Set during the filming of the Firefly episode, “The Train Job”.
It was not quite light when Adam backed his SUV out of his driveway. The sun, rising through smog, backlit the undulating line of the Hollywood Hills with a hard orange edge and the palm trees rose like upright feather dusters. It looked to be another hot, dry southern California day.
Damn, he hated these early calls, missing the cherished routine of getting his kids off to school. With his wife in Boston on business and Joss expecting him for a script read-through at 6 am, it would fall to the housekeeper to handle this weekday ritual. With the kind of crap jobs he’d been offered lately, maybe he should just tell his wife to get off his back and let him focus on the kids. God knows they’d be grown soon enough, the oldest two heading off to college over the next few years.
Still, he had to admit this new series intrigued him. Utterly unlike anything he’d tackled before, Firefly was a curious hybrid of science fiction and the old west. While he’d done quite a bit of the former, he considered it crap. The latter genre had fonder associations, reminding him of watching shoot-em-up movies with his dad.
He had already begun to form a rapport with the rest of the new crew and he genuinely enjoyed the roughneck character he was playing. The pay wasn’t great, but the director, Joss Whedon, seemed to be attracting a lot of attention with his ongoing show about some teenaged vampire killer. With any luck, the critical fuss and enthusiastic fan response would spill over onto this series and who knew what might happen? Hollywood was whimsical that way.
Many mornings he listened to his favorite conservative talk-show host but today he just craved a quiet drive. He sipped his coffee, wondering what the story line would be for the new episode they were breaking. Arriving at his destination, he flipped on his turn signal and made a left into the studio parking lot, pulling up to the security checkpoint. The uniformed guard nodded deferentially as he logged him in.
“Good morning, Mr. Baldwin.”
At least this guy knew who he was. “Morning, Cliff,” he replied, pulling through the check-in. Sometimes the smaller sound stage lots were packed and he hated hoofing it over from the main lot or having to grab the shuttle. Made him feel like a fucking tourist. But today, getting here at the ass-crack of dawn, he hoped he’d find a decent space. Somehow it didn’t surprise him that Nathan Fillion’s red corvette was already nosed up to the sound stage building. Nate was such a cowboy.
Gulping down the last of his Starbucks, Adam grabbed his gym bag before pulling his shades from the vehicle’s visor and shoving them onto his head. The entry corridor was lit with the cold functionality of fluorescent lights and even at this early hour, there were people coming and going, preparing sets and lining up props for the scenes they would be shooting later.
Adam glanced at his watch. Ten minutes early. Might as well piss while he
had the chance, since Joss hated to break up read-throughs. He said it ruined
the momentum of the script. Alan Tudyk would be late anyway – he always
was.
Bladder emptied, Adam left the men’s room to turn down the side hall
to the room where they would all gather. He was going over his lines in his
head when Nathan jumped him from behind, almost sending him sprawling. “Asshole,”
he muttered, laughing. Nate was almost like an overgrown puppy and no one,
even Adam, could stay angry with him.
His co-star slipped around to his side and slapped him on the shoulder. “Yeah, but I’m an early asshole.”
“So I saw. You do know you’re parked in Joss’s slot?”
“No shit? He’s gonna love that.” Nate grinned, blue eyes twinkling impishly.
Adam had concluded that Nathan, best known for his soap opera roles, was actually a brilliant choice to play Malcolm Reynolds, the show’s rebellious captain. The younger actor was a prankster and natural born provocateur and those qualities brought out Adam’s own similar inclinations. Their practical joking and growing camaraderie was one of the things that made this gig worthwhile.
“Hungry?” he asked. “I sure as hell am.”
Nate nodded and laughed. “That’s ‘cause you always are.”
Swinging by the craft services table, Adam grabbed three fat sausage biscuits, a Danish and an apple walnut muffin, then dropped a banana onto his tray.
One glance at the mound of food and Nathan chuckled. Adam’s appetite was legendary. It seemed like the man ate constantly. “Jayne Cobb, the Fattest Mercenary in Space,” he teased, knowing just how proud the older man was of his physique.
“Like hell,” Adam growled back. “Besides, you can help me work it off later as we’re going over that fight scene and it’s not like I’ll get a decent dinner tonight…”
“Ah-ha! The Fair Missus must be out of town again,” Nathan observed, scanning the food selection offered. “That’s it!” he said with glee and reached for a corned beef on rye before adding a bowl of mixed fruit as an afterthought.
“More like always,” Adam griped. “Wanna get a beer after work?”
“Why not?” Nate grinned, slapping him on the back. “Beer is good.”
They turned into the meeting room where they would do the read-through and Adam noticed Joss and Tim Minear were huddled at one end of the room with Summer, clarifying something for the young actress. Jewel and Morena, already fast friends, were at the far end of the long table, eating their yogurts and giggling like schoolgirls. Ron Glass sat quietly, glasses balanced on his nose as he reviewed the script. Just behind Nate and Adam, Gina and Sean arrived, talking softly, and then took their seats.
Joss looked up. “Everybody here?”
“Except Alan,” they all responded.
“It figures.”
*
The group poured out of the room, chattering and giggling, high on the chemistry already evident between the ensemble. Adam was pleased that despite Alan’s tardiness, they’d ploughed through the read-through smoothly and finished up a little early. It was a good story, despite the writers having so little time to generate the script.
He and Nathan headed over to Wardrobe for last minute fittings before shooting the following day. “Tim does a helluva good job breaking down a script,” he remarked to his fellow actor. “I really like it that he gives me input.”
His co-worker elbowed him playfully. “That’s just ‘cause you’re looking for someplace to put it.”
Although he laughed at Nathan’s wisecrack, the suggestive nature of it made him wonder. If he didn’t know better, Adam would swear the guy was flirting with him. That wouldn’t be so unusual. Tall and handsome, he was used to people of both sexes making passes at him and he generally deflected them pretty tactfully. In their business, you learned that lesson early on or quickly became fodder for the tabloids. More than that, word around town held that Nate was a player. Jovial and gregarious, he was often seen making the rounds of the town’s trendiest clubs in the company of beautiful women.
Adam knew from experience that meant nothing. There was public life and there was real life.
*
Already taller than anyone in the fitting room, Adam’s position on the fitting block had him towering over the wardrobe staff. He stood with his feet well apart and arms by his sides, as a nervous little redhead made sure his tan trousers would be long enough.
On another fitting block a few yards away, Nathan waited unselfconsciously in his low cut white briefs. It appeared his cavalry trousers had shrunk after washing – again – and the fitter was discussing with the wardrobe mistress whether to add a gusset to the seat so he’d be able to move without splitting them.
Jill Ohanneson directed her wardrobe staff like a symphony conductor, fluttering back and forth between the two men and pointing out the alterations she wanted. She frowned at the costume runner and thumbed at Adam. “No, get him the brown shirt we made up last night,” she said, waving the girl away.
At least I get to wear a costume that’s halfway comfortable, Adam thought.
The dress suits, police and military uniforms he was normally fitted for looked smart but gave little room for the range of movement he enjoyed and all were hot as hell. For his current role as one of Joss’s space outlaws, Jill had placed him in a series of practical and whimsical T-shirts paired with cargo pants. In order to maximize his muscular built, the shirts were a couple sizes too small and had the annoying habit of pulling out of his pants unexpectedly until Jill had ingeniously lengthened the hems.
Across the way, Nathan was stepping into his extremely snug beige wool trousers. Adam abruptly realized he was staring at the other actor. Dangerous territory there, he told himself, and quickly glanced away, but not before his traitorous body began to respond. God, I hope I’m the only one who noticed where I was looking, he told himself, only to glance up and see his co-star grinning at him like a naughty schoolboy.
It wasn’t unusual for male actors to get erections during fittings. After all, trousers often required alteration. The protocol was for everyone to simply ignore the situation until it subsided and continue on as if nothing had happened. Adam made a point of acting nonchalant, allowing his eyes to glide across the costume sketches for upcoming episodes skewered to the corkboard wall with pushpins. Fortunately, the runner brought the correct T-shirt and Adam shrugged into it, tucking the hem into the waistband of his cargoes and giving his half-hard dick time to settle down.
When he happened to glance back the other way, Nathan was still fussing with the problematic trousers. Having shrunk, they fit like a proverbial second skin, revealing the younger man’s sleek, muscular thighs and ass. Nate glanced back over his shoulder to find Adam again gazing quite pointedly at him. Amused and more than a little flattered by the big man’s attention, he boldly winked.
Adam nearly choked, converting his startled sound into a cough.
“Bring Mr. Baldwin some water, Toni,” Jill said, and a bottle was quickly handed to him.
Unexpectedly flustered, Adam uncapped the water and took a long swig. Nathan was flirting with him – no doubt about it. Crap, he thought. I’ll have to set things straight later this evening.
Hollywood had a way of turning the most innocent interactions into fodder for the scandal mills and Adam had found himself caught up in rumors more than once. Make the mistake of smiling just a little too warmly at a pretty co-star and the tabloids proclaimed you were cheating. This was something he and his wife had learned to deal with. Worse yet was the risk that socializing with a fellow actor would get you labeled ‘gay’. While that was no longer the professional liability it might once have been, there was no denying the destructive impact such a rumor could have on a man's marriage and family.
The whole crew knew Sean was gay; he made no pretense otherwise. When the young actor had tested the waters with Adam early on during the filming of the series pilot, he’d had ‘The Talk’ with Sean, and had cordially explained that he was a happily married man and not available. Since then Sean had backed off and their working relationship was playful but collegial. In truth, Adam found Sean attractive enough but not as assertive and masculine as he preferred. The fact that the younger man was also ‘out’ about his homosexuality also made any involvement between them just too dangerous.
Nathan was another matter. The problem wasn’t that Adam lacked interest in his co-star. No, the problem was that he’d already admitted to himself that he found Nathan Fillion entirely too interesting.
*
Wardrobe finished up shortly after noon, and Adam grabbed a generous lunch
from the craft services table before heading off to his trailer. As he wolfed
down the sandwiches and fruit he’d piled on his tray, he attempted to
go over the script they’d read that morning, scribbling in the margins
to remind himself of things he wanted to add in.
His wife called during a break in her meeting schedule to let him know that she needed to remain in Boston an additional day and wouldn’t be getting back to LA until the following evening. Between her busy schedule and his, it often seemed to him that they passed like ships in the dark. Not at all what he’d imagined when he proposed marriage all those years ago. He sighed as he closed his phone. Another solo night with leftovers for dinner. The girls had a sleepover with a friend and his son was leaving for a scout campout straight from school. At least he wouldn’t have to rush home after his beer with Nathan and they’d have some time to sort out some things.
The afternoon passed quickly as he, Nate and Gina joined some of the stunt extras in rehearsing the episode’s fight scene with the show’s stunt coordinator. Adam enjoyed a high level of activity and tended to get bogged down and depressed when his life was too static. The rough and tumble fist fight that opened the episode required careful timing and choreography, enough to get the actors’ adrenaline up. Typically, Nathan erupted into horseplay when not personally engaged in the rehearsal. While the stunt coordinator walked Gina through a move, he turned to throw a play punch at Adam which the larger man dodged, blocking the blow and returning Nate’s wide, exuberant grin.
“That the best you’ve got?” Adam goaded and Nathan rushed him. Just as the two tumbled onto the floor mats in a playful tussle, Joss stepped into the room.
“Alright, people,” he scolded. “We start shooting this scene day after tomorrow so let’s stay focussed, please.” He crooked a finger at Nathan to call him over.
“He’s gonna read you the riot act about parking in his space,” Adam whispered as they stood up.
Nate grinned impishly. “Bet he won’t.”
“And why not, asshole?” Adam challenged.
Mugging shamelessly, Nathan whispered over his shoulder, “’Cause I’m pretty.”
*
It was heading toward 7:00 PM by the time they’d gotten the fight worked out. The afternoon had only served to convince Adam that he had a real problem on his hands. The more time he and Nathan spent together, the more he found himself attracted to the handsome younger actor. When the stunt coordinator called it quits for the day, Adam headed to his trailer to shower and grab his gym bag.
He caught up with Nate on the way to the parking lot. Given the nature of the conversation he needed to have with his co-star, he’d decided having that beer someplace reasonably discrete might be a wise idea.
Nathan was flushed and sweaty from a final run-through of his part of the fight scene.
“Long day, huh?” Adam asked, raking his hand back through still-damp hair. “I’m ready for someplace quiet and maybe a decent steak.”
“And beer?” Nate asked.
“Beer is always good.”
Pointing at the gleaming red ‘vette, Nathan asked, “Wanna take my car? It’s a lot cooler than that bus you drive.” He thumbed scornfully at Adam’s black Envoy. “Why’d you ever buy such a gas guzzler?” Before Adam could respond, Nate poked him. “I know, I know – you like to drive around pretending you’re with the NSA or Homeland Security, don’tcha?”
“Hey, that’s a serious issue,” Adam scowled. “Don’t you realize we’re living in a nation under siege by all sorts of corrupt forces?” Adam’s politics were notoriously right wing and the big man was very outspoken about his beliefs.
Nate smirked. “Yeah I know. And you’re on a mission from God to personally educate all those misguided fans about the errors of their ways, right?”
Damn the kid! Adam thought, wondered if Nathan was ever serious about anything. He had no trouble affording the gas for his SUV and liked the sense of power it conveyed, not to mention the leg room. Still, Nate’s ‘vette was a beauty…
“Since you insist,” Adam relented, sliding into the low leather passenger seat as Nathan simply hopped the driver’s side door, landing with a thump. He was never comfortable letting someone else drive. “Just get us there in one piece, OK?”
“You betcha.” Nathan grinned and turned the key. “You mind if we stop by my place first? My apartment’s five minutes from the studio.” He glanced in the rear view mirror and pulled out of the parking slot. “I’d just like a chance to catch a quick shower and some clean clothes.”
“Sure,” Adam replied, smiling grimly to himself as Nathan clipped
through the security pass-through and peeled out onto the boulevard with an
adolescent squeal of rubber that left him wondering if he would regret his
decision to let Nate drive.
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