything special.
Besides, even if he stood a slim chance, he had promised himself long ago that he would never date a co-star. Not only did it receive too much attention from the public, but the risk of screwing up the relationship and making the rest of his career awkward was too great. Acting was Raphael's passion and he would never let anything get in the way of it, beautiful redhead or no beautiful redhead.
Raphael also had a sneaking suspicion that Linus, the main Production Assistant, would make his life a living hell, and he already had enough hell to deal with, thank you very much.
Suddenly, commotion from outside the tent caused Raphael and the rest of the boys to look in the direction of the exit. "Ruby, we need to talk!" a shrill voice was yelling. "This is absolutely unacceptable!"
Nikolai stood up, stretching his long arms and nearly whacking Jericho in the face. "Millie again?" he asked, boredom lacing his tone. "Should we go see what the fuss is about?"
Rafe grinned. "Yeah, let's go. I don't know what we'd ever do without our daily Entertainment Network."
Raphael followed the other boys out of the tent, and sure enough, Millie — the actress playing Eliza's sister — was storming up to Ruby. "Explain this to me!" she seethed, slamming a part of the script down on Ruby's table. "Do you know how many lines I have in this scene?"
Ruby stared up at Millie from the director's chair, the distaste clear in her eyes, but the rest of her face remained impassive. "Yes, I do know, actually. I wrote the scene."
"Five!" Millie screeched. "I have five lines! Eliza has thirty!"
"Last I checked, Millie wasn't the main character of this movie," Sebastian muttered, and Raphael nodded his agreement. However, he was too interested in the drama to respond.
"Eliza plays the role of the main princess, Millie," Ruby explained, her patience clearly wavering. "Your princess is a side character. Don't you know how roles work?"
Millie laughed loudly, and it sent chills running down Raphael's spine as he was reminded of an evil villain. "Oh, please! Eliza only got the main role because she auditioned first. I'm more qualified than her to play the princess, and everybody here knows that!"
"Millie, shut the fuck up!" Rafe called, before all the boys shushed him — Raphael included.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Raphael hissed. "Do you want to end up like Spencer?" Spencer had been an actor in the movie before he'd pissed off Millie one day. Overnight, Millie had managed to dig up incriminating information about Spencer, blackmailing him to leave the movie. Knowing Rafe, Raphael wouldn't be surprised if his secrets were far worse than what poor Spencer had been faced with.
"I'm not scared of her," Rafe insisted, a confident gleam in his eye. Fortunately, Millie seemed too intent on yelling at Ruby to hear the boys, and Raphael breathed a sigh of relief. His idiotic friend was still safe, at least for now.
"Millie," Ruby warned. "If we weren't already several months into filming, and if your mother hadn't invested so much money into this production, rest assured that I would have fired you by now. Your attitude is highly unprofessional, which is one of the many reasons you were not chosen for the main role. Not only has Eliza demonstrated a high level of skill and proven herself to suit the role, she has handled everything professionally and remained humble. If you want to have a better role, you're not going to achieve it like this."
Xander whistled loudly. "Oh, SNAP!" Everyone whirled around to stare at him, including many of the crew members, and he shrugged. "What? Ruby just spilt the tea!"
Millie balled her fists, shaking in anger. "You… You… Ugh!" She flounced away, storming past the boys on her way out. From the corner of his eye, Raphael saw Adrien stick his middle finger out towards her back.
"Hey, don't do that," he chided, even if he was feeling the same way. Millie was clearly jealous of Eliza's success, but the way she dealt with it was completely out of line. He didn't understand how Eliza still treated Millie with grace. That's how amazing she is. Wait, no. Ugh. Stop.
As Ruby and the crew went back to their original jobs, Raphael also returned to the tent, stopping in the doorway. "Oh, sorry… Bad timing?"
Haruhito and Jinhai, the only boys who hadn't gone outside to watch the drama, jumped apart. "Raph!" Jinhai greeted, his voice suddenly sounding a lot higher. "What happened out there?" Next to him, Haruhito quickly smoothed down his shirt before returning to his computer.
"Same old Millie." Raphael's eyes narrowed as he looked between the two Asians — affectionately dubbed "Haruhai" behind their backs by the entire cast and crew. "You guys weren't cuddling again, were you?"
"What makes you say that?" Jinhai asked, as Haruhito remained silent. "I was just… Fixing Haruhito's shirt."
As the rest of the boys filed into the tent, Raphael looked at Haruhito's shirt, which read "Looking Good, Feline Good." "Why do you guys get the best costumes, and I get a gazillion medals?"
"Raph, this is the fifth time you've complained about your medals today," Henryk pointed out. "Anyways, anybody want to head out for dinner tonight? There's a cool buffet nearby that I've been dying to try ever since coming to Angeles."
"A break from set food sounds great, but how are we going to get over there?" Alek said. "We would need a big bus, or two limos. I don't think Linus would let us borrow them."
"Yeah, not after Rama crashed that motorcycle into the palace," Quin said.
Rama scowled. "It was an accident!"
After lots of bickering and sorting out logistic details, the boys came up with their game plan: they would get on their knees and beg Linus to lend them a bus, and if that didn't work, they would beg the bus driver directly. Luckily for them, Linus paled as soon as the swarm of boys approached him, and quickly waved them off in the direction of the bus.
"Wait," Raphael said, right before they boarded the bus. "Do you guys want to invite Eliza?"
"Oh, wait, we forgot about Eliza," Caspian realized, causing them all to burst into laughter.
"I'll go get her," Tomlin volunteered, walking off in the direction of Eliza's trailer. Disappointment flickered inside Raphael, but he swallowed his jealousy and waited patiently for Tomlin to come back. His breath hitched when he saw Eliza behind him. She'd changed out of her costume and was now wearing a pair of overalls with sneakers, her red waves framing her face. As always, she was stunning, but standing there in normal clothes, she looked like…
Girlfriend material, Raphael thought, before mentally slapping himself. No, get it together, Raph!
Raphael's first scene of the day was with Eliza, but it wasn't any ordinary scene. No, this was the scene where his character confessed his feelings for the princess. The scene where he had to bare his soul and expose his deepest emotions.
He was terrified.
"You can do this," he told his reflection, adjusting one of the medals on his uniform. "You're an actor. Just fake it. None of this is real."
Kwasi, who had also been checking his reflection, turned around. "Are you talking to yourself?" he asked, chuckling. "Relax, Raph. You'll do great. You always do. This movie is going to be your big break."
Raphael gulped. "That's not what I'm worried about."
Otávio raised a knowing eyebrow. "Are you really going to let that get in the way of your acting? Regardless of your feelings, Raph, you have a role to play."
"I know, I know," Raphael sighed, staring at himself. Can I do this? His thoughts were interrupted by the crackle of the walkie-talkie, and then, Ruby's voice.
"I need Raphael, Eliza, and Andromeda on set in five."
"Well, looks like this is it." With one last nervous look in the mirror, Raphael turned around, preparing to leave the tent.
"Wait, Raph…"
Raphael looked back to see Jericho giving him a big thumbs-up. "Good luck!"
"Thanks." He chuckled. "I'll need it."
When he arrived on set, Eliza was already talking to Andromeda, the lively woman playing Eliza's grandmother. Raphael personally thought that Andromeda was the coolest member of the cast — aside from Eliza, of course. Though she was no longer in her prime age, she had won over the country years ago with her sophistication and talent and was a household name in the Illéan film industry. Some even formerly called her the Queen of Hollywood, though now that title seemed to belong to Eliza. Despite Andromeda's fame and experience, she was still especially kind to the younger actors and had always been encouraging to Raphael.
"Good morning," he said, squashing any nerves that threatened to surface. "Are you guys excited?"
"Of course," Andromeda answered, a twinkle in her eye. "This is my favorite scene."
Before Raphael could decipher exactly what that meant, Ruby's signal came crackling through the walkie-talkie again, and he stepped aside and waited for his cue.
"My darling," Andromeda said, clasping Eliza's hand gently. "You've proven yourself over and over again, and I am so proud of you. But your journey is far from complete yet."
"I know, I know," Eliza said, the confusion on her face so apparent that Raphael almost believed it was real. "But grandmother, I don't understand. I care about the remaining boys so strongly, but how will I find out who I love?"
Andromeda smiled. "These things come with time."
"Time is a luxury that I don't have," Eliza corrected, looking dramatically into the distance. "I have feelings for so many of them, dare I even say, all of them. How can I choose?"
"It is a difficult choice," Andromeda sympathized. "But I have faith in you, my darling. You must choose whoever your heart desires."
Eliza pouted, looking down at her hands. "My heart is confused…"
As Andromeda continued consoling Eliza about her love life, Raphael found himself falling for Eliza all over again. He almost forgot that she was only playing a fictional role because her emotions tugged at his heart and made him want to comfort her as well. He had to recover from his daze when he realized it was his cue, now that Eliza was sitting alone by the fountain.
Straightening his uniform, he walked in carefully as soon as Linus shut the clapperboard. "You look like you have a lot on your mind," he greeted softly, taking a seat next to Eliza. "Want to talk about it?"
Eliza looked away from him, and he frowned with worry. "Hey, look at me." He reached out a hand to cup Eliza's face gently, forcing her to meet his eyes. He nearly melted into those eyes again but forced himself back into character just in time. "Whatever it is, you know I'm here for you."
She sighed. "I know that," she admitted. "That's what I'm troubled about."
He frowned, moving his hand away. "What?"
"I care about you a lot." Eliza looked out into the distance again, her eyes softening. "But… I also care about the other suitors, of course. And I don't know whether this is love."
Raphael flinched. The stab of pain that tore through his heart almost seemed real. "Your Highness…"
"How can I know whether this is love or not?" she murmured quietly, not meeting his eyes. "I've never experienced real love before… How am I supposed to see it, even if it's right in front of me?"
Raphael cleared his throat. "If I may, Your Highness… Maybe I can help you."
Eliza turned back to him, hope glimmering in her eyes. "How?"
"Well, I suppose I can explain what love feels like to me." Raphael reached for Eliza's hand, knowing he was about to embark on the cheesiest line of dialogue in this entire damn script. But if he was going to shoot this scene, he might as well put his all into it. "Love. Before I came to Illéa, before I came to the palace, I'd experienced love before. I love my parents, who raised me into the man I am today. I love my brother, who has supported me every step of the way. I love my best friends, who bring joy to my life. I love my country, which I am proud to serve. But those are very different types of love, and certainly not the one you're looking for."
Eliza nodded her agreement but didn't stop him from talking, and he continued.
"Romantic love. It's kind of strange, isn't it? The idea that we all have puzzle pieces, and someone out there just connects with yours so perfectly that coming together is as simple as a click. That you spend your entire life searching for this one person, your soulmate, who's supposed to make you happy for the rest of your life. But, from my experience… True love is nothing like that.
"Love isn't supposed to be simple. Love is supposed to be a complicated tangle of feelings and desires that leave your heart confused, not knowing what happens next. Love doesn't happen all at once, but it trickles into your heart slowly, until one day you wake up and love someone so intensely that you can't imagine your life without them. Love isn't about the grand gestures and passionate kisses, but about fighting for someone else because you would never give up on them. Love is knowing that you could spend every day of the rest of your life with that special someone and still be the happiest person alive."
He looked up, his throat constricting as he uttered the final line. "Love is when you look at the beautiful princess in front of you and know, without a doubt, that your heart belongs to her."
Eliza stared at him, her mouth hanging open, and though he knew what happened in the next he still hesitated. "Your Highness?" he asked nervously.
She smiled, her eyes watering. "You see how the water falls in this fountain?"
He nodded uncertainly.
"That's how I fall for you." And with that, she leaned in and kissed him.
Raphael let himself get lost in the kiss, almost forgetting that they were still shooting a movie, he was still playing the Military Guy, Eliza was still playing the princess, and cameras still surrounded them and captured their every move. At the moment, he had Eliza in his arms, and that was all he could ask for.
As Ruby yelled "CUT!", he reluctantly broke off the kiss. It might've been his imagination, but Eliza's hands lingered on his back a second too long. All around them, the boys who had come to watch burst into applause, and even Ruby came over from the director's chair to congratulate them.
"Great job, Raph, Eliza," Ruby praised, patting Raphael on the back. "You both have a break until after lunch, but that was fantastic acting!"
"Thank you, Ruby," Raphael said, ducking his head in embarrassment.
He wished it was only acting, but there was no denying it now. After that kiss… Raphael was sure of it.
He'd fallen for his co-star.
yeet