Chapter One
Hollywood is a machine. Either you are part of the inner workings of the machine, or you're rusted and no longer needed. The machine would throw you aside if it no longer found any value in you, and you were left to try to readjust the best you could. That's where Chris Evans was finding himself at this very moment. With the Marvel run coming to an end after the Infinity Wars, he tried for the longest time to find a new gig. However, that was harder than he had anticipated. Sure, while filming the Marvel movies, he had been able to have other movie projects here and there, but now that the Marvel films were done, he was starting to fade into obscurity. The casting directors kept telling them, when they'd turn him down, that he didn't get the job because no one was able to see him as anything other than Captain America. This, of course, perturbed him to no end. He didn't understand why they couldn't look past the character he had once played, and why everyone was acting as if he were some nobody again. He didn't feel like he was self-entitled. He wasn't cocky, but he at least wanted a chance, and no one was giving it to him. That was unfortunately how the Hollywood machine worked, and Chris was just another one of its victims.
Staring in a disgruntled manner at the coffee in front of him, he waited for Sebastian Stan to show up. Having worked with Sebastian on multiple projects once upon a time, the two had become great friends. Sebastian, unlike Chris, had a seemingly easy time booking projects ever since Marvel came to an end. However, Sebastian could tell how down Chris was becoming throughout the whole thing and had been promising him for over a week now that he had an idea. That's why Chris was at this diner waiting for Sebastian. He was waiting to be enlightened. Otherwise, he would have stayed home and had a film binge again.
Rain snaked down the window by his head; a metronomic beat to the diner's talk. Letting out a sigh, Chris reached a hand up to scratch at the beard that he had been growing there; growing increasingly antsy with each passing second. A waitress walking by the table just then saw him sigh heavily and look down at his watch.
"Can I get you something while you wait?" she asked as she paused at the head of the table Chris was seated at.
Turning to face her, he tried to put a smile upon his face. The waitress stood before him; her little white apron soiled by multiple food and beverage stains. Her name tag that was tacked to her preppy pink shirt read 'Claire', and matched the pink off-brand converse on her feet. Her brown eyes continued to stare at him in question, soon clearing her throat to ask once more, "Can I get you something, Mr. Evans?"
He smiled at that. She knew who he wasn't. Not everyone was acting like he had never existed.
"No, but thank you. I appreciate you asking."
She smiled slightly and shrugged.
"It's my job," she remarked right before a voice bellowed from the bowels of the kitchen. Turning her head to look over her shoulder, she sighed. "Excuse me."
He nodded, furrowing his brows as he watched her walk towards the kitchen and disappear through the swinging doors. He couldn't focus on it for long though before he heard the bell above the diner cling, and turning, saw Sebastian enter with a large black bag draped around his arm. Seeing Chris at one of the tables in back, he quickly made his way over.
"I see that you're still here. I'm sorry for being late," said Sebastian as he slid into the booth seat across from Chris, laying the bag on his arm gently beside him.
"Who's your friend?" asked Chris as he nodded his head towards the bag Sebastian had just laid down.
"My friend?" asked Sebastian, confused for a second until he saw that Chris was staring at the bag he had just laid down. "Oh! That!" Sebastian laughed as he leaned forward to pick up a menu. "That's why I'm late."
"Still doesn't answer my question," remarked Chris.
"I know. Means I don't want to answer it yet," said Sebastian with a smirk as he moved to open the menu. "I see you've ordered coffee. Have you ordered anything to eat?"
"I'm not hungry," said Chris as he sighed, leaning back against the red pleather booth.
"Dude, no. Cute the crap." Sebastian spun the menu around so that it was now facing Chris and pointed a finger down at it. "Pick out something."
"Are you my mother now?" asked Chris.
"If I have to be a mother figure to you to get you to eat, then yes."
Chris smirked, leaning forward once more to eye the menu. Seeing Chris begin to look at the menu caused Sebastian to begin relaxing a bit.
"Fine. If you're really wanting to see me eat something, I'll try the club sandwich."
"You've turned boring," teased Sebastian with a chuckle as he moved to reclaim the menu. "And before you make some snide remark, I'm only teasing you."
Chris watched Sebastian begin to leaf through the menu for himself as they waited to be waited on. Chris was half wondering if Claire would be their waiter. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. A woman in her late forties came over; dressed in a pale yellow and white plaid dress that seemed to be fraying somewhat. Her apron, like Claire's, was just as soiled. Her name tag read "Annabel".
"What can I get you both today?"
"One pasta salad and water for me, and a club sandwich over here for my boy," said Sebastian, smirking over at Chris who decided to reward him by giving him a soft kick to the shin under the table.
Annabel chuckled at seeing the childish display that two men in their late thirties was putting on. She focused on her small pad in her hand, taking down their order before looking up at them with a smile.
"I'll be back momentarily with your order," said Annabel with a smile before walking off to the kitchen.
As Annabel swung open the door to the kitchen, the shouting from behind seemed to escalate in volume for a moment. Chris' eyes moved to lock on the door, wincing a bit at the fighting from inside the kitchen. Sebastian turned his head towards the kitchen too, wrinkling his nose a bit at the sounds.
"They certainly aren't in the spirit of the season," remarked Sebastian, soon turning his gaze back onto Chris.
"The weather outside isn't either," remarked Chris, having forgot that Christmas would be upon them all in a matter of weeks.
"Neither are you," stated Sebastian with a heavy sigh. "C'mon man. Don't act like this."
"Act like what?"
"This," said Sebastian, gesturing across the table at Chris and the slouched position he was now finding himself in once again. "You're acting like a Scrooge."
"A Scrooge? I'm not a penny pincher. Try comparing me to someone else, would you?"
Sebastian held his hands up in an act of surrender.
"Look, I'm not here to pick a fight with you. I'm here to help you out like any friend would."
"Uh huh," said Chris, moving to pick up his coffee cup and bring it to his lips again.
Sebastian shook his head then, turning to look out the window at the rain that was still pouring down outside. They both stewed in silence for a good couple of minutes, not saying anything. Annabel delivered their meals while they both still sat in awkward silence. Breaking the silence then, Chris turned to look at Annabel before she walked off and asked, "What's going on back there?"
The fight was still ongoing back there; highlighted here or there by a smashing of a plate or a banging of a pot. Chris was starting to get concerned, especially since the other waitress, Claire, had yet to come back out of the kitchen. Annabel turned her head towards the kitchen before looking back at Chris.
"It's what normally happens nowadays, it seems. At any rate, I hope that you both enjoy your meal."
Annabel turned then and walked back into the kitchen where the war seemed to be raging on. Sebastian turned from the window then to begin picking at his salad. Chris knew that he had to try to lighten the awkwardness between them.
"And you said my club sandwich was boring? Look at you eating pasta salad."
A glimmer of a smirk appeared on Sebastian's face as he looked over at Chris, who was smirking right back at him.
"Pasta salad is more exciting than two slices of bread with lettuce."
Chris scoffed, clapping both hands about his sandwich as if to cover its ears.
"Don't listen to him, my beloved sandwich. He hasn't a clue what he's talking about."
Sebastian chuckled then, rolling his eyes as he began to eat. The tension was gone.
"Just shut up and eat, dude," remarked Sebastian as he chewed on a few pieces of pasta thoughtfully before flicking his gaze to the black bag beside him.
Chris saw Sebastian flick his gaze towards the bag again, and asked after swallowing a bite of his sandwich, "You gonna tell me what you're hiding now?"
Sebastian nodded his head after a moment, putting his fork down as he looked over at Chris.
"Now, you have to promise me you'll listen to what I have to say."
Chris frowned a bit at that, putting his sandwich back down on his plate.
"Why don't I like the sound of that?" asked Chris slowly, arching a brow. "Spit it out."
"I have a job for you to do that will last at least for a small while."
"A job?" asked Chris. "Is it an acting job?"
"In a way, yes. Depends on your perspective."
"My perspective?" asked Chris.
"You can't be a Scrooge with this job. You need to act happy even if you aren't."
"Sebastian. What job did you book me?"
"It'd be easier if I showed you," said Sebastian, turning to move and pick up the bag beside him, unveiling what was hidden in it slightly.
When Chris saw what Sebastian was revealing to him, his eyes widened into the size of quarters.
"No. There is absolutely no...and you've already booked me this gig? Geez, Seb!"
"What? I can't watch you wasting away like this anymore!"
"I'm not wasting away!"
"You are! Your money won't last forever!"
"You're acting like I'm going to be unemployed forever."
"Chris. Look. You need to get back into the game somehow. This is somehow."
"That," said Chris, nodding his head towards the black bag, "Is certainly something, but it isn't my somehow. No."
"Can't you at least think about it? It's not like it's a permanent job."
"What makes you think I'd even be good at this job?"
"I know you, and you're a people person. You'd be good at this. It's only temporary, but at least this will stop you from moping about the whole holiday season."
"Sebastian…"
"At least think about it. For me."
Chris sighed, leaning back in the booth to look out the window again.
"Fine. I'll think about it."
Sebastian smiled a small smile of victory then as he began to eat his pasta salad with a renewed vigor. Chris, meanwhile, continued to stare out the window. He was completely lost in his thoughts. No matter how much he disliked being where he was at, he knew that he didn't have a choice. Sebastian was right. He had to get back into the swing of things somehow.
Hollywood is a machine, and if he had to pretend to be Santa Claus to appease some kids for a few weeks, he would do it.