【 REAL LIFE ! 】

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METTE LIKED CARAMEL IN HER COFFEE. She wasn't used to the heat of Los Angeles and all the other filming locations she had been in, but she did enjoy the iced beverages she was now able to indulge in. She liked being able to sip on a Venti while letting the others control the conversation, not having to speak unless spoken to; there were days when she loved to speak, but today was not one of those days.

"Mette, as someone who doesn't talk at all on set, we're really going to need you to give us something to work with here, because even I don't stay this quiet," Romeo sighed, sharing a look with Kris who nodded, neither them looking too pleased with having to ask.

Romeo Hedley and Kris Reeves played Nicky Green and Rhett Reiser to Mette's Diana Smith, and had been met with much more positivity than she had in terms of popularity, Romeo more than Kris, though Kris himself had yet to receive the negativity, what with his particular Netflix special not yet aired. Mette loved the two dearly, and the love only grew stronger as they were about to start reshoots to add meat to 'Almost Happy,' which had been a throwaway romantic comedy until fans demanded for a full series. Mette didn't normally think of herself and her cast mates in terms of internet notice, but she couldn't help it nowadays, it seemed to be all that was on her mind.

"I just wanted to take a break and if there was nothing for people to see, I wouldn't be tempted to look," she explained, sighing as she struggled to pick up her feet and follow the two men as they walked around the park by the Starbucks they had gone to.

Kris didn't look convinced, pressing forward. "You said the exact same thing to all of us, Mette."

She took a deep breath and sighed, running her hands through her hair. "Is this how people feel when you send the same Snapchat in reply to multiple people? Harrison and Tom were very upset when I did that once."

"Don't change the subject," Romeo said, crossing his arms, and Mette felt herself be backed into a corner, and all she wanted to do was go back home and sleep.

Kris must have noticed it, because he sighed, reaching out and placing a hand on the small of her back. "Look, let's get a cab and we'll get you home. We'll talk there, okay?"

"I thought she needed to get sunlight," Romeo said, pointing towards the cloudy sky, one hand shoved into his jacket pocket.

Kris shrugged, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's important to get sunlight, there's something called Seasonal Affective Disorder that really comes into effect during the winter, and if you're depressed..."

Romeo blinked, glancing down at Mette who was staring at her shoes. "I'm sorry, it's called SAD?"

"I didn't name it," Kris huffed, clicking his tongue, "You're playing a psychologist, do some research, it's important to make sure you're educated when your friends get into a depressive slump—"

"I'm not depressed!" Mette shouted, stomping her foot, and she didn't care that people were looking, she was twenty-one years old, she could throw a tantrum if she wanted.

Kris just shook his head. "We're going home, Mette. Come on, I'll hail a cab."

Mette huffed, dragging her feet along the pavement as she followed Kris, unable to lift he head from where they were aimed at her school, and it was like she was in Videregående skole all over again, with her scarf pulled up over her mouth and her hood drawn over her head to hide her eyes.

But this was New York and some might say cold, but it wasn't cold enough. She couldn't live in Los Angeles, but she liked to visit, but she couldn't live there. She wasn't sure about New York either, but it had been a year and she still had her apartment, and they were filming in the city, so there was no reason to think to change.

Kris moved ahead of them to hail a cab, and she heard Romeo fall into step with her. He was nice, and she liked him a lot, but he was more quiet than she ever was, only loud when they were together and he was more than comfortable. It made for long silences on set when the two were waiting.

"Have you talked to Tom? He said you haven't texted him back yet, maybe you forgot because it was late..." Romeo tried, and she raised her head to look him in the eye, shaking her head minutely before coming to stand next to Kris.

"Would you rather tell him now, or have him corner you on set, because you're seeing him soon and he's gonna have a lot of questions," Romeo asked, and she groaned, feeling herself start to sway, too tired to stay upright.

"Dude," Kris whispered, shaking his head at the younger man, reaching down to pick up the small girl, sighing when she was hardly able to raise her legs and wrap them around his waist.

"Sorry, Mette, but you know that I'm right," Romeo said, and she nodded, tilting her head to look at him, feeling more like she was four than a fully grown woman who was legal to drink in the States.

"Doesn't mean you have to tell her now," Kris pointed out, and Romeo rolled his eyes, swatting at him as he climbed into the cab that pulled up in front of them, Kris setting Mette inside, the girl forcing herself to sit up and prop herself against the door.

"Wow, this is really bad," Romeo commented while Kris told the driver Mette's apartment address, "Mette, does this happen often?"

"I don't know," she mumbled, and Kris sighed, moving to let her rest her head in his lap.

At Romeo's raised eyebrow, Kris simply shrugged. "It's a long story, I'll tell you when we get drunk sometime."

Mette sighed deeply, closing her eyes as Kris ran his hand through her short hair. It was nice, soothing, but all she wanted to do was curl up under her covers and be alone. She liked Kris and Romeo, she spent most of her time with them, but that didn't mean she liked being with people at all times, especially when she wasn't feeling well.

"I'll call Tom," she mumbled, holding her hand out to Romeo who was keeping her phone hostage; not that she had any social media to want to look at.

The man hummed idly as he pulled it out of his pocket, checking the notifications. "Hey, Chris sent you a video of Dodger, do you wanna look at that?"

Mette gasped softly, nodding as she took the phone, too weak to even hold it over her head, lazily opening it up and watching the video of the dog run around the room in Chris' Los Angeles home, the two spending the last few days together before Chris flew out for reshoots.

"I want to meet that dog," Kris said, and there was something in his tone that had Mette and Romeo sharing a look, turning to look at the blond who cleared his throat, shaking his head, "I just...really like dogs."

Mette hummed, thinking about Tom's dog, Tessa. She had come out to visit them during filming of 'Homecoming' and 'Lonely Hearts' the year prior, and she had become quickly enamored with the adorable grey creature who liked to take naps on Mette whenever she chose to lie down.

She felt a pang of guilt for not responding to Tom's text, but she couldn't find it within herself to send him the same text. She told herself that she knew he and Harrison, maybe even Zendaya, would have compared texts, and he would have called her out on her copy and pasted response.

She could send smile emojis to anyone at any time, but she couldn't lie to Tom then, she couldn't do it.

She never liked making calls in public, so she waited until they pulled up in front of her apartment. Kris paid for the fare, helping Mette out and onto the sidewalk, the girl nearly falling over when she was hit with a rush of imbalance, which happened after every car ride in the city for reasons she had never been able to explain.

The two men walked her to her door, and she tried to ease their consciences, asking Romeo if he was excited to do reshoots, since he would be spending more time with Anthony.

The first time they had filmed Almost Happy, it was meant to be a short montage of a romantic comedy, but after the fan demands for a full series starring the psychologist that had taken the internet by storm, they were all called back to film episodically. It would be risky, as the series has been green lighted to appear in the spring of the upcoming year, which meant more work and less rehearsals.

"If he and Chris keep their heads on, we'll get the work done in time," Romeo said, and she gave him a small smile; Chris and Anthony loved hanging out with Romeo, because he was silently funny, mumbling his jokes rather than announcing them, only letting a select few hear his humor.

"God, I'm gonna have to shove my tongue down Chris' throat again," Kris groaned, and the other two paused, making a face at him.

"Literally no one told you to shove your tongue down his throat," Romeo pointed out, and the blond shushed him, smacking his arm as Mette pulled out her keys.

"You gonna be okay?" Kris asked, "You know...by yourself? Did we even help you at all, I don't think we did."

Mette took a deep breath, stretching fiercely as she tried to get out of the rut she had found herself in. "I don't know, it was fine. Thank you for taking me out. I don't know if it helped, but I stayed."

"Just text or call if you need anything," Romeo said, and she nodded, finally able to smile, even if it was only for his benefit rather than her own.

"Bye," she whispered, backing into her one-bedroom and closing the door, leaving them in the hall and her by herself.

She sighed heavily as she shucked off her shoes and moved to her bed, falling facedown and groaning. After rolling around for a few moments, trying to get rid of the aching, tired feeling in her body to no avail, she moved to change into her most comfortable sweatpants and sweatshirt; the one she had been staying in for the past week was now in the hamper as she was forced to shower when she was asked to hang out with Romeo and Kris.

After changing, she moved to grab her laptop, ready to watch the same few YouTube videos she always did, when she caught sight of her phone, remembering that she had promised to call Tom, just to let him know she was okay.

She wasn't okay, but a smiley face emoji wouldn't work, not when he had texted so long ago.

Taking a deep breath and tugging her blankets around her, the room set to a nice freezing, she dialed Tom, already expecting it to go to voicemail, letting her leave a simple explanation that she had forgotten to text him back, but that she was fine, thanks for checking in.

But he picked up on the second ring, his higher-than-average English accent calling through the receiver.

"Oddy!" he greeted, and she could hear him smiling, "I miss you, how are you doing, did you get my text? Harrison said it was late when you texted him back, figured you just forgot to text me."

"Yeah, that's what happened, sorry," she said, hating how her accent seemed so much thicker when she spoke to him; it sounded even worse when she was out with Americans, but in New York, there were so many accents and not enough people to actually care.

"That's okay," he said, the sound of him shuffling into the background, "What're you doing right now?"

She sighed with relief, grateful that he forgot that she didn't answer his question of how she was doing. "I just got back from hanging out with Kris and Romeo."

"Ah, I miss those guys," Tom said, and he always sounded so happy when he talked to her, always so happy, "It's great you went out, no one's seen you in a while. You're just really cutting off from the world, eh?"

She tried to laugh at his joke, if only to appease him, sighing at the end of it. After a few moments, she mumbled, "I've missed you, Tommy."

"I've missed you too," he said, his tone so sincere it almost hurt, "I know I've been busy with Infinity War, but once I get back to the States, watch out, I'll get a key to your place."

She snorted, shaking her head, tracing patterns into her covers. "I have a spare, you can have it."

He laughed, and she heard him settle back against his bed, which always creaked if he was on the left side. "Do you want to hear something horrible that Paddy did two days ago?"

Mette felt herself smile, the first in a while. Tom had that about him, the infectious energy to force people to smile, even if they were in the worst of moods. Maybe that was how he never noticed the way her eyes drooped and her posture shifted, because he was always there to get her to at least raise her head.

His was a quick fix, but nowhere near a real solution. But she had missed him.

She settled under her covers, curling in on herself and pressing her phone between her ear and her bed. "Yes, please."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Let's hope no one gets angry at Mette for breathing in this chapter.

So I'm actually kinda proud of this chapter, we met the core trio's actors, and I liked how I ended it. Don't think that Tom is the one to cure her depression or makes her happy when she's depressed, all he does is just convince her to smile, but it's more for his benefit than hers, she's a mirror like that, she did it with Romeo, which was like the anchor point to explain the process, but I'm explaining it here for those who don't catch it.

Yes, Tom calls her Oddy, he was very proud of himself when he came up with it. She calls him Tommy because he likes the difference when she says Tom. I love them a lot.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!