Work Text:
Alex had been in Cardiff ten days now, finding, groping, grappling, wrestling this new character into submission. It seemed that every time he felt like he might be getting a bit of a handle on the enigmatic Mordred, the character again slipped from his grasp.
Well...
That wasn't quite true. The truth was, he'd go onset every morning, sides in hand, professionally prepared and lines memorized, and the director would tell him as he always did that there had been a change in schedule and he had new lines to learn, and ten minutes to do it in. Or, they were shooting a different scene from a different episode. Oh, and Bradley wanted go over a scene with him later, and had he had a chance yet to take any more riding lessons?
Well, that wasn't entirely true either. The real gist of the matter was that the people running this show--"The Js", as the knights called them in private asides to him, usually twisting their mouths in mocking, snickering exasperation--couldn't even decide what direction they wanted his character to go in, ambiguous or not, mad as a hatter or not, almost-friends with Merlin or not, so....
(He’d gotten the feeling when he was hired that it was kind of going to be like this, a “make-it-up-as-they-go-along” type of approach, when the Js had told him this would be the last series but it hadn’t been announced officially yet, and then handed him a four-paged typed manifesto of spoiler-type things he was never supposed to talk about to anyone, told to sign it in triplicate, memorize and then burn it...)
No matter. Alex was having the time of his life. He was a knight of Camelot, for all Hearty's sake, with a cape and a sword and everything! It was a kid's dream come true. He was on a show that he had watched and liked himself, one that paid pretty well (as far as the BBC went), which was an actor's dream come true. And he was surrounded by a good bunch of lads, a minging group, the lot of them, boisterous and friendly and funny as all get out and just a tad on the incredulously crazy side, and he loved it all. The only real problem he had was containing his enthusiasm. He felt like a kid in a sweetie store frequently, and both Colin and Bradley had laughingly told him to take a breather now and again, pace himself, because they still had eight months left before they wrapped. But they'd been at this most of their adult lives, after all. They were used to this.
There had been a few moments of awkwardness at first of course, as there always was in a new job, especially among mates as well established as these seemed to be. The amount of in-jokes and just...jokes that just meant nothing at all to Alex were perplexing. If he were the paranoid type, he might wonder if they were laughing at him at some moments. They were forever taking the piss out of each other and Alex couldn't help but catch some of the backlash, even when he was (unintentionally he was sure) excluded. And even those times when he was being treated as the little brother, the new bloke, the baby of the family and was the brunt of their shenanigans--Alex didn't mind. Not at all. He found himself laughing onset the first week so much he'd retire to his hotel with aching sides, and not from the weight of his chainmail.
There were other things, too--it hadn't taken long for Alex to figure out who was who and what was what...he was pretty sure. Colin was very nice to him, for example, but he got the feeling that Colin was very nice to everyone while keeping everyone at arm's length. He was extremely hard to get to know--the first onset and the last to leave every bleedin' day, had his own private jokes with everyone, and mostly hung around with the crusty octogenarian, Richard.
There was also Colin when he was with Bradley. Colin and Bradley seemed to have a weird connection, the kind where they held silent conversations with each other in a roomful of people. They weren't together all that much when they weren't both in a scene, and because Bradley was often engaged in more physical rehearsals...but there were times when Alex would see them look around and just find each other. Even when Bradley was playing in the table tennis tournaments during lunch (he sucked at it but was so entertaining no one cared), he'd find Colin in the crowd and laugh or wink at him. Alex knew better than to read anything into that--this was the entertainment industry, after all, where people forged tight bonds or hated each other's guts, often in equal measure. They had so many intense scenes, and seemed to know each other so well and get each other, that there constant visual re-connecting with each other was probably just their actors’ method of ensuring their bond carried over onscreen.
(And judging by some of the things Alex had heard and read, fans certainly thought it did. In spades.)
On location, when they were all waiting around between takes, giggling and shoving and sometimes wrestling, Colin would be there, laughing too...and sometimes, he'd just wander off by himself to prepare for his scene. He was an odd bird, that one, and one Alex had not yet figured out at all, but he was also bloody brilliant at what he did. Alex vowed to himself that even if he didn't figure him out, he would try to remain in his good graces. That boy-o was going to go places when this production wrapped in October, of that Alex was sure. And Alex was going to watch and learn.
So this night, Friday night and his second week as a member of the cast of Merlin, just after 7:00PM, Alex sat on his bed in his hotel room and told his girlfriend about his week, how happy he was, not to mention exhausted, when there was a knock on his door.
"Hey!"
Rupert's always-kind, smiling face greeted him.
"Hey yourself! A few of the lads are going to the pub for a quick pint. Come with?"
Alex quickly masked his flush of pleasure at being included. He was an adult and a professional...
"Sure. This fine to wear?" He indicated his jeans and tee shirt.
"Why not?" Rupert indicated his own similar attire. "Not like we're cruising for the ladies, is it?"
Alex smiled slightly, uncertainly, but Rupert continued, "You might want to consider getting shod, though..."
"Hmm? Oh! Hang on!" He realized he had no shoes on, just his socks.
"No rush, just meet us by the hall stairs in five." And Rupert waved just as Eoin and Tom joined him in the hallway and flashed grins at him.
Five minutes later, Alex joined Rupert, Eoin and Tom at the top of the stairs of their hotel lobby. He knew they were also just around the corner from Bradley's room, too.
"Just us?" he asked, trying to conceal his disappointment. He wanted to observe Colin and Bradley more, try to figure out what their game was away from their "natural habitat", so to speak.
"Tomiwa's getting his beauty sleep", Tom remarked, and Eoin muttered something about him needing it.
"Bradley said he'd be but a minute, but you know Bradley." The others just nodded knowingly, and Alex made a mental note: Bradley's often late.
"And Colin?" Alex asked casually.
"Always early. That lad shops for Christmas two years in advance." Eoin again, said very good naturedly and with a twinkle in his eye.
"That's because he's an elf." Tom quipped matter of factly.
"Or a fairy", Colin's voice said from behind them, and everyone burst into raucous laughter.
Bradley and Colin were both walking towards their group, with Bradley tucking his IPhone into one of his pockets. They were both smirking at Colin's joke. Colin, Alex noted, had on what looked like pajama bottoms and slippers.
He knew the answer, but thought he’d ask anyway.
"Joining us, then?"
Colin just smiled a little and shook his head.
"Not really his scene", Bradley said. "Let's get a move on, gits, I'm thirsty!"
The gits in question let out Neanderthalic whoops and began thundering down the stairs, with Alex trailing behind.
He didn’t know why, but something compelled him to look over his shoulder at the two men at the top of the stairs again.
Bradley had his hands at Colin's hips in an unmistakably intimate way, and leaned in to kiss him on the mouth. The kiss wasn't long, but Alex was pretty sure there was some tongue involved.
When Bradley pulled away, Colin followed him for one more quick kiss...
And then Colin glanced in his direction and saw him. Bradley turned at the same moment too.
Colin raised his eyebrows and quirked his lips at him. Bradley’s expression was more of a “So?’ look.
Not a trace of embarrassment from either of them.
"Are you coming...Ah. Okay, then." Eoin was behind him, glancing from him to Bradley and Colin.
Alex just stared back at the two leads from Merlin, raised his shoulders in a quick shrug and smiled a bit.
They didn't look worried, but even so, Alex said, "Another spoiler to keep secret, I take it?"
"Worst kept secret in telly land", Eoin muttered.
Alex had to admit it, he was still chuffed to be one of the secret keepers.