Behind The Scenes ➳ Phan AU

3 ➳ Camera Guy

Phil signals Chris and Pj to start filming, even though he doesn't want to.

Don't get him wrong, Phil loves filming. He lives and breathes it.

Just not when it's about stuck-up, self-centered, leads.

Phil sighs as he starts recording. How could that smug little Dan guy make Phil unhappy in a matter of seconds? By just a single comment? In his own defense, Phil was just trying to be friendly. Just trying to start anew.

But Dan wasn't having that.

"Are you going to start asking me questions?"

Speak of the devil, he speaks.

Phil shakes his head, then nods. He quickly glares at Dan, whose arms are crossed, before looking over at Pj. He waves his hand, signaling for his friend to come over.

Pj makes his way over to Phil, takes over the camera for him, and gives a thumbs up, along with a bright smile.

Phil smiles back before pulling the piece of paper with the interview questions out of his messenger bag.

"Okay," Phil sits down on a three-legged wooden stool across from Dan, taking extra special care to make sure he's out of frame. "First question-"

"-Well it's about time," Dan interrupts.

Phil does his best to ignore him, and instead adjusts his glasses.

It's so hard to read my handwriting.

"H-how long have you been with this play company?" He asks.

The Lead scoffs. "Too long. Much too long."

"Second question," Phil continues quickly, honestly not wanting to spend more time with Dan than he has to.

Honestly?

Honestly, I wish he was nice.

I wish we could actually be friends during these few months.

"What's it like being in such a close knit community of actors?"

To Phil's great surprise, Dan's arms uncross, and his expression softens, just a little bit. The tiniest hint of a smile plays on his lips.

"It's...it's actually amazing," he whispers, his voice barely audible. "To be apart of s-something...b-bigger than yourself."

Phil stares at Dan for a moment, his mouth slightly agape.

"Now who's stuttering?" Phil whispers back. Why am I whispering?

Dan looks at Phil with an unreadable expression. His face just looks...blank. As if he's in shock that someone like Phil would say that to someone like him.

"Can we just do the next question?" Dan tries to scoff, but it comes out more of a squeak. He looks down at his feet and avoids Phil's eyes.

"Um, alright," Phil clears his throat and looks down at the paper. He's snapped out of his thoughts, his trance, about The Lead.

Is he really just a normal guy?

Under that scowl must be a smile, right?

"Third question," Phil says nervously, trying not to shake. Something about Dan letting his guard down, about him being real, makes Phil have a strange feeling in his stomach. The jittery feeling that makes you nothing but a bundle of nerves. Phil imagines that must be the feeling the actors have before they go on stage. "Um, could you walk us through the process of taking just words from a script and making it into a full-scale, real life production?"

"Shouldn't you be asking the director that?" Dan says instead of answering the question. "That is her job, after all."

He's quick.

"N-No, I-I'm asking you that," Phil replies, his stuttering messing up any chance of a good comeback he had.

That same unreadable expression comes across Dan's face again. It's like he's not used to people talking back to him, or talking to him at all, for that matter.

"A-And if you're not going to answer, then you're wasting both of our time," Phil adds. To be even more convincing, he stands up and pretends to pack up his equipment.

Please don't call my bluff, Phil thinks. I really need to finish this interview.

Dan quickly leans forward on his chair, like he's going to jump up, and opens his mouth to say something.

"And it's not the director's job, it's the actors'. Yours," Phil snaps before Dan can say anything. "Now I don't know much about plays or musicals or whatever," he pauses to inhale, "but I know that it's the actors' job to make a play come to life. The director just tells you what to do. It's up to you to decide if you want to do it, and how well you want to do it."

Phil slumps his shoulders and exhales, completely unaware of where that sudden burst of boldness came from.

He dares to look back at Dan, but The Lead isn't looking at him. Phil follows his eyes to where Dan is looking, and his heart drops.

Pj has the camera pointing at them. He filmed the whole thing. He filmed him.

For a second, Phil doesn't know what to do. His shyness takes over, and he freezes, just getting lost in the black lens of the camera that's pointing directly at him.

Without a word, Dan stands up. Or rather jumps up. He stood so fast he knocked his chair over. He glares at Phil, jaw set, before storming out of the room.

"Well that could've gone better," Pj says after a while.

Phil just shakes his head. "Did you get all that, Peej?"

Pj nods, confirming what Phil already knew. "I-I just thought-"

"It's okay. My fault," Phil breathes, staring at the empty chair where The Lead should be sitting.

"Are we going to do another interview?" Chris asks from behind his camera, Camera 2. It was set up at a side angle to get a profile shot rather than Pj's Camera 1, which was pointed straight at Dan. Camera 3 was set up behind Dan, pointing at Phil, but they didn't even turn it on. Phil decided long ago that he wouldn't be featured in this documentary, not even for the interviews. Phil would just be a name in the credits, and he was content with that.

"We have to," Phil answers. "We can't just interview everyone other than The Lead."

"What are we gonna do?" Peej asks. "I don't think that jerk will agree to do another one."

"Just give him time to cool off," Phil says as if he knows Dan personally, and is friends with him. Ha. "We'll do it tomorrow."

Pj and Chris glance at each other, but Phil's eyes remain on that empty chair.

Tomorrow, he promises himself. I'm going to finish this interview whether Dan likes it or not.

*~*~*~*

Hey hey hey! Sorry I took so long to update this book! I was focused on my Dan and Phil imagines. *cheeky spon*

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please comment and vote if you did!

~Lizzy ☆彡