#Thena and Gil sitting over her with their little butterfly kisses and hand holding

[softquietsteadylove]

Your latest one with the actor au gave me an idea!

On set there is suddenly a loud and very heated discussion between Gil and the director. Gil refuses to do a very heavy and dangerous stunt because he has done it only once and the result back then was a broken back (you can choose a different heavy injury if you want). He doesn’t want to do this or have it done by any other person because of the risks and danger. He tries to explain it politely but The director is stubborn, he wants this stunt in his movie and loosing his patience just yells at him very loudly that he is fired. Everyone on set is stunned and there is this heavy silence when Gil accepts it and walks away.

Everybody on set except the director knows what’s coming next when they see Thena

Let’s see what you will do because the drama will be real here 😁love your work!!❤️

"I said no!"

Thena's - and plenty of others' - head shot up as the small disagreement escalated into a full shouting match. She knew that they were discussing the upcoming stunts--one in particular that was more risky than the others.

"I don't remember giving you that choice!"

Thena set down her script and stood from her chair, walking slowly and steadily towards the commotion. She looked like a lioness, prowling closer and closer to her unsuspecting prey.

"The stunt is too risky," Gil continued to argue, waving his hand in the direction of the rig needed to even attempt it. "I've seen people completely paralysed by this. I've broken my back from it before myself! It's not worth it!"

"How long ago was that?!--a fuckin' decade?" The director freely scoffed at Gil, script in hand, all but laughing off his concerns. "Nothing will go wrong! And that's what doubles and insurance are for, aren't they?!"

"No," Gil continued, though, not to be swayed from it. "I'm not doing the stunt, and I won't let anyone from union do it for me either. The risk is too big. There are other stunts--other ways we can film it!"

"How 'bout you stop being a fuckin' pussy and do you fuckin' job!"

Gil, usually so soft spoken and sweet natured, didn't back down. He slapped away the director's hand pointing in his face and stood up straighter. His chest was fuller, shoulders wider, arms thicker; he couldn't be physically intimidated. "The answer is no."

"Then you're fired!"

Silence burst up into the ceiling and descended over the studio. Heads turned to look around, seeing what the general consensus was. Not that anyone could argue with the director without fear for their own job security.

Gil looked the director up and down, but seeing that he was facing down enough volatility already, he nodded, stepping back and holding up his hands. "Y'know what?--fine."

"No."

Gil blinked as Thena walked onto the soundstage and past him, her hair flowing behind her from her stride. He tried to reach out to catch her shoulder, "Thena, it's-"

"How dare you," she glared, setting her eyes on the director, who at least had the survival instinct to take a step back at her approach. He was quick to pull on his pride, again, but Thena held her ground. "How fucking dare you."

"Thena, this is between me and the big guy, so why don't you-"

"Don't bark orders at me!" she snapped. "Gilgamesh just told you that the stunt is too dangerous for anyone to be attempting, and your response is to say fuck it?"

"Look, Thena-"

"I am speaking!" she snarled at him, letting her voice reach a level she only really used when filming. But she was way too angry to stop now. "You do not ever speak to him like that! You owe half this film entirely to Gil's guidance and expertise and you know it! And your thanks is to try and deliberately endanger him?!"

The director barely got his mouth open.

"Don't!" Thena barked at him again, taking a few steps even further and backing him away from her. She lowered her voice, but let her anger double, "you let him walk away from this I go with him. And you will never see me again so long as you work in this industry."

"Thena," Gil attempted yet again to pull her back. They were the talent, yes, with a certain amount of leeway--rules bending for them this way and that. But their director wasn't exactly a small name in the industry either, and he could only imagine the impact on her career this kind of dispute could have.

"Never again." She meant it. And she had worked enough--technically speaking, she could probably retire if she wanted. Move her and Sprite out of their massive hollywood house and into a nice little place just the two of them.

The director stared at her, trying to discern how much of it was just big talk and how much of it she meant. He saw no wavering, though. He crossed his arms with a huff. "Fine."

"Louder."

"Thena, it's okay," Gil finally came up behind her, trailing his hand ever so lightly down her arm. She had saved their jobs, but if she endeavoured to further humiliate the guy Gil could see them getting both getting blacklisted as difficult to work with. "Look, we'll talk about it more, okay? But let's just...call it. Just for now."

The director, who certainly was not going to back down with the entire crew now watching the interaction, huffed. Although he at least had the sense to keep quiet.

Thena took one more look at the director she now officially had a record low opinion of before letting Gil pull her away. "Fine."

Gil was gentle about it, but wasted no time in getting Thena out of the director's face before she could say something that would get everyone in the room thrown off the lot. He didn't risk even looking back until he had pulled her into their dark little corner with their chairs set up next to each other.

"The nerve of him," she growled to herself as they finally came to a stop. She was still glaring back at the set, where the director was saying to take down the stunt rigging as if nothing at all had happened.

"I know, I know," Gil placated as he attempted to pull her to sit in her chair. She threw herself into it, scraping the folding legs of it on the concrete floor below them.

"Directors," she rolled her eyes at the very title, "half of them aren't even worth the title. And every time I work with him, he's always acting like directing action is some revolutionary thing. And you've done half of his work for him in this! And-"

"Thena," Gil cut her off, waiting until she was looking at him to smile, taking her hand in his. "Thanks for coming to my rescue."

Thena tightened her hand against his, her smile genuine but her brows still knitted together. "Of course, Gil, I...I couldn't do any of this without you."

"Hey, yes you could," he said gently, nudging her in an attempt to pull her out of her contentious mood.

She sighed, letting at least some of her tension leak out of her. "Perhaps--but I wouldn't want to, is the point."

Gil looked down at their hands, sitting on the armrests of their chairs, pushed together completely. He leaned his head down, "I probably wouldn't have let him fire me. But I wasn't about to argue with him over it right here and now."

Thena puffed through her nose, her head also hovering close to his, "well, I was quite happy to. And I wouldn't have let him fire you even if I hadn't been here when it was happening."

Gil grinned (almost flirtatiously). "Ooh, I have the Goddess of War protecting me."

"Well," she pursed her lips (almost flirting back). "Even big, strong action heroes need protecting sometimes."

Gil chuckled, tapping the tip of his nose against the tip of hers, "I'm a lucky guy, I guess."

#Thenamesh Actors AU #they're canoodling your honour! #they're acting all flirty and close right in front of my salad! #but also like #as if Thena would let them fire him #actors don't always have this kind of pull #but not only are they both the leads in this #but she's decided she can finally throw her weight around #if it's for this--for Gil #she practically doesn't sign on to projects if they're not doing them together anymore #not to be transparent or anything #and yeah the crew could have seen this coming #because no one gets on their bad side without the other coming to their defense #Thena and Gil sitting over her with their little butterfly kisses and hand holding #sooooooooo platonically