【 REAL LIFE ! 】

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METTE WAS HAVING DEJA VU. She couldn't help but smile as she stepped out of the car and onto the closed off set, pausing as she stood in front of the loft that they had rented out for the filming itself. They had rented it out sporadically over the past year and there was an unsaid understanding that they were basically the only real tenants, and Mette couldn't help but think of all the fun memories she had inside.

"Tom's flying in tomorrow," Romeo said, startling her, "You two have a lot more scenes than usual since this is turning from a short film into a TV show. Get excited."

She smiled and nodded up at him, not trusting herself to speak.

Romeo, who didn't talk much on set, continued, because that was what he did when he needed someone to fill the silence. "Chris is actually showing up today. Since we're filming episode by episode, he's gonna stay as long as you do."

She let herself gasp then, because if there was one person she loved to spend time with, it was Chris. She spent more time with Kris and Romeo, but whenever she was with Chris, she spoke the most.

"Is Anthony here?" she asked, because this was his and Romeo's special, but she did know that Sam wouldn't be appearing for the first few episodes until their park meeting, which had been adorable when they initially shot it.

"I think he's coming in with Chris, but I wouldn't know," Romeo coughed, and she snickered softly, watching as he pulled out his phone to check his messages; according to him, Anthony had a habit of mass texting him at times, as well as hacking into his phone if he accidentally left it around on set, because Romeo didn't have the time nor the patience for passwords.

"Has anyone seen my sister?"

Mette's heart jumped as she whirled around to find Tony Revolori standing at the edge of the fenced off area where they were going to start filming, the boy newly shaved and dressed in a long coat over a printed shirt reading: "Mette Odden Defense Squad."

She squealed as she raced over towards the boy, jumping onto him, the two only a few inches separate from each other, but Tony managed to lift her enough to twirl her around, hugging her tightly.

Tony was going to be in the city as long as everyone, as they were filming in chronological order to make sure that all the editing would be done in time, whether or not the full season went up all at once or in chunks, but his character himself wouldn't be there much, but it was crucial for him to be there since people were demanding that they see Flash going to therapy.

"I missed you," Tony said, pressing a kiss to her temple, and she giggled, clinging onto him tightly.

She'd had a short lived crush on Tony in the time they had been filming, and it had never truly gone away, though she soon realized it was more of a friend crush than anything; a want to be around someone who made her feel happy and appreciated, and Tony was one of those individuals.

"Tom's coming tomorrow," she said, and Tony gasped excitedly and she added, "You need to stop pushing for the Flash and Peter kiss. We all want it, but no one else does."

He groaned, rolling his eyes as he lead her back towards the main group, Kris now excitedly hugging Romeo, the blond dressed in a tight white shirt and black jeans, and Mette wondered if he was trying to casually cosplay as Danny from Grease.

"Grease is a satire," she said softly, remembering how she had found out when she was alone in her apartment, but had no one to call or text to share her knowledge with.

"Wait, seriously?" Tony asked, turning to look at her, and she smiled, nodding excitedly; this was why she liked Tony, he actually listened to her.

"Yeah, I found out that it's the 70's mocking the 50's, if you look at how the characters talk about the girls and the way the men treat them. It's really smart, no one even realized it," Mette said, and she tried to force herself to speak louder; she was going to need to for the read the next night.

"Why are we on set if we still have to do read throughs tomorrow?" she asked, looking around, and Romeo nodded in understanding.

"We just have to reshoot some of the scenes that we've already filmed, so we don't need everyone around, Tony, what are you doing here, you don't have to be here until tomorrow?" Romeo explained, turning to direct his question towards the young man who nodded, motioning towards Mette who was now frowning up at him.

"We need to talk," he said, and she sighed, looking down at her shoes, scuffing them against the ground, "Don't do that, this is important."

"Fine," she grumbled, crossing her arms, looking up towards the others for help, Romeo and Kris looking at her apologetically; not that they were all too apologetic.

"Where's my boy?"

Mette watched as Romeo ducked his head, grinning at the floor as he turned to where Anthony and Chris were stepping out of a Mustang, Anthony with his arms spread out in clear demand for a hug. Romeo, however, wasn't having any of it, staying rooted in place, his arms crossed over his chest shyly.

Anthony paused five feet away, still with his arms out, making a 'come hither' gesture with his fingers. "I ain't moving until you hug me."

Romeo sighed, trying to fight a smile as he made his way over, hugging the older man who squeezed him tightly, grinning towards Chris who made his way around him, patting Romeo on the back as he went.

Mette glanced between Chris and Kris, watching as the two men nodded towards each other tightly, trying to pretend like everything was okay and it didn't make them wildly uncomfortable to look at each other. She wasn't supposed to know about their history, but both of them overshared if they were a certain kind of drunk.

So, instead, she skipped over to the newcomer of the two, holding her arms out in silent plea to be carried, and Chris laughed his signature laugh as he reached down, groaning slightly as he picked her up and hugged her tightly before setting her on his hip.

"I'm a grown woman," Tony mocked, raising his voice an octave, trying to mimic her accent.

"Shut up," she hissed, hating how recognizable her accent was now that she fixated on it, but she was smiling and hiding her face in Chris' shoulder, so she wasn't too burned up.

"Hey, I think we should talk," Chris said softly, and she made a face, looking to Tony with a sigh.

"Everyone does, it looks like..." she mumbled, and Chris nodded as he carried her towards Tisha who was waving them over from where she was standing by some of the camerawomen, chatting idly.

"Hey, ya'll," she greeted, reaching out to hug all of them as she had been busy when they first arrived, laughing when Chris bent Mette down to let them hug, "You ready to just get through this, I don't want to keep us here for too long, we're still figuring out the schedule with the city."

"We're ready," Anthony said, looking towards the others who nodded.

"Tony, you just here to support?" Tisha joked, looking towards the young man who winked, clicking his tongue with a simple, 'you know it.'

Mette reached out and took the proffered scripts, reading over the parts that they were reshooting without edits, resting her head against Chris' as they did a quick refresher before they went back to shooting.

It was good to be back.

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Tony was eating her cookie dough, Chris was probably drunk, and Mette was hiding in her blanket, hoping that maybe when she pulled it off, they would be gone. Of course, she didn't want them out of her life forever, they were really important to her, but she wasn't completely in the mood at the moment.

"You need to talk to someone about it," Tony pointed out, and she shook her head, and he sighed.

Chris groaned as he moved to lie down next to where he assumed her head was, sighing as took a moment to think, looking towards Tony who was frowning at the blanket. "Mette, why don't you want to talk? Can you please your words, I want to be adults about this."

She huffed as she tugged her blanket off her head, her hair in complete shambles as she stared down at the blanket now in her lap. "Because there is nothing to talk about."

Tony sighed, but Chris made a small motion to him, shaking his head minutely. Shifting, he said, "Mette, we all know it isn't true. And I don't know if you've spoken to Romeo or Kris or anyone else about it, but I'm going to assume you haven't."

"Because there isn't anything to talk about!" she cried, throwing her arms down, rubbing the back of her neck furiously, "I do not want to talk about it, I do not want to force myself to be unhappy."

"It'll just eat you up if you keep it to yourself, and we both know you won't tell anyone if you feel bad," he said, and she sighed, slumping back before sliding down so she was lying back, staring up at her ceiling.

"You just want to sleep, huh?" Chris asked, patting his thigh, and she nodded moving to rest her head on his leg, looking sadly to Tony who softened, reaching out to squeeze her leg.

"Mette, I get being depressed. I get having anxiety over people not liking you, and wondering if you're even meant to be here, and believe me when I say, it's really important that you talk to someone. Seb and I both have therapists, if it's financial, we can—"

"I don't need to talk to anyone, because nothing is wrong, I am fine," she said, moving to hide her face in his shirt.

She didn't want to talk about it. She just wanted to be left alone, but she could hardly go a day without someone asking her if she was okay. She was fine.

"Mette..." he sighed, and she groaned, hitting her hand against her sheets.

Tony, who had been quiet the entire time, reached out the tub of cookie dough he was eating. "You won't tell us anything, huh?"

"There is nothing to tell," she grumbled, fisting her hand in Chris' shirt, "I was fine today, do not force me to be sad."

Therein lied her mistake. But the two didn't make any indication towards it, Tony instead grabbing the remote and turning it on to Netflix, Chris moving Mette up so she was leaning against him.

"It's okay to just want to be happy, but it's not okay to just hide when you're sad," Chris said, and she sighed, nodding as she reached out to play with his hand, curling and uncurling his fingers.

"How's your friend in Norway doing?" Tony asked, and she perked up, gasping when she caught sight of her own face on the screen.

"He is doing a thriller movie," she explained, smiling as Tony moved to turn on the first episode of his character's season, "I miss him."

"Has he tried to talk to you?" Tony asked, and she nodded, reaching towards her phone and showing the unopened texts she received from him.

"Don't you get anxious with how many notifications you have?" Chris asked, shuddering as he looked over her shoulder, and she shrugged.

"You get used to it," she mumbled, showing him her unopened Snapchats.

Chris and Tony sighed as they all settled into her too small bed, Chris close to falling if not for sharing most of Mette's space, Tony pressed up right against her side.

This was what she wanted. She wanted to be able to be around the people who cared about her and do something nice without having to think about whether or not she was okay.

She wasn't. Not that they had to know.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 9.8.18 )

Tom is gonna show up in chapter seven, I promise, I just need that to be symbolic, so instead I had her have a reunion with the people she's gonna be around with a lot, which is why Evans and Mackie are around.

I was gonna show mette being happy but this took a different turn. I didn't expect her to be as close with Chris as she is, but he does know a lot about mental health from personal experience and he would reach out and be that support for her. And you'll find out why tony is so close to it.

Also, I'm setting up my Chris Evans fic connected to this called 'Closed Doors' and my Mackie fic 'Opening Night,' so letting ya'll in on that!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!