Chapter Text
After being in Hollywood for a few years now, I’ve seen the real side of people. The side where, no matter how nice someone may seem for the cameras, the second they step away from the interviewers and into their backstage space, it's like a switch flips and everyone is an asshole. Everyone's so fuckin pissed off. Pisses me off.
The afterparty tonight for some popstar’s new album is heated and thriving, with a lot of people I’ve seen before from my few years in movie-making saying hi and striking up conversation with me. But, I’m not here for them.
I really didn’t expect to attend the crowded Hollywood party, but it just felt right. Especially after the run in I had with the specific.. Popstar.
A week before the pop-party I had taken up a job that was really sudden. Sudden is something that I tend to stay away from, especially in my job. How are you supposed to create a whole horror-fied look for someone in less than 2 days? And for a popstar is something I had definitely never thought about doing, as horror movies are my expertise, but it happened. I barely even remember the conversation I had with my buddy Brian about it- his voice sporadic and seemingly out of breath when he called me up.. No, woke me up, from my deep slumber during a morning-rest-after-a-crazy-night-out had been cut short from the thousands of times my phone rang with the name “B-Bae” coming onto my screen. He told me short n sweet that I HAD to bring my ass over to his studio to think up a new look AND doll up a new, upcoming face for one of his preppy little projects, him being a tour manager and all that. He said I ‘owed it to him’ after almost getting his ass chewed out by his girlfriend for staying out so late partying with a ‘guy like me’ (The fuck does that even mean?) a few days prior. Whatever, his girlfriend's a stuck up brat anyways; thinking she's hot shit for getting at a good guy like Brian, what a drag. But when Brian needs some help with a project, who am I to say no?
Dragging myself out of bed that morning ended up being the least irritating thing I had to deal with this past week..
Getting to the studio 20 minutes later as requested by ‘the big B’ (B possibly standing for baby and not Brian..) was a hassle, as LA traffic was worse with people tunneling into the city due to it being the day before Friday, aka the day when the best parties are bein thrown. Walking into the studio was a whole other problem, as the security guy (Security outside of a fuckin studio?? Really Brian???) wouldn’t let me in because my name wasn’t on some stupid ass list he had written on his flip phone. He also said my name in a stupid voice, which I didn’t appreciate.
Fuckin stupid security mother fucker.
After Brian finally answered his phone and came to grab me from inside the studio, with me totally not flipping off the security asshole while walking in, Brian gave me the run down of what he and his little popstar project wanted from me.
The studio really wasn’t all that, the whole building was small, containing only 4 rooms, one of which was the front desk area thing. Kinda weird for a tour manager’s studio, but whatever. The place was also overall just dusty, the air was stale and breathing in gave a small hint of cheap coffee. Walking down the hallway straight down contained a room that looked like some backstage dressing room, with a long vanity and mirror, like one you’d see in movies of characters putting on makeup, the ones with the circular lights lining the edges with warmer-toned lighting, one that I would’ve done a line on if given the opportunity.
Sitting down in a chair next to the door in the corner of the room, while Brian situates himself in front of me in a chair a bit further away, I noticed the papers strewn across the vanity-desk thing.
“So you got any coffee in that loud ass 1990s machine you always got runnin?” I said, to give the room a bit of noise other than the machine brewing its cheap coffee from one of the rooms over, and also because I would’ve died on the cross for a coffee at that moment to help with my hangover from the night before.
“Yeah,” he started, before yelling his next sentence, “Hey Way, can you grab some of that coffee for our friend Frankie?” presumably talking to his upcoming popstar, who's probably the one brewing the coffee.
“Sure, I’ll be there in a sec!”
For some reason, which is apparent now as I sit outside of this stupid party, my body twitched at the voice. At the time I just chalked it up to me being hungover, which is what I also told Brian when he gave me a weird look, and which is what I have been thinking about since that morning till now, a week later.
That soft, yet masculine voice.
“Alright man, we’re on a tight schedule if I’m being honest. Just give me any ideas that you think of any time, don’t worry about if they are stupid or not, I can work with anything..”
“Just no druggy shit preferrably..”
I hadn’t even heard what the two were saying, didn’t even take a sip of my coffee, and definitely wasn’t going to be able to take my eyes off of this…
Person..
Popstar…
Beauty…
Whatever thoughts had been popping up in my head after that guy walked into the room were all things but holy..
The black box-dyed hair, not quite reaching his shoulders, was something I had never seen look so good on someone before.
The way he held out the coffee cup to me for a second, then set it on the desk next to me when I didn’t immediately grab it from those delicate, silky white hands, something my calloused fingers weren’t used to..
Something about this guy just shell-shocked me. To my core. I had never felt so..
Enthralled?
Thinking about it now, I probably just seemed like a creep, staring all wide-eyed like I might’ve just seen a ghost or something..
The popstar looked up at me with those hazel eyes that I wasn’t able to see when he first walked in with his back turned to me, and asked,
“Uh.. Hello? Earth to… What was your name? Frankie?”
I looked up from where his delicate hands laid in his lap, right over left, hearing the sweet voice again, saying MY name, and the only thing I could muster up was a noise that sounded something like an ‘uh’ or ‘oh’.. Real smooth Iero..
Brian gave me another one of his stupid, ‘are you good’ faces, then looked over at the angel sitting to his right, my left, and said, “His names Frank, Frankie’s just a nickname.., And yea, are you good over there man? Too much party-hardy last night or what? Did’ja fry the remaining 2 brain cells you got up there? Jesus christ..”
Brian, with his stupid voice and much stupider jokes, woke me from the mind fog that had started when my presence was graced by a literal angel on earth.
“Ah yeah, sorry, just um..” I cleared my throat, then shot out “Tired.” My voice had come out higher than usual, and I could tell Brian caught it, but let it slide, as he had a job to do.
Like his job was more important than my sight-seeing of the black haired spectacle that was in front of me..
Rolling his eyes, we then started to talk about what I was needed for. I wasn’t usually the person to be dolling up others when shooting movies, I usually just came up with concepts for monsters and things like that, but I was well versed in doing makeup, so I wasn’t worried with that factor of the job. What I was worried about was… Touching his face. I had to be all up in the angel that I was lucky enough to be even near, or talking to.
They both explained what they wanted from the shoot and the makeup, something along the lines of ‘like a movie’ but ‘not like michael jackson’ whatever that meant.
Everytime the delicate voice spoke I perked up, like some kind of dog, and leaned in a bit to listen. I couldn’t get enough, and soon it would be time where I would have to pull myself together to do his makeup and not have a fucking teenage girl type of crush on some guy I didn’t even know..
Hopefully I could get to know him.
The idea we settled on was some funeral vampire-y vibe. I hadn’t exactly worked with anything including vampires, so I had my work cut out with me in researching terms, luckily (and maybe unluckily) for me, the pop star knew more than enough to help me come up with a specific look and vibe, and helped me with researching.
“I don’t believe I introduced myself, my name's Gerard..” He said, right after Brian had left the room to make sure everything was in place for the music video that would be shot tomorrow.
I cleared my throat to make sure my voice wouldn’t come out high and weird-sounding again and said, “Ah um, I’m F-Frank..”
My voice betrayed me again… coming out normal, but stuttered, and I looked away from Gerard, very embarrassed about how I was acting. But how could I act normal with someone so breathtaking talking to me?
He laughed and said, “Well, it's nice to meet you, and thank you for the help. I know Brian must’ve woken you up for this.”
I nodded, as it was a pretty early time of day for me, and started to think up some looks for his video, also failing to rack my brain to find something to talk about.
“You usually do movie stuff right?” Gerard looked at me, his hazel eyes landing on my paper where I took notes of the ideas that came to my mind.
“Ah yeah, dolling up popstars isn’t usually my forte..” I spoke, obviously before thinking about what the fuck I was saying.
“Oh not like- I mean, like-”
“Haha, don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me, I like your honesty.. People don’t usually speak their mind in this industry, which I find pretty stupid, like, how are you going to just be a yes man without offering your opinion when that's your whole job as a manager or whatever?”
He looked at me and smiled after my wording slip up, which I was grateful for, and also sent another weird shock of electricity through my body, which I hope he didn’t notice..
“Oh totally, people who don’t speak their mind piss me off, makin movies is really all about opinions and what you believe in when you think about it.”
We had a small conversation about the industry and people’s expectations of others and shit, which I was glad cleared the awkwardness of me staring the popstar down with a look that probably said ‘just bend me over already’.
“Alright, how about this, you wear some tuxedo with blood smeared on your face, maybe even some on your neck, an eyeliner that’ll give you that whole ‘undead’ look you’re goin for, and maybe your hair slicked back?”
I gave him a few of my simple ideas, praying that he would like at least some of the concepts, and he looked at me with expectant eyes, saying, “That’s.. All you got?”
I scrambled to look at my notes and started to stutter something when he cut me off and said, “Well, I think those are good ideas, but I’m sure you could come up with something better..”
He looked up at me from where his eyes were on the papers before, tucking some of his hair behind his ear, and his voice got a bit lower at the end of his sentence..
This fucker was totally flirting with me.
“Uh.. I just thought you w-wanted something more simple.. Um..” I tried to get out, but my face was heating up and I couldn't stop staring at his black hair tucked behind his ear, which contrasted beautifully with his soft skin..
“I have another idea, it might be more what you’re looking for, it's um..”
I trailed off.
Soon enough it was the next day, the day prior ending with me not being able to get Gerard’s face or voice out of my head.
I had to wake up early again, the first thought I had was of the popstar, and what the day ahead would look like.
We ended up thinking of a bit of a different look for his music video, staying with the makeup and blood I had thought of, but switching up his hair and outfit as he liked..
He would wear a priest outfit in his video, collar and everything, just without the outer jacket buttoned up like a usual priest would. His choice, not mine.
He definitely was making a statement with this outfit, making something of a mockery of priests- not necessarily in a bad way, but he would definitely get some traction with it.
When I walked into the filming area, filled with coffins and fake dead people, I spotted him almost immediately among the various film crew and directors, his mysterious vibe was so.. Alluring.
I walked up to him and did my best to brace myself for whatever sound my voice would come up with, since it decided to betray me every time I tried to speak a word to the guy.
“Hey man, you ready to get dolled up?” my voice actually coming out normal this time surprised me.
When he turned to me I got a full look at his outfit, and he looked so much better than I could have ever imagined. His hair was already done, framing his face beautifully, with his bangs going to the left side of his face, his hair making his skin and eyes pop angelicly, and his priest outfit did something to my mind.. The only thing missing was the collar. He looked extremely attractive in the suit, giving an authoritative vibe. Looking up at him was like praying on an altar. I would’ve gotten to my knees in an instant if asked by him..
“Ah hey Frankie! Yeah, let me just tell Brian I’ll be in the back..” he exclaimed and walked away from me, allowing me to get a look at his backside..
I looked away embarrassed of myself, and waited for him to return.
As we walked to the back of the studio, with nothing really to talk about, I looked around at the busy scene in front of me, the music video site really looked similar to filming regular movies. I wasn’t new to anything like this, and I sometimes liked the chaos.
Gerard sat in the chair used for makeup, with one of those mirrors with the circular lights in front of him. We were in the back of the large studio, in a corner where I could see everything that was happening, and Gerard with his back turned towards the studio, his front facing the wall. In the corner, I could work in peace.
I put my bag filled with makeup and other various items on the vanity in front of where Gerard sat and started digging through it.
“I like your shirt. The Pixies are one of my favorite bands, that's a really cool design..”
Gerard said, probably to break the silence from our little corner. He also leaned toward me and turned his head to get a better look at it, which was really cute..
“Thank you.. I got it from my dad. He’s really into music.” I said a bit quietly, grabbing concealer from my bag.
A guy confidently walked up to our corner, and handed Gerard the missing piece to his priest outfit, the holy collar.
He's taller than me, and maybe a bit taller than Gerard, wearing a grey t-shirt with black skinny jeans, some type of arm bands on his wrists, wearing glasses and had some of his hair underneath the glasses, like an emo fringe type of look, a look I had never seen before..
“Hey Gee. Here’s the collar, I finally found it in your mess of a dressing room.. Who's the new guy..?” He leaned in closer to Gerard as he was handing the collar over, and whispered the last part.
I felt my face heat up, as if I was jealous or something..
I shook that thought from my head quickly.
“Ah hey Mikey! I missed ya. This is Frank, he’s gonna make me look all vampirey and cool!” Gerard answered.
As Mikey stood back up, Gerard turned his attention toward me and said, “Frankie, this is Mikey, my younger brother and also my costume designer! He’s a cool little dude.”
I sighed out of relief, and went to shake the guy's hand. “Nice to meet you..” I told him, a bit embarrassed of my initial reaction to Mikey.
“Yeah, sorry if I interrupted you two…”
He gave some weird look to Gerard, as if they were talking telepathically, and I wondered what that look could mean.
“Anyways I’ll leave you guys to it.. I hope you’re feeling better today Gee.” He said and walked off, waving bye to his brother.
“Feeling better?” I asked Gerard after some time had passed and I was starting on his makeup, to also try and get my mind off the hot guy, sitting in the chair while I was touching his perfect face.
“Oh yea, I was just.. Having some troubles. You know, the usual life stuff, nothing important. You’re gonna make me beautiful right?” He brushed off the question, and got a giggle out of me from the last part.
“Yep, you are gonna be sparkling harder than a diamond after I’m done with ya.” I assured him.
-
While doing his makeup, I couldn’t help but notice his beauty time after time. His hazel eyes shone in the light, glowing in a way I couldn’t describe. It took the words right out of me every time I caught a glimpse of them. The way he laughed was adorable, I couldn’t get enough of it. It was as if I was hearing the most beautiful melody everytime he let out a little chuckle; It made me warm inside and inspired me to do something, like write a song.
We made small talk throughout me getting him ready for his video, I asked him the few questions that came to my mind, and we shared a few giggles over his brother's weird hairstyle. It was.. Really nice. The most upbeat I felt in ages.
“Well.. I think this is my finest work yet. Or maybe you’re already perfect, and I’m just making those beautiful features of yours more.. Accentuated.” I told him, thinking before I could speak again..
But, I earned a giggle from him, a slight color of pink creeping onto his cheek from behind all of the pasty makeup I applied to him.
As he looked in the mirror, he gave me his thoughts, “Wow!! Frank, Geez, you really did great! I don’t think I know a girl that’s half as good at makeup as you..” Gerard gave me an endearing smile, his eyes shot up to mine.
I definitely had a pink hue dusting my face too.
“I’m glad you like it.. You look real undead.” I told the man.
The fake blood on his face made me flustered, and I thought how good he might look if that was my blood. I blushed more at the thought.
He got up, and I remembered our time was limited, and that I needed to get going if I wanted to beat the afternoon traffic..
“Listen Frank..” Gerard started, as I was packing my stuff up, I stopped moving, felt some weird feeling wash over me, like anticipation for something, and turned to face him.
“Uh.. Yea?”
“I like the way you think. Act. Speak. And how you’re honest with everyone…”
He paused.
I waited for him to continue, staring him down, and quietly hoped the hot guy would ask for my number, or anything to keep in contact with me.. The dude could have my myspace if he wanted.
“Would you be interested in being my assistant?”