….

[LIE Studio's]

Darren had come in to give Regal a progress update on the theme park.

They were halfway through the contractor issue when Regal suddenly dropped the bomb.

"Darren–"

"What is it?"

"...Is the actor in you still alive?"

"...."

Darren simply looked at Regal and did the same, with the expression of someone who had been waiting to ask that question for a while.

"What?" Darren said.

"You heard me."

"I heard you, I just…. What are you talking about? What acting?" Darren set the construction report down. "You do know that I am a line producer right? I haven't acted since–"

He stopped, and thought about when. "Since the audition for [Following]. Which, if I recall correctly, we agreed we were never bringing up again."

"I know about your acting classes, Darren, and I can see you have come a long way.""

The room was quiet for a moment - Darren Hayes.

….and Regal Seraphail had known each other for the longest amongst the whole group of relationships he had built.

They had been friends since the first of film school.

Both had similar backgrounds.

At one point they were simply naive students who had big aspirations of making into Hollywood without even having the slightest clue how impossible their dreams were for someone of their background.

Darren had dropped out of the University even before Regal had, and started working as an extra and sometimes an assistant of a line producer to indie films.

Anyway, it is not a lie to say they had seen the lowest of each other.

By any reasonable measure, neither of them should have made it, and yet here they were, almost a decade later, among the most recognized names working in the industry.

But if asked Darren what he had become, he would say he had come to a position he had asked to give up long ago.

And it was all thanks to Regal, who unlike him has never given up his dreams or got comfortable with small time achievements; that kind of person was rare, and Darren had been lucky enough to watch one up close.

He is really proud of his friend.

But he is also ashamed of how he has given up on his dream unlike him.

And it was to become an - Actor.

He thought he himself forgot he had such a dream, let alone Regal actually remembering it.

Still, when did he find out?

Also, didn't he already give up that dream? And everyone had also assumed he did?

He didn't understand.

"....How?"

How did Regal know? He was certain he hadn't told anyone - not even Samantha or Simon.

These weren't formal, one-on-one lessons either.

It was just him, practicing relentlessly with whatever material he could find online in every format available, and the advantage of being a line producer meant he could stay on set, observe actors closely, and do it all without drawing attention.

So, how?

===

[Name:] Darren

[Acting Grade:] B+ (Hidden/Improving)

[Traits:] Resilient, Loyal, Deeply Observant

===

"Come on, man, did you really think you could hide it from me?"

He had questions, how long he had known, whether anyone else had figured it out, but they felt pointless now, so he let them go and just rubbed the back of his neck. "God… and here I was thinking I was doing a decent job fooling you."

"You were." Regal said plainly, without a hint of flattery. "I am just better at spotting talent."

"…Talent? Sure, I won't argue with that. But me? I doubt it."

Regal gave him a brief, disapproving look but didn't press the point, shifting instead. "So what are you thinking?"

"What is it you actually want?" he replied, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You're going to tell me to audition for something just so I can get rejected again like I did for [Following]?"

Derren laughed, bringing up how he auditioned for the two main roles in Regal and Kenaue debut film; honestly he wouldn't lie, Derren did thought he would get an easy pass due to their relationship.

But colour him surprised.

Regal had rejected him without a flicker of hesitation; which, in hindsight, was the correct call.

Darren had revisited that reel exactly once, about a year later, and had felt the secondhand embarrassment of a man watching a stranger make a very confident mistake. He had closed the file and never opened it again.

Still, Regal hadn't cut him loose after that.

He had handed him the line producer credit on [Following] instead, and when the film hit, when the whole trajectory of both their lives shifted in the span of an awards season, he had kept him close, bringing him along for every project since.

That was the kind of person he was.

"I am being serious, Derren."

"…"

This time, Darren went completely still before looking up, something tight behind his eyes. "Then just… don't do this, man, just shut it down now."

"What are you talking about?"

He let out a breath, his face tilted upward like he was trying to hold something back. "I am saying don't give me hope when I am this close to walking away, because that's cruel, and it's not like you to do that."

Too much had been building lately - Regal handing him responsibility for something massive, something only half-connected to films, an entire amusement park project sitting on his shoulders while his own acting had stalled out, and after pushing for so long, after grinding himself down chasing something that never quite broke through, he had finally reached the point where quitting felt easier than trying again.

And then, right now, of all moments, that faint sliver of possibility appeared again - and no matter how much he wanted to guard himself, he couldn't bring himself to turn away from it.

"In what film?"

"The Dark Knight."

Darren looked at him for a second, then let out a short laugh, shaking his head. "Right, okay, and what part were you thinking? Alfred? Some background cop? Because I should remind you I've got a theme park to build in Florida, a full schedule, and–"

"The Joker." Regal said.

The laugh died instantly.

Darren just sat there, the words settling in, his expression shifting from disbelief to something quieter, more unsettled.

"You've lost your mind." he said, but there was no bite to it now, just a low, almost careful disbelief that hadn't been there a moment ago.

He hadn't read the final draft, wasn't even sure one existed yet, but from what he had seen, the character Regal was talking about wasn't just another role; it was the kind of part actors would chase for a lifetime, the kind that could define a career from the moment it was written on the page.

And that was exactly why it didn't make sense.

Because this wasn't just out of reach, it was something he wouldn't have let himself imagine, not even in his most unrealistic, reckless thoughts.

"Regal." Darren said, more measured now, "I do appreciate this, genuinely, and yes, I have been working on my craft for years, quietly, because it mattered to me, but that was never meant to turn into a full-time acting career."

He met his eyes, steady. "I have got six years of line producing behind me, real credits, real experience, and I know exactly what I am doing in that role, so I am not about to walk away from something solid just to chase a path I should've taken at twenty-two."

"I am not asking you to walk away from anything." Regal replied evenly.

"A film like this–"

"It's one role." Regal cut in, calm and precise. "One production, and it's not even fixed yet, you still have to earn it, so if you don't want it, give me your worst audition and you walk right back to what you're doing now without anything changing."

He held his gaze, letting that settle.

"And if you do pass, it's still just one film, you can go straight back to line producing if that's what you choose."

Darren let out a quiet breath, the logic landing but not convincing him. "You know it doesn't work like that in the MDCU." he said. "We sign multi-film deals with leads, so what, the Joker just disappears after one appearance?"

"Yes."

"....you are killing such a brilliant character in one film?"

"I have never talked about killing."

Darren wanted to push back, and say yes, or no, or ask the dozen questions stacking up behind his teeth. But something else was sitting heavier than all of that.

Because he knew Regal.

But, he couldn't understand the reason behind Regal choosing him for the Joker?

However, if there is one thing he was certain about is: Regal wasn't choosing him because he was the best choice for the role.

He is choosing him simply out of his brotherly love, respect, and more importantly, he doesn't want his one of the best friends to have any regrets.

He is surely making the decision as not a director, and he is also making sure that Derren gets what he was doing.

Right. He understood, the offer-

It was an act of friendship, a compromise, and for Derren it was completely unacceptable.

He had seen Regal risking his career multiple times rather than choosing an incompetent for role.

Do people think he wasn't threatened to cast a superstar backed by top tier agencies?

No.

Every damn time, when Regal announced his next film, almost all of the big named studios sent the message, direct or otherwise, that a certain name needed to be attached.

Top tier agencies called on behalf of someone whose opening weekend numbers were the kind that made release strategies get built around them.

This kind of obsession to work with someone happens when the industry recognises someone as the best director of the current era; they don't care about enmity they might have had, and bends to bootlicking as long as they land the role.

And he is currently the top director of Hollywood.

But he rejected box office pull that superstar actors could bring without batting an eye, and chose a complete newbie over them simply because he believed they are the best for the role.

That was how Keanu had gotten his first lead. Timothée. Andrew. Stephen. Henry. Ryan. Tom and Zendaya, both of them, in the same film, when every person at that table had a more recognizable name waiting in the wings.

They are the talents Regal had introduced as leads who hadn't any background.

Heck! He is damn sure even they themselves didn't believe in them, as much as he did in them.

That was who this man was. That was the standard he had never once lowered for anyone.

But the same man was actually compromising for his sake?

Darren didn't know whether to feel moved or irritated, the two reactions colliding somewhere in the middle.

"Don't overthink it." Regal said, his tone steady and unshaken. "I am telling you what I am doing, not asking you to manage the reasons behind it, because that decision is mine and it's already made, but don't take that as me going easy on you once we're on set."

He paused, then added. "You do know I am directing the second half of this myself, right?"

"…Right." Darren said, though the thought lingered - was that because of me?

"I will get what I need from you." Regal continued, meeting his eyes without wavering. "However long it takes, whatever it takes, however hard I have to push, I will get it, because I don't sit in that chair and settle for anything less than what the film demands, and that standard doesn't change just because it's you."

He let that sit before finishing, quieter but firmer. "So think carefully before you answer, because the moment you say yes, that's exactly what you're stepping into."

Darren held his gaze for a second, then exhaled.

"First of all, what makes you so sure I would even pass the audition?" he said, a faint edge returning. "But fine - if you're pushing me into this, I will do everything I can to crash and burn it, and I am confident you're smart enough to pick someone better when that happens."

Darren looked at him; this man he had known since they were both nobody, who had since become someone the entire industry organized itself around, and felt something loosen in his chest that he hadn't realized he'd been holding tight.

How did he do that?

How did he say something like that; something that was, by any objective measure, an enormous claim about his own abilities, and make it sound like it had no arrogance, except for the absolute confidence.

Was this what it looked like from the outside when someone was genuinely, structurally built differently? Like the rules everyone else navigated were suggestions he had simply never needed?

Darren exhaled slowly.

"You actually think I can pull this off?" he asked at last, not challenging, just asking it plainly, the kind of question you only ask when the answer matters.

"I have been watching you for six years." Regal said, just as steady. "I know exactly what you can do, and I have known it longer than you've been willing to admit it to yourself."

Darren held that for a second, then asked the only part that still mattered to him. "And after this… I go back?"

"You go back." Regal replied without hesitation. "Same role, same credits, nothing disrupted, this is a parenthesis in the career you've built, not something that replaces it… unless you decide otherwise."

Darren looked thoughtful.

He glanced at the construction report still resting on the edge of the desk, theme park, unresolved contractor dispute, steady, and legitimate career he had built out of what used to be nothing but uncertainty.

Then he looked back at Regal.

"…Let me think about it." he said, knowing as he said it, and Regal knew it too, that it wasn't a refusal.

"There's nothing to think about." Regal replied evenly. "You're giving me an audition either way. So work hard…"

Darren exhaled, the fight leaving him in a quiet sigh.

….

.

[To be continued…]

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