-Just An Act-
-All right, well, in one of my other stories, you guys all left some great requests for me to write another Of Minho & Newt story. And I was going to. But then I saw this request about Minho and Newt being actors who constantly deny being together and I needed to write it. XD Soooo maybe another Of Minho & Newt story will come later, but for now, I wrote this! Three parts long, tops, I swear (although all of my "three-part" stories end up being four... :P)
I hope you like it, because I had a lot of fun writing this. Reviews = Love. :D-
"Well, she's a member of the family and like it or not, I'm stuck with her."
"She's ridiculous. And she's not part of MY family, so I'm not dealing with her."
"Takumi, we're getting married and she's my mother."
"So?"
"SO, you're gonna have to...to...deal with...OH MY GOD, would you stop it?!"
The scene dissolved into huge sighs and groans of complaint as Newt finally snapped, breaking from his character. Cameras clicked and whirred, microphones were drawn back away from the actors, and the sunlight played over the expensive cars parked in the lot. The scene took place outside, which was very pleasant for everybody in this late spring weather. The entire crew hated being cooped up in studios for endless, tedious hours of shooting new scenes. This was a much better way of doing it: outdoors in the sun.
Right now, the crew was gathered outside an adorable little restaurant in White Glade. It was a cream-colored building of thick stones, with a red-and-white striped awning, and an outdoor eating area. Chairs and circular tables were set out behind a short, black fence. It was the perfect place for this particular scene of Sideways, a movie well on its way to being completed. It was an unusual love story (which prompted the title) about two boys who fell for each other, but now had to deal with the pressures and opinions of their very-different families. It was, obviously, a romantic comedy. Director, Thomas Edison, was incredibly proud of it.
That is, when the actors actually PLAYED THEIR PARTS.
"Newwwwwwt!" Thomas groaned in that drawling way he always did when he was annoyed. "What HAPPENED? We were doing so good! Did you forget your line?"
Isaac Newton, who was sitting on a chair by one of the outdoor tables, folded his arms over his chest defiantly. "No, I didn't forget my line," he answered, rolling his eyes at the absurd idea. "It's HIM." He pointed accusingly at the actor sitting across from him with a huge grin on his face.
"What did I do?" Minho Park, the second actor, asked innocently.
"You keep making that stupid face at me and I can't concentrate!"
"What face?"
"That one, you're doing it right now!"
"I'm supposed to act like I'm utterly in love with you; this is my In-Love face." Minho then propped his elbows on the table and gazed up at Newt through too-wide, dreamy eyes. Someone holding a camera snorted a laugh.
"No, that's you're I'm-Minho-and-I'm-gonna-act-stupid-now face," Newt quipped. But he lifted a hand to his shirt collar, tugging at the sky-blue fabric to hide the way he wanted to laugh at Minho's goofy expression.
Minho placed a hand over his heart. "How could you say that to your fiancé?" he asked in mock disappointment. (Newt played a boy named Ashton, who was "Takumi's" fiancé.)
"Aw, shut up."
Thomas cut off whatever Minho wanted to say next by hollering, "WHY MUST YOU CONTINUE TO RUIN MY MOVIE?" Both actors glanced over at him. Poor Thomas's sandy-brown hair was mussed, his navy T-shirt comically rumpled from him curling his fingers nervously in it whenever an actor screwed up. The curly-haired girl manning the camera beside him scooted herself an inch away from him.
Minho felt a twinge of pity for the director and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, Thomas," he apologized. "I was just messing around."
"Minho, you're always messing around!" Thomas complained, waving his copy of the script around for emphasis.
"Yeah, um, sorry about that too."
"Well, sorry isn't good enough!"
"You gonna kick me outta the movie?"
"Shuck, no, I can't do that! Are you crazy?!"
Minho's lips curved up at one side in amusement. It was kinda fun to get Thomas all worked up like this. He was by far, the most entertaining director Minho had ever worked with. He was always so flustered by every little thing and it was hilarious. He went flying into one of his lectures about "respectable actors" and "ruining movies," pacing in circles and making the rest of the crew roll their eyes. Minho knew this would take a while, so he zoned out a bit. Turning his gaze away from Thomas, he glanced at the actor across from him.
Newt was rubbing his forehead now, a sure sign he was stressed out, and leaning his elbow on the table. The sunlight lit his honey-blonde hair to white flame, and danced over his creamy skin. His lashes lowered as he pushed his bangs back, only to have them flop back down again. Sighing, his gaze flitted over and locked with Minho's. He raised his eyebrows as though to say, now look what you did, genius.
Minho shrugged and grinned: I don't see what's so bad about it.
Newt's mouth tipped up into a soft smile. The sunlight sought out his dark blue eyes, picking out different pinpricks of color: sky-blue, and stormy navy, and even charcoal-gray. In that moment, with glowing, spring air around him and that smile, Newt was stunning.
Minho felt his heart flutter.
And there it was. The reason that Minho had to mess around with Newt, and make him break character once in a while. Minho wanted to see the real Newt sometimes, because he couldn't help but hope for one thing, one simple, amazing thing.
He wanted this whole in-love thing to be more than just an act.
His thoughts were cut off when Thomas started shouting again. "All right, we're going to try the scene again!" he ordered. He flipped through his script, brown eyes skimming over the lines and jotted-down notes. "I want to start from the 'everything's gonna work out' line, at the end! Since we never got that far," he added with a meaningful glare at Minho.
Minho flashed him a shameless smirk in reply and winked. Thomas cast his eyes heavenward as though praying for strength.
"Okay, places, everyone!" Thomas yelled, and sat himself down in the foldout chair he'd brought for himself. "I want to do this fast and get it over with. We're running out of daylight."
"We're always 'running out of daylight,'" Minho muttered, as a few makeup artists and designers rushed out to the two actors to touch them up. "Everything has to be done in a hurry with this guy."
"I think he just wants to get done," Newt replied, having overheard Minho's grumbling.
"I want to get done too and you don't see me running around like a crazy person." Minho spoke while barely noticing the makeup artist fixing strands of his black hair that had stubbornly refused to stay spiked. He was used to constant fixing and things like this now. It hardly fazed him anymore.
Newt snorted. "Yeah, all I see you doing is making weird faces at me so I screw up every ten seconds."
"You're just so easy to pick on, Isaac."
"Ugh, don't call me Isaac."
Minho snickered darkly, hinting that he was officially calling Newt by his first name for the rest of the movie. Newt had time to shoot him a scowl before Thomas practically threw his script at the makeup crew to move the heck out of the way. With muttered sorry's and a few complaints, the team scrambled off away from the cameras' sight. Satisfied, Thomas called out to the actors one last time: "Okay, now, remember! You two just had the whole argument about Ashton's mother being unsupportive about your relationship! She might not come to the wedding, she hates Takumi, etcetera, etcetera... Minho, you're still unsure about the whole thing, and Newt, you have to make him see that it's going to work out because, I dunno, you love each other."
The curly-haired girl running the camera next to him sniggered. "Shouldn't be too hard to make that convincing," she commented, green eyes sparkling in playfulness.
Someone else murmured in agreement behind her and a few other crew members were nodding. Newt huffed out a breath at all of them. "For the sixteenth time, Minho and I are NOT DATING outside of this movie!"
Minho raised his hand jokingly. "Yeah, I'm actually straight," he called out, and the guy manning a microphone nearly dropped the thing when he laughed. Others chortled too, because everybody knew that Minho was the one who had flirted with every single guy in the building at least once, just to make his point that he was gay and proud of it. Not that he actually meant any of the flirting. There was only one person here he was interested in.
"I would like to shoot this scene sometime this year!" Thomas yelled, shutting everyone up. "We can joke about Newt and Minho's relationship later!"
Newt threw his hands up in the air. "WE ARE NOT IN A RELATIONSHIP."
"Sure, yeah, whatever you say, ALL RIGHT LET'S GET STARTED!" Thomas clapped his hands together once, a signal for everybody to start listening up and keeping their mouths shut. The girl with the camera stopped giggling and adjusted her glasses. The guys holding microphones raised them out of the way of the cameras. Newt switched to the chair next to Minho because that was where he was supposed to be sitting for this scene. Minho rested his elbows on the table and Newt leaned back in his chair.
"ACTION!" Thomas shouted, just because he loved shouting it.
Dead silence from the crew.
Newt offered a reassuring smile. "Hey, listen, everything's gonna work out," he told Minho, reciting the lines he knew by heart. "It always does, doesn't it?"
Minho lowered his gaze the way he'd been told to and slid it away from Newt. "I guess," he mumbled.
Newt tipped his head to the side to catch Minho's eye again. "You know my mom doesn't really hate you," he said, and Minho looked at him disbelievingly. "She just wants what's best for me."
"And she doesn't think I can be what's best for you?" The way Minho's voice rang with disappointment was perfect; Thomas muttered a happy, "yes!" from the side.
Newt shrugged with one shoulder. "Someday, she'll understand. And besides—" Thomas made a hand motion and Newt placed his hand on top of Minho's. "—I know you're the best thing that's ever happened to me," Newt went on, curling his fingers around Minho's. (Minho swallowed shakily, unnoticed by the camera) "That's all that really matters."
"You're awfully calm about the fact that your own mother hates me," Minho scoffed with a dry half-smile.
"Aw, come on, Tak," Newt encouraged, bumping their shoulders together and using the nickname Thomas had come up with for "Takumi." "Just give her a chance."
Minho pretended to think, sighing loudly. Newt's thumb rubbed circles into his palm. "Fine," he conceded, and Newt broke into a very convincing, very dazzling grin. "But she better not try to murder me before the wedding."
Newt let out a burst of silver laughter, the kind of sound that birds make in far-off trees. With the lingering smile still on his face, he leaned in and pressed his forehead to Minho's. Thomas muttered another, "yes!" and Minho let his eyelids droop dreamily at Newt's closeness. All just acting for the scene, of course.
Newt's silken hair tickled Minho's forehead as Newt tilted his head so that their noses brushed. "I love you," he murmured.
Minho's stomach flipped, and his heart melted, and he nearly said, "I love you, too," but that wasn't his line. He chuckled and brushed a strand of hair from Newt's face like he was supposed to. He thought he heard Newt's breath hitch. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he teased. "You only tell me every other day."
Newt gave him a playful shove. "Shut up."
"Annnnnnnnd DONE! YES! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!" Thomas cheered like a mad man and jumped up off his seat. His face glowed with happiness. As you can probably tell, he was huge sucker for romantic scenes.
Newt quickly pulled back away from Minho and stood up. Minho thought he saw a growing blush tinting Newt's cheeks, but it had to be his imagination. He swept foolish thoughts like that to the back of his mind as the cameramen and other workers began to pack up. Pieces clattered together, car doors slammed, and voices buzzed. A girl with white-blonde hair named Sonya, head of the design/makeup team, stopped to talk with Thomas. One of the cameramen cursed as he nearly dropped his things.
Minho got up out of his seat with a sigh. Another day of filming done. Rolling the sleeves of his black shirt up to his elbows, he started to walk away from the table. He was surprised when Newt fell into step beside him. "G—good job." Newt's eyes softened when he looked at Minho.
Did he just stutter? Minho thought delightedly. "You too," he replied, letting his shoulder graze Newt's as they walked.
"Thanks," Newt said sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his head with one hand, taking a breath to add something else, but he was interrupted.
"Awww!" Brenda, a member of the design team, called out. "Look at the two lovebirds walkin' together!" She winked suggestively and her crowd of friends laughed.
Newt and Minho both turned and shouted, "WE ARE NOT DATING!" Then they glanced at each other, as though surprised that the other had spoken.
"Whatever you say, guys!" Brenda flapped her hand dismissively, obviously not believing them.
Newt growled under his breath. "I can't believe they think I'm actually dating you," he muttered. Then he saw Minho raising his eyebrows at him and hurried on, "I mean, not that I WOULDN'T date you ever, or like, that you're unattractive or anything, cuz you're not, I just, um, we're not...together...like that." He finished lamely and his face turned bright red.
Minho smirked. "Glad you explained all that to me, Isaac."
"Please stop calling me Isaac!"