O N  S E T

Harper walked into the set for Athena's bedroom, hair messy in a way the hair and makeup department carefully orchestrated. The bags under her eyes, however, from the nights spent awake crying, could not be fixed by any amount of coverup, causing the makeup artists to grow irritated with her.

Immediately, Tom ran up to her with hope in his brown eyes. Instead of the greeting he expected, she hit him with a withering glare that could make Satan himself cry.

"Let's get this over with." Harper grumbled, not speaking necessarily to him, but to everyone in the general vicinity, including Emma, who looked anxious, since it was the first time Tom and Harper had seen each other since the breakup.

Harper was on set that day for a single scene, one taking place in Athena's bedroom that would involve a kiss between her and Tom's character, Peter, and a stunt in which she would flip him over her shoulder and slam him into the ground. Harper was dreading the kiss, but she was an actress. It was what she had to do.

She was directed to sit on the edge of Athena's bed, and from the setting of the "bedroom," Tom as Peter would climb in through the window that was directly above the head of the bed.

Harper got into character quickly, putting aside her anger and heartbreak in order to focus on becoming Athena. She was able to shove all of her emotions to the far back corner of her mind, and, with a deep breath, she became her character.

The scene itself was short, just a few minutes in length, but the stunt trainers had been practicing for weeks to get the flip right without having to use body doubles.

"And... Action!" The director called.

Although Harper herself heard Tom as Peter entering through the fake window, Harper as Athena didn't. She was immersed in the newspaper in her hands, one whose headline screamed the words SUSPECT IN CLARK MURDER REMAINS FREE. Athena's father had been killed in an apparent mugging-gone-wrong only a few months before, and despite the fact that all evidence pointed to one man, Athena knew in her bones that it was a different person who murdered her father. Even though her parents abandoned her and gave her up, she wanted to avenge his death.

When Tom as Peter put his hand on Harper as Athena's shoulder, the instinct from hours upon hours of training kicked in, and she grabbed his wrist, threw him over her shoulder onto the floor, and held him down, knee against his chest.

The words Harper spoke were one hundred percent scripted, all Athena's words, not her own.

"Peter! Jesus Christ, you can't just sneak up on me like that!" She exclaimed, quickly getting off of him and helping him up.

He was clad in his Spider-Man suit, and he also wore his usual goofy smile that was always present when he was around her. "Did I scare you?" He teased, eyebrows raised mockingly.

She narrowed her blue eyes. "'Course not. I don't get scared." There was a certain air of mischief in her expression, a glimmer or a sparkle that made it obvious she was joking.

Tom as Peter rolled his eyes and grabbed her waist, pulling her in closer.

When he did that, all worry of portraying Athena flew out of Harper's mind. It was an instinctive action to put her hands up against his chest, right palm over his heart. She could feel his heart racing, just as hers probably was, too.

"I think we both know that's a lie." He murmured, half-heartedly smirking in a way that made one side of his mouth twitch up involuntarily.

For a few moments, Harper wished she was just with Tom, not playing characters surrounded by dozens of people, but instead, it was just the two of them. It had been almost two weeks since they had broken up, yet everything about him seemed totally and completely the same as when she last saw him.

He had the same mop of brown curls, the same smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. He was Just Tom, her Tommy.

Then, she snapped out of it. She quickly channeled herself again and said her next line.

"Anyway, why are you here at..." She paused to check the clock that rested on Athena's nightstand. "... Twelve thirty at night?" She inquired, pulling back from him, just as it said to in the script.

An emotion like hurt passed behind his eyes for a mere fraction of a second, but it was gone before she could read it, and the smile he was supposed to wear returned. He reached behind him for his backpack, the one he always carried with him wherever he went, and unzipped one of the side pocket, grabbing a small slip of paper from it.

When he unfolded it, it declared Midtown High School for Science and a Technology Homecoming, September 23rd: Sky's the Limit.

"Will you go to homecoming with me?" Tom as Peter asked earnestly, the tips of his ears turning pink.

Harper as Athena broke out into a wide grin, rare for her character. Athena was stoic and rarely expressed joy, or any other emotion for that matter. When she smiled, he did, too.

"So, that's a yes?" He asked. She nodded quickly and flew at him, arms securing around his neck in a hug. He chuckled and wrapped his own around her waist. He picked her up off the ground, spun her around quickly, and set her back down, all while grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

His arms were still around her as he leaned down to kiss her. Right before their lips met, though, the director yelled, "Cut!"

A groan was heard from Anthony Mackie, who, for some reason, was on set today, and most of the cast laughed as he whined. When Emma slapped his arm brutally, he let out another cry.

Harper heard the redhead whisper, "Be respectful, Anthony," in her fiercest Jean Grey voice, one that scared almost everyone she used it on. The grown man pouted.

"C'mon, Emma, my ship is dying!"

"Your ship won't be the only thing dying if you don't shut up!"

As the two cast mates were fighting, Harper lurched back from Tom, feeling queasy from how close they had been. He seemed to want to come speak to her, but she was luckily intercepted by the director before he could.

"Nice job today, Harper. I don't think we'll need another take. That one was nearly perfect." He complimented. "You're free to go, kiddo."

At his words, she turned to leave, coming face to face with Tom. "Harper..." He began.

She shook her head frantically, unable to breathe, then bolted, running in the opposite direction. She heard Tom, Emma, and most of the cast and crew calling after her, but she didn't listen. She just ran.

long ass 'in real life' chapter. there won't be many of them, maybe four or five ish?? 

also btw im gonna be slowing down w the updating, maybe only one chapter every two or three days.