Title: Breakthrough
Author: Watoshimi Kairou
Fandom: Hollywood U: Rising Stars
Characters: Thomas Hunt / Main Character, Chris Winters
Rating: General
Status: In Progress
Summary: Chris had just done the unthinkable and for once, Hunt was the furthest thing from Jane's mind. It's too bad he wasn't having any of it.

Hello, it's been a long time hasn't it? Unfortunately, I'm not exactly back since classes have begun and I'm already swamped with exams and assignments. Thankfully, my keyboard problem has been solved because my darling girl, raecareus, took it upon herself to buy me a new laptop!

How has everyone been? I missed everyone T_T I'm also so behind in the fandom, I don't even know what to do anymore. Also, I have a ton of lovely messages from everyone and I apologize for not being able to reply to them all but I actually haven't been able to sort through everything. Just know that I read and treasure all your comments 3 And if I owe you a reply, whether a message here or a text, I'm slowly getting there, I promise. Sorry for the wait!

Breakthrough
[2] Midnight

Okay, so she didn't actually faint.

But she was aiming to be an actress and pretending to faint on cue and make it look realistic was just part of the job. The crowd immediately gasped and broke out into murmurs as she collapsed onto the ground.

"Jane!" Chris cried out in shock. The air around her shifted slightly as he scrambled towards her.

She felt his large, warm hands on her face for a brief second before her entire world moved. Reminding herself to keep her eyes shut and stay limp, Jane could only hope that Chris had picked her up so he could move her away from the gathering crowd. Her head fell against a broad chest and she smelled something deep and earthy, enhanced by the spicy scent of a very familiar cologne.

Not Chris, she thought.

"I think she had enough excitement for today," Hunt's deep voice sounded, his entire chest vibrating against her as he spoke. He shifted his hold on her, making it so that she was resting more comfortably against him.

"Is she all right?" Chris sounded panicked and Jane almost felt bad for him but she knew pretending to faint was their best choice.

Someone leaned closer to her, the course cloth of their jacket brushing up against Jane's cheek. "Get her out of here," Ackermann whispered in a low voice. "I'll handle everything here. The media will no doubt catch wind of this and have a field day. Mr. Winters is definitely not helping the situation right now."

While Hunt made no audible response, Jane could only assume that he must have nodded or something because the next thing she knew, he was straightening up as he moved to stand. For a single, brief second, Jane feared that Hunt might actually have known that she was awake and would purposely drop her just for the hell of it.

Thankfully, her fears were unfounded and Jane felt him move, the cool breeze of the night air washing over her skin as he stepped outside. Ackermann must have done something to hold everyone—including Chris—back in the restaurant because she couldn't hear anyone following them but even so, Jane continued the act. Just in case, she thought, strictly telling herself that it had absolutely nothing to do with her enjoying the feeling of Hunt holding her against his chest.

Besides, she had bigger things to worry about. As Hunt shifted her carefully in his arms so he could free up a hand to wrestle the passenger's door to his car open, Jane wondered what she was going to do. While she may not have turned Chris down in public, there was no doubt they would be making headlines tomorrow. Not to mention, she still had to give an answer, both to him and the media.

Hunt slid her into the passenger's seat, his touch was surprisingly gentle as he manipulated her limbs around, making sure she was completely inside the car. Jane probably would have enjoyed this had she not been too preoccupied with her thoughts but when he closed the passenger's door, Jane breathed a sigh of relief, immediately feeling the nervous twisting of her stomach easing.

She opened her eyes and sat up in her seat just as Hunt slipped into the driver's seat, closing the door behind him. "Oh dear gods!" she exclaimed, feeling to need to summarize her feelings of the night's events.

Hunt jumped in surprise, slamming his head against the roof of his car. "Shit!" He was forcefully slammed back down into his seat from the impact. "Ow," Hunt hissed, glaring at her. "You're awake?"

Jane looked up at him fearfully, for once, afraid of what the asshole side of him might do. "You're not going to force me to go back there, are you?"

He stared at her.

As the reality of the situation finally managed to completely register in her mind, Jane groaned and brought her feet up onto the seat—despite Hunt's half-hearted protests—and buried her face into her knees. "What a nightmare," she groaned, her voice muffled. "What in the world am I going to do?" For someone who prided herself in coming up with solutions while no one else could, Jane could practically feel her brain shriveling up at the though of needing to deal with the current problem at hand.

Meanwhile, Hunt was still staring at her like she had grown an extra head. "You pretended to faint so you wouldn't have to answer him?" he asked slowly.

Jane lifted her head to glare at him; he was judging her, he was totally judging her. "It happened so suddenly, I didn't know what to do!" she snapped.

Hunt blinked and narrowed his eyes. "This is not a romance movie!" he snapped right back. "People usually have some sort of suspicion whether or not their significant other is planning to propose! What do you mean it happened so suddenly? How foolish do you think I am?"

"What?" Jane immediately shot back, her voice unnaturally high. "We weren't even going out! Chris and I talked about this and we agreed to just be friends!" She huffed in annoyance. "Why am I even telling you about this?" Jane asked, mostly to herself than him but she continued anyway, "I can't even believe that he thought—since when did we—" Jane cut herself off suddenly, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. "I tend to show my affection physically, how could he have mistaken our—"

She froze.

"Oh gods," she whispered in a horrified voice as it dawned on her. "Oh my god!"

"Jane."

Heart pounding in her chest, Jane brought up shaky hands and clasped them tightly against her breasts. "I kissed him on the cheek a couple of times," she remembered. "And then there was that Christmas party where we were caught under that mistletoe. And Addison just had to throw that stupid middle school-themed party where we played that stupid Seven Minutes in Heaven. And there was also that dumb Truth or Dare game. And—"

"Jane."

"What?" she screeched, turning a wild, panicked expression towards Hunt.

He stared at her for a moment, eyes wide with surprise at her suddenly outburst. Then the moment was over and his eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

As strange as it may seemed, Jane actually found herself calming down at his expression. A scowling Hunt; finally, something familiar in her chaotic world. "Sorry," she muttered, patting her chest softly with an open palm. Calm down, she reminded herself. I need to calm down. She was Jane Doe and like with every other problem, she'll find a way to—

"No one makes reservations at Silver Crescent for some friendly dinner."

She paused.

"I don't know how someone as intelligent as you can be so stupid. Or are you just refusing to see what is so obviously in front of you?"

"Ethan is right," Jane whimpered, burying her face into her hands. "I am an idiot!"

"I could have told you that," Hunt grumbled.

Jane ignored his words and sighed instead as she looked up at him pitifully. "Do you mind driving me back to my dorm, professor? I need a bath." To be completely honest, she was probably going to immediately merge herself into her bed but a bath sounded nice too. She needed time to think, to plan; how was she going to deal with the media? With Chris?

A funny expression flashed over Hunt's face and for a moment it looked as if he was going to say something. She looked up and waited but he only nodded in response before turning away from her.

Addison stared down at the pitiful lump of... of... something and wondered what happened to her best friend. Jane was beautiful. Jane was intelligent. Jane was considered Hollywood's next big star; not only did she have the looks and personality to reach the top, she had the charisma and composure to stay there. When everything goes to shit, Jane was the one stepping up to calm everyone down and think of solutions. Jane was the one everyone wanted to be but right now, Addison was having a hard time differentiating her from a pile of overused play-doh.

"I'm guessing you're skipping classes today?" Addison finally asked, giving the pile a tentative poke.

Jane groaned and Addison snatched her hand away in response just as the young actress sat up and threw the covers off herself. "I can't," she grumbled. "Hunt will skin me alive and Singh will cook and eat me."

Addison's lips twitched but she didn't say anything. Instead, she watched silently as Jane forced herself out of her bed, grabbing a brush off a nearby counter before making her way into the bathroom. Beyond Hunt Hunt and Singh, Addison knew the real reason why Jane still planned on attending classes. If Jane couldn't handle the onslaught of piercing looks and wagging tongues now, she'll never be able to handle it; for someone who wanted to be famous, Jane needed to learn how to deal with it eventually.

"How bad is it outside?" Jane asked, coming back of the bathroom minutes later, all groomed and dressed. Addison will never understand how Jane could get herself to look the way she did in mere minutes.

The blonde winced at the question and looked over at the covered windows in Jane's dorm. "You have about three major celebrity news stations, about tel smaller ones, and then there's Chris' fans." She turned back and looked Jane in the eye before elaborating. "They're angry. And they make up most of the..." she paused, thinking, "mob."

It was Jane's turn to wince. Fangirls, she thought, and then remembered Hunt—or more specifically, the way she acted around him. I was like that, she realized with a sudden, sinking feeling in her stomach. She pursed her lips in annoyance and vowed, Never again.

With that, she turned her attention back to the window, peeked out and winced again. "That's a lot of people," she muttered.

"There's more in the back," Addison said, picking up a nearby hat and handed it towards her. "Need a fake mustache? I can easily make one up on the spot."

Jane laughed as she twisted her long hair and shoved it into the hat. "A mustache doesn't fit me; we're just going to catch attention."

Addison nodded in agreement. "True," she mused, watching as Jane shoved lensless glasses on. Glasses, she knew, that was a prop in one of Jane's previous projects, a prop she had obviously kept as a memento of sorts. "Ready?"

"Not with you," Jane replied, giving her a look. "We go everywhere together. The second someone sees you, they're going to know exactly who's next to you."

Understanding where her friend was coming from, Addison nodded again. "All right but you have to be careful. And if you're not in Hunt's classroom in fifteen minutes, I'll be forced to tell Ethan and who knows what he'll send after you."

Jane smiled faintly but didn't reply. She turned back towards the window, watching the crowd stationed outside and sighed. What ever happened to the campus security, anyway? Shouldn't the dean be all up on this? He was so helpful last Friday too! Knowing the dean's love for money, she wondered briefly if the media stationed outside are the ones that paid the dean. Jane scowled at the thought; she wouldn't put it past him.

Jane waited another five minutes before finally decided that it was long enough and slipped out of her dorm room. She sneaked through a side door but made sure to hold her head high as she navigated through the crowd, pretending that she belonged there. An inappropriate giggle inched its way up her throat. Jane was rather proud of her skills; not only could she pretend to faint on the spot, she could blend into the crowd like no other!

But by the time she finally reached the lecture room, Jane's heart was pounded furiously in her chest. She could avoid the media... for some time, but she knew avoiding her classmates and their stares and questions was an entirely different matter altogether. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the lecture doors open and felt a wave wash over her as everyone quieted down and stared.

Jane held her breath, staring back at her classmates unblinkingly.

Silence.

"This is Hollywood University," Hunt's voice drawled. "If you cannot handle a few rumors, perhaps none of you belong here after all."

For a moment, no one moved and then they all turned back and continued on doing whatever they've been doing before her arrival—probably talking about her, Jane mused wearily. She looked up, catching Hunt's gaze with her own. They stared at each other, his eyes unusually unreadable before Jane nodded her gratitude and made her way towards a seat. Not her usual one, of course, she needed to be as close to the exit as possible.

I don't know if the media has my schedule, she thought. Security may keep them out of campus buildings and dorms but the minute I step outside, they'll ambush me. Once class ends, I'll have to leave immediately. Her eyes darted around, taking note of all the exits. I have to contact Chris before I start answering people's questions.

With a sigh, she wilted tiredly in her seat, even though she had been doing nothing but lazing around over the past weekend. Jane lifted her head slightly and looked at the clock hanging off the wall and sighed again, waiting for class to start.

Jane had immediately shot up from her seat before Thomas could finish dismissing the class and was out the door before anyone even registered what had happened. He paused, blinked once, and then finished his sentence with a sigh. He knew exactly why she had escaped as fast as she did; she needed to be one step ahead of the paparazzi waiting outside. And no doubt she also wanted to avoid answering her peer's questions.

Chris Winters wasn't talking, he mused, and Jane had more or less disappeared the past weekend. Since no one had any real idea what was going on between Jane and Chris, the thirst for knowledge was intense. If Thomas didn't know better, he would have assumed they had done it on purpose and that everything was only an act.

With a sigh, he followed the last of his students out the lecture room only to turn down the opposite hall as he headed towards his office. Being the first person to have left his lecture, he had half-expected to see Jane waiting outside but then realized that she was probably still sneaking her way around the halls trying to avoid the few, stray paparazzis that managed to sneak in. Thomas snorted in amusement at the thought as he unlocked his door and reminded himself that he'll have to talk to Robert about increasing the campus security.

He took a seat behind his desk, sinking into the comfort of his armchair. Thomas closed his eyes, savoring the feeling for a moment before pulling out a folder of ungraded paper and placed it in front of it. He stared for a moment, as if staring long enough will shrink the pile before releasing a heavy sigh and got to work, waiting.

Time went by slowly and the silence he usually looked forward to was almost uncomfortably heavy in the air. Tapping his pen against the paper, Thomas took a few seconds to wonder at the feeling before finally decided it wasn't worth the waste of time and turned his attention back to the task at hand.

By the time he had finally finished grading all the papers, the sky was already darkening. With a heart-pounding jolt, his head snapped to the digital clock on his desk, realizing for the first time just how late it was and how long he had been sitting there, grading papers... waiting for Jane.

Jane.

She never showed up, he thought with an odd, uncomfortable twist in his stomach. Jane who showed up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after class during his office hours like clockwork never showed up.

Thomas paused, feeling the ugly feeling of something like betrayal twisting his guts before logic took over. Obviously, he thought. She's trying to avoid everyone—not just the media; she can't risk getting caught just to come here. Thomas turned the explanation over his head again and nodded. It made sense.

Jane has never actually seen someone scare off the paparazzi before but Singh was downright vicious. Eyes flashing, tone biting, she easily and very quickly sent the paparazzi running away with their tails between their legs.

"Oh wow," Jane murmured, awed as she watched them from the window. "I've never been so glad you're such a—" She cut herself off and glanced over at Singh as innocently as possible who turned her own gaze towards Jane, a perfect eyebrow arched.

"I didn't do that for you," Singh said, both her words and tone harsh. "If you can't even handle this little problem, you won't be able to handle anything in the future. The longer you avoid them, the crazier the stories they'll make up."

Jane thought about Hunt's words from the previous day and nodded in agreement. "I know. But I hadn't been able to get in contact with Chris and I don't want to say anything without running it through him first. This involves both of us, after all."

"Admirable," Singh replied, tone dry; Jane could almost taste her sarcasm. She leaned forward, taking a peek out the window. "You can stay here for another half an hour." Giving Jane a look, Singh pulled out a set of keys from her pocket and handed it to her. "Lock up behind you and give me the keys back Thursday."

"You're not going to stay with me?" Jane asked, lips curling. "It finally feels like we're actually bonding."

Singh glared. "Don't push your luck."

Without waiting for a reply—before Jane could say something that would make Singh change her mind—she turned around and made her way towards the exit. Just as she was reaching for the door handle, it swung open.

"Oh!" Chris exclaimed, blinking in shock. "I'm sorry, um..."

"Professor Singh," Singh offered through narrowed eyes.

"Chris!" Jane called out in surprise.

"Jane!" he immediately greeted back. "Ethan told me you would be here."

Singh rolled her eyes and turned to catch Jane's gaze again. "Remember," she said. "Half an hour," and was gone before Jane could even express her gratitude. Or make another "we're bonding" comment.

Together, the watched as the door swung shut behind Singh for a moment before turning their attention back towards each other. "I'm sorry," they both blurted out at the same time.

"Wait, let me go first," Chris said, holding up a hand to stop her when she opened her mouth to speak.

Jane closed her mouth with a small click, blinking rapidly in confusion, and watched as Chris took several deep breaths to compose himself.

"I didn't mean to put you on the spot," Chris began and then frowned. "Wait, no, I did mean to put you on the spot." She raised an eyebrow at his words and watched as Chris began pacing. "I was just hoping that—maybe you would think—" He sighed. "It was stupid. I was stupid. I'm sorry."

"Maybe," Jane said slowly. "You should start from the beginning."

He stopped his pacing and turned to look at her with such firmness in his gaze Jane was sure he was going to turn her world upside down. Again. She wasn't sure she could handle another Chris-style confession. "You're brilliant, Jane," he said. "Absolutely brilliant. And you're good for me too; you push me to do things I wouldn't normally do. You see beyond my fame and I'm always at ease when I'm around you." He paused, jaw tensing as he thought over his next words before finally saying, "But I don't think I'm good for you."

Jane thought about contradicting his words but then remembered that he hadn't said anything about "purposely putting her on the spot" so she kept silent.

"You were my Cinderella from the moment we met and since then we've always been in the news together." He sighed again, running a hand through his hair. "And when we started going out, everyone kept saying how good we looked together. Even after we..." He swallowed. "Even after we broke up, the comments kept coming. People supported us, Jane; we even have a couple's name for crying out loud."

The Winter Doe, Jane remembered. Their unofficial mascot was a deer with snow covering it's antlers. Does don't even have antlers.

He smiled at her—all lips and no feeling—before continuing, "I think I got so caught up in everything that I just forgot it wasn't real." He paused and then admitted, "Well, I knew it wasn't real." Another pause before he continued, his voice sounded soft and forlorn. "But I wanted it to be real. I wanted to have that sort of relationship with you and I thought that by proposing to you in public, you wouldn't be able to turn me down and then everything would just fall into place."

He fell silent then, waiting for her response but Jane was having a hard time digesting the information. Finally, she raised her eyes and caught his gaze. "But marriage, Chris?" she asked.

Chris flushed. "Yes, well... it seemed like a good idea at the time." He sighed. "I'm sorry."

Jane knew she should be angry, she should be very angry but all she could really think about was what she would have done if she was in his shoes. Probably something a lot worst, she thought with a wince, remembering her previous actions when it came to Hunt. "Well," Jane finally said, wanting to ease the uncomfortable and nervous tension as soon as possible. "I'm glad we cleared that up."

Chris nodded, head bobbing enthusiastically.

"But," she mused, "that doesn't change the fact that you proposed to me. In public."

He winced at the reminder before shrugging in such a way that Jane was suddenly reminded of exactly how long he had been in the industry. No doubt he already had an idea how to bury the gossip once in for all. "If we keep quiet about it for the next couple of days, everyone's going to assume it's some sort of publicity stunt. If you want to speed up the process, we could just tell everyone that I drank a little too much and got carried away."

While Jane could see a lot of problems in that particular plan, she couldn't exactly think of anything better. "Okay," she breathed, her voice soft with relief, shoulders dropping as if a huge weight had just been lifted. "I'm so glad we have a plan now, the past few days had been an absolute nightmare." It was like playing hide-and-seek. Blindfolded. In a forest full of poisonous plants. If it wasn't the reporters catching sight of her, it was her fellow peers attempting to bully the incident from her. And if that wasn't bad enough, someone had leaked her cell number—Bianca, probably—and even filtering a hundred messages a day wasn't enough to clear through all the spam.

A couple minutes into her musing, Jane noticed that Chris had spent most of it staring at her, if the prickling feeling of the thin hair on the back of her neck was anything to go by. She had always been sensitive to people's stares and while she had always thought this was a good thing, Jane found herself wishing she hadn't noticed. But she did. And Jane wasn't the type to avoid situations; she preferred confrontations, up front and personal.

"What is it?" she asked.

Chris blinked, obviously surprised. Then he smiled and shook his head. "It's nothing."

She frowned but pursed her lips, forcing herself not to pry—she had done enough of that, thank you very much. They stared at each other for a moment. Jane was sure her curiosity was showing on her face. The thought was confirmed with Chris flashed her an amused smile before making his way to her until he was standing only a couple inches away, forcing her to crane her neck so she could look him in the eyes.

He was so close, she could practically feel the heat radiating off him. Oh dear, she thought.

Jane watched as his throat moved as he swallowed. "Do you..." he began, voice soft and hesitant. "Do you mind if I—" he sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair. "Just one last kiss?" he asked.

Although surprised at him request, Jane could only raise an eyebrow in question. She didn't say anything; any response she had for his request was a bit on the sarcastic side and Jane knew that Chris was no Hunt, he was sweet and warm and kind and loving. This isn't the movies, she wanted to tell him. One last kiss isn't going to change my feelings for you. There was no way he wouldn't take that to heart.

"All right," she agreed.

He reached for her, cupping her cheek in his warm palm and leaned down. Chris' familiar scent wafted towards her, teasing the edges of her senses and seemed to whisper in her ears. This is what you could of have, it said. Romance and love, comfort and ease. Then Chris pressed his lips against hers, moving slowly as if to savor the moment and she responded in kind, bringing a hand up to clasp his shirt.

After a few seconds he paused and pulled back just the slightest. "I wish you liked me," Chris whispered softly against her lips.

Jane closed her eyes and thought about piercing glares and disapproving frowns. And with it, there was also the rush of emotion, of fire, of the passion. "I wish I liked you too," she replied, her voice just as soft.

If only, if only...

The first thing Jane saw when she woke up the next morning was Ethan's face. And it didn't look all that happy. She immediately groaned, throwing an arm over her eyes. "I didn't give you a copy of my keys so you could watch me while I sleep."

"No," Ethan agreed, sounding slightly amused. "You didn't, but I thought you would want to see this."

She peeked out. "What is it now?" she asked, her voice sounding almost like a whine. Considering her week, she was this close to throwing a full-fledged temper tantrum.

Ethan held out the magazine in response.

Jane blinked, then squinted. And there it was: a two page spread of herself and Chris in what appeared to be a lip-lock. It was obvious a paparazzi had somehow followed them. She had to give them props; they probably scaled a tree or something equally as desperate. "Well fuck," she muttered with a groan, wondering what she had done in her previous life to deserve this.

Besides the usual grammar mistakes, there are probably a ton of smaller typos. I blame my nails; it is so hard typing with long nails.