Work Text:
"Cut!"
Johnny Cage sits back with a sigh. He rubs his temples to relieve the incoming headache as he stops the shot for the seventh time today.
Gods, was he this obnoxious as an actor?
The new rising star, Chad Strong (because of course it was a name like Chad Strong), just could not get his scene right. Sure, he was a promising new actor breaking out onto the scene. But this?
Chad was going completely off script. Every other line had the wrong inflections, or had words that weren't even close to the originals. Johnny forced Chad to do retake after retake, which was very much pissing off the former actor.
To top it all off, Chad's new assistant was feeling the blunt of his frustrations. Speaking of which, where were they?
Johnny spots you across the set near Chad's area on set. Even from the director's chair, he can see your frustration as you fiddle with the overly complicated coffee maker. He sees Chad walk over and slump into his chair.
"Hey, newbie! That my coffee?" Chad calls out to you.
You try to calm yourself and approach him with the cup in question. Chad snatches it from you as soon as you're close enough. You're about to warn him of its contents when he takes a sip.
And spits it out.
"The fuck is this?" he huffs. "This isn't my order!" He goes on rambling as you muster up the courage to speak to him.
"Mr. Strong, you've told me your order once… And your coffee machine is more complicated than what I'm used to-"
"Save it!"
Johnny winces at your flinch. Gods, he definitely wasn't this bad in his prime. This guy was just a flat-out asshole.
Chad rises from his chair and stabs the air as he speaks. "You're an assistant. You get my dry cleaning. You make my coffee order, and you don't fuck it up. And surprise? You did. Again." He angrily tosses the coffee cup away.
"But Mr. Strong-"
"You're fired!" Chad storms off before you can get another word in, muttering about incompetent people working with incompetent machinery. Leaving you shuffling out of frustration and disbelief. You grab your bag and start packing what few things you had on set.
Johnny couldn't take it anymore. He'd seen you work your ass off following behind Chad since you were hired. And this was the thanks you got? Not on his watch.
He jumps out of his director's chair and saunters his way over to you, hands in his pockets.
"Hey. Is that the script?" He points at the script shoved into your bag, labeled with multicolored tabs and sticky notes. "Here. Let me see it."
Dread fills you. Great. First, you're fired for not being able to make Chad's coffee right. And now the Johnny Cage—the head honcho, the director, your boss's boss—is asking you to hand in the script.
You reluctantly hand it over to him, and he immediately starts to skim and read through some pages. You stand there nervously as his eyes dart over the highlighted sections and notes.
"This is…" he trails off as he continues to read.
"I-I made myself a… uh. A copy of Chad's script," you stutter. Your hands are going numb from nervousness. "So I could have a copy of, well… the script-"
"This is awesome!"
You nearly jump at his volume. "…What?"
"Oh, my… gods! Taking this tone here in this scene! And the punchiness leading up to the fight over here!"
He's nearly jumping up and down with excitement as he paces. Rambling on about the clever notes you've written. The lines he's written being crossed out with even better puns. You nervously glance around to see if anyone's watching the moment with you. Maybe you need a drink after this.
"Uh… Mr. Cage?"
His excitement dies down a tad as you call his name. He hands your script copy back. "You know… doing this director stuff isn't as easy as I thought. I'm… thinking of getting an assistant to help me."
You blink. You couldn't believe your ears. "Wait… Mr. Cage, are- are you asking me to…?"
He grins. Not his famous A-list photo op grin, but a softer, warmer smile that made him less of the pompous ass he once was. "I wanna make you my assistant director. Help me on set. It'll make that Chad listen to you. The pay's sooo much better, I'm sure. But…" His grin softens into a satisfied smile. "You have a knack for this. Truly, you do."
You're stunned completely. You were just fired, and now you're being rehired in a higher position. Part of you wants to make sure the cameras aren't rolling like a gag prank TV show.
"Now, you don't have to give me an answer now. Just keep it on the table-"
"I'll do it!" you blurt out. "I can do it. I-" You take a breath to calm yourself a bit. You manage a content smile. "I can do it, Mr. Cage. Don't you worry."
He grins again, and a bit of that brash A-list side surfaces. "So… how quickly can you be cool about evil wizards and hot demon ladies?"