OTA

[prince_of_nymphs]

 The hardest part was keeping the lies straight.

"I thought you were only having one of your eyes done?"

"I did, the other I had done abroad- It was a spur of the moment choice..."

"Your so pale now..."

"The medication, it doesn't sit well with me."

"You're so thin!"

"No appetite. It'll get better though, I'm sure."

He'd anticipated that though. He'd known he'd need to lie and fib left and right, until people just accepted he could see again- And that perhaps he was still a touch unwell. What he hadn't anticipated, however, was the resentment that many of his old friends seemed to  suddenly feel towards him. It was one thing when Fin was a rising star- But pitiable because of his disability. Now, however... Now he was already receiving television and film offers left and right, and that... That apparently upset a few people.

He'd been leaving one of his favourite coffee shops when he nearly walked right into Phil. A man he'd worked with many times in small productions. A good actor, but older- Perhaps past his prime in the eyes of many.

"Oh! Phil, how brilliant to see you," Fin had smiled, offering his hand, and looking puzzled when it wasn't taken.

"Brilliant is it?" Phil replied, raising a brow and ignoring the offered hand. "So posh sounding these days, Fin. I don't remember you being posh- Not when you were sleeping on the streets, begging for parts. ...Wouldn't know you were dragged up in Manchester with that posh voice you put on."

Fin's smile faded slightly, and he forced an uncomfortable laugh. "Bad habit, I suppose," he said awkwardly.

"Not a habit," Phil assured him. "Just as fake as the rest of you, that's all."

Fin's smile faded completely then, aware that people were staring now. "Right," he said awkwardly. "Well, I should... I should be off."

Phil smiled then, a vicious smile. "I suppose so. That casting couch wont get warmed without you. ...Catch something, have you?" he added, looking Fin over with a sneer. "Should be a bit more cautious, Fin. ...Or is it Finlay now?"

Fin didn't answer that, he simply turned away trying to hide the embarrassment he felt as he started walking and brushed off a young woman who tried to stop him for a selfie.

Comments

[sunsongs]

"You don't even know if I'm any good," Coby warned hi, although he didn't mean it. When it was his turn at the counter, he decided on a flat white, and as they waited on their drinks, nodded toward a table away from the windows. If Fin didn't want to be seen, it was probably the best spot.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Can't know if you are if I never see you play," Fin countered, smiling and then nodding his agreement as he headed for the table in question.

[sunsongs]

"That's fair," Coby said, grinning. "I'd tell you where I'm playing tomorrow night, but I can't remember the name. I've got it written down somewhere. So I guess you'll have to wait, see if I get a chance at Alpha."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"I don't mind waiting," Fin smiled warmly, sitting down at the table and crossing his legs at the knee. "How long have you been playing? Do you have a band, or is it just you?"

[sunsongs]

"Longer than I can remember," Coby told him with a bit of a smirk for the inside joke he couldn't share. "And I don't know if I'd say I've got a band right now, but there is a group of us get together sometimes. Other times it's just me. Depends."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin smiled at that, nodding and pushing his hair back a little.

A server came over then to put down their drinks, and Fin smiled brightly as he thanked them and held his tea in both hands.

[sunsongs]

"Thanks," Coby grinned at the server, resting the mug on one knee as he leaned back comfortably in his seat.

"What about you? How'd you get into acting?"

[prince_of_nymphs]

"When I was younger I wanted to be a swimmer, actually," Fin admitted. "But I've a heart condition, so I had to find something slightly less physically taxing. ...I started acting not long after I was diagnosed, and I fell in love with being on stage. I write as well, actually. Mostly plays."

[sunsongs]

"Yeah? Anything I'll be able to see soon?" Only fair, right? If Fin was wanting to come hear him play. His mom had dragged him to the theatre from the time he was really little, and read plays to or with him. And he'd been friends, or friends, with more than a few actors since, and he'd always gone to see them when they got a part.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Well, I'm filming a mini series at the moment, based on the story of The Robber Bridegroom," Fin smiled. "Though I did two series of a show called Viewfinder. It was a drama set during world war two."

[sunsongs]

Coby'd been thinking more of plays, but television had the advantage of being easier to find. "I'll have to check them out." After a cautious sip of his coffee told him it was just on the safe side of too hot, he took a more normal swallow, savoring the warmth and flavor.

"Sounds like they're keeping you in work. Good for you."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"I'm lucky, my career could have easily faded after... Um, after I lost my sight," Fin nodded, looking a little fidgety as he sipped his tea.

[sunsongs]

Fin had mentioned the blindness, but it wasn't a story Coby knew. And it wasn't really any of his business, unless Fin wanted to share. From the way he was acting now, he didn't, best Coby could tell.

"Yeah, I can't imagine it helped." It wouldn't have back home. Publicity, sure. Getting cast, not so much. "We just met. You don't owe me anything. On the other hand, if you want to say things you can't say to your friends, I don't blab to the press, or anybody else for that matter. It's all good.

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin was silent for a long moment, his eyes fixed on his tea.

"Honestly, it's strange to talk to someone who doesn't know all about it," he confessed, forcing a laugh and a smile as he did his best to seem unburdened. "I was attacked, chemically blinded by a man who was a bit obsessed with me. That was bad enough, but when I continued to get work after, he seemed to become... Angrier, even more fixated. He abducted me, but was eventually caught. As you can imagine, the papers loved it. They were more than happy to milk every last bit of trauma to sell papers- Some of them even accused me of staging the whole thing to sell papers that was as well."

He shrugged then, the false smile fading. "Most people don't like to bring it up, not to my face anyway. ...It feels stupid to just pretend it didn't happen though."

[sunsongs]

And here Coby had thought he'd had a shitty year. "Damn. I'm sorry." What else did you say to something like that?

"My mom would say people should leave it up to you how much, if any, you want to talk about things, 'cause you're the one who lived it. But that's not the same as ignoring it happened." Coby shook his head and took another sip of coffee. "Then she'd probably cook you dinner and get to the heart of your feelings about it before you noticed what she was doing. I'm trying to decide if her being a continent away would be a good thing or a bad thing from your perspective."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Pity your mum doesn't run the British press then, because I love to eat and have my privacy," Fin quipped. "Though I'm not sure about discussing my feelings on the matter. I find they're best swept under the rug and forgotten."

[sunsongs]

"Yeah, I've been trying for years. She won't go for that." Coby couldn't help but grin, though. He knew how lucky he was, the parents he had, and all they'd had to deal with thanks to him. "She's all about feeling your feelings."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Funny, my mother was always just the opposite- Back when she still wanted anything to do with me," Fin snorted dryly.

[sunsongs]

Most of the time, when Coby's friends met his mom, they didn't know what to do with her, and in a lot of cases, that was because their own moms were more like Fin's sounded. "I wonder sometimes what it would be like, if before we were born, we got to choose our parents." Actually, Coby'd wondered more than once if he had gotten to choose his parents. Usually when having just this kind of conversation.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"I wouldn't have chosen different," Fin shrugged. "Dad left mum for another man, never said a word to me or my sister once he left. Mum started hating me for looking like dad- Probably hates me more now that I'm open about being as queer as he is too. ...Sister hardly speaks to me. Finds the press and the like too overwhelming, I think. It's shit, but without them I'd have never run off to London."

[sunsongs]

"Running off to London's had some good sides for you, from what I can tell. Some truly crappy ones, too, but yeah." Coby tugged and fiddled with the bracelets around one wrist, realizing how he was digging himself into a hole. "And our reasons may be different, but you're not the only one who ran off to London when things turned to shit."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"What did you run from?" Fin asked quietly and curiously.

[sunsongs]

"Too many memories." Most of them not Coby's exactly. "Needed to get my head on straight, and couldn't do that in LA."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin nodded slightly in understanding, cradling his tea cup closer to his body. It wasn't cold in the cafe at all, and yet Fin still looked as though he couldn't warm up.

"Are you happier here in London then?" he asked, his interest sincere.

[sunsongs]

When he thought about it, Coby let out something between a breath and a laugh. "Yeah, actually. I am. I, uh, re-met an old friend, and, yeah. I think I'm happier."