Chapter Text
Peat put down the glass after having emptied all of it almost at once. He didn't have time to eat so he tried to quench his hunger with water. He hadn't eaten anything since 6am and it was almost 8pm.
The staff were all rushing, everyone were busy. He felt that he couldn't possibly show that he was hungry whilst everyone around him were as busy as himself. In-between shooting they wanted him and Fort to film BTS. They had to focus on the camera as soon as it was up, put a smile on and even act foolish as if they had all the time in the world.
Peat looked at the boy who was sitting on the couch and going over the script. Staff was touching up his makeup, his eyes didn't even lift from the papers. Yet he looked absolutely stunning, sitting there doing the bare minimum of looking so good.
Peat felt his heart hurt in a twisty way. He admired the boy, but some might even call it jealousy. He knew that his co-partner had worked as a makeup artist before getting this role. He was well aware of how hard he had worked before becoming an actor. The staff always talked about this, they paid a lot of attention to him, repeatedly complimenting his work drive and saying how amazing he was to be this committed at his young age.
Of course it was worthy of being praised. Of all people, Peat knew that Fort gave his 110% in everything he did, whether it was fanservice or acting or just being a social butterfly.
But.. in all this Peat felt invisible. Like he didn't matter at all. Like if he disappeared tomorrow, no one would even notice.
He was also new in this world. Maybe that's why it hurt a little. He was missing the same warm welcome Fort was getting. Sure enough Peat had gotten this role through connections, but even he had needed to prove this talents at the audition. It's not like he had gotten everything served on a silver plate.
He had had sleepless nights where he would twist and turn, worrying endlessly about whether he would just fail in everyone's eyes. Because he was deadly afraid of becoming a disappointment. His parents had long ago called him that when he decided to get into acting instead of going to university. With that single decision they had told him not to call them his parents again. And that through a phone call.
It had been over four years and last time he had seen on Facebook, they were in California. Not worrying about their child, simply just disowning him over that. It was hard at first. He had to work three part-time jobs aside from studying and paying for tuition and rent. He would go to school 8 hours and then work the next 9 hours, leaving two hours for studying and five hours for sleeping. And well, one thing he had in common with Sky was that he couldn't sleep due to nightmares.
God it was hard to get through uni. He graduated two years ago and he had finally landed a supporting role a year later. And slowly like that he had worked himself up to get this main role.
"Phi," said a voice. Peat had to wake from his trance only to see a handsome face right in front of him.
"You okay?" he said in a low voice.
He nodded. He saw how Fort's hand was about to grab his and he deliberately turned away to look at their director. She smiled. "Get ready for the next scene."
And well.. no one knew anyways. How Peat's heart lingered for Fort. But like Sky, he too had had a grim experience with relationships. Funny how fate worked. The guy he had to work with would turn out to become his secret crush and the role he had to play would be too much like his own reality.
Peat let out a sigh and quietly told his heart to calm down. He even thought that taking deep breaths would lessen the pain but he knew better that the scars left on it would forever hurt.
He just had to endure three more weeks of shooting. And then maybe four weeks more for the whole fanservice and event holdings.
He had to remember to be grateful that he even got to play this role. Don't let them down, you have to show them that it wasn't a mistake to let you have this role, he tried telling himself.
Fort came too close again.
"If you ever want to talk, I'm here. Just say the word, okay?" he whispered in his ear. Peat felt his heart clench once more and prayed to god that the younger would stop talking to him in this endearing way. Stop showing that you're worried. Stop..
"Next scene, let's go!" the director said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.