HONESTY HOUR*

mood: joe goldberg

closed starter: @averydawson​ where: avery’s apartment

“Aaaaay...” Leo’s voice drawled out the first syllable of Avery’s name. He repeated the vowel from his seated position in front of Avery’s apartment door. His posture was slack against the wood. His muscles so loose with the amount of alcohol he had consumed to rid himself of his guilt. It took sixteen shots to do so. He repeated the vowel again meaning to be louder but instead reached a much higher pitch. It reminded him of a song a particular song from the sixties called, Sherry by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. He tried to reach the falsetto once again using Avery’s name in place of Sherry’s as he began to sing the song. “Aaaaa-AAA-ver-yyyy, can you come out tonight?” He practically screech sang in the empty hall. 

joey teaching an acting class

Dumb & Dumber (1994)

xbhandri​:

@le0davis​

“Okay but listen. Hear me out. The stage lights pop on. We’re standing in a line. The piano starts playing. Everyone immediately gets emotional. Suddenly everyone knows how many minutes are in a year. Is it stable? No. It’s New York City in the 1980′s during the AIDs epidemic. We’re here. We’re queer. We’re dying and Regan isn’t doing shit about it. You know what will fix approximately none of our problems? Love.” Xavier had found out they were reviving RENT again and he would throw Wicked down the drain if he could land a roll. He was nearing the end of his contract anyway. He could just switch from one to another, right? He had only been on the stage for a handful of years, and while Fiyero have him everything he could ever want, the roll while main wasn’t big. He wanted more. He wanted more meaning. 

A scarecrow was all find and dandy, but it wasn’t the love of his life, the dream role. Angel Dumott Schunard. He still didn’t know if she was a trans woman, a drag queen, or genderfluid, but to dress up as Mrs Claus and prance around a stage, only to die in the most emotional Broadway death known to man? He could still remember the first time he saw the musical and how it had changed his whole damn life. 

“Leo, it’s not stable, but nothing in life is. Do you want your baby thinking her dad is lame? Those who can’t act teach. Audition with me.”

-

Leo’s mouth opened in the middle of Xavier’s spiel. He so clearly saw the cast in a line singing ... Seasons of Love straight out into the audtence. The two friends had confinded in each other that their dream roles were in RENT. A show that was in the pre-production of returing back to broadway. He understood that to Xav that it was an oppurtunity that must be taken. But Leo wasn’t as starry eyed. 

“Don’t bring Mira into this.” He said, becoming slightly defensive at the mention of his daughter. Though that was chord that needed to be struck. Leo actually heard what Xavier meant. Being an acting coach was always supposed to be temporary. Something to do until he had gotten a break. But it took over, he began auditioning less to not at all. He fell into his own hell of repeating the same day over and over. So much so that he became a regular at a bar, and developed a dependency on alcohol and sex just to get through a Monday. This wasn’t how life was supposed to be. This isn’t the spotlight he was meant for. He sat there unaware of the spark that was growing in his chest.

His eyes still looking at his best friend incredulously. “I - Xav - you can’t really truly think that I’d ever be good enough to get Roger.” He was scared.  It was a huge leap into auditioning. Maybe he could start off small in non-speaking roles. He didn’t want to take that risk of auditioning for a role he had always coveted. He wasn’t as brave as Xavier. “You are no doubt in my mind are going to get Angel. Just gotta practice the drums. I, on the other hand, am gonna get laughed out at the door with no credits to my name.”

miavxga​:

If Mia could say that the bar was her second home, she would but she didn’t want to sound like an alcoholic. She stood by the counter, sipping her drink when a guy approached her. It was clear he was drunk not only by the way he was slurring his words a bit but the smell as well. Mia tried to turn him down nicely and move away from his touch but it had seemed it wasn’t working. 

“Excuse me for a moment.” she said with a fake sweet smile before stepping away, she spotted the closest person to her. She approached them and lightly touched their arm. “Hi, sorry to bother you but i have a huge favor to ask. There’s this creep watching me right now and I really need to make it seem like i’m taken. Now i’m not trying to cause a scene, just obvious enough for him to get the hint. Think you can help me out? i’ll owe you with a free drink.” She said, this time a genuine smile in hopes they’ll agree. 

-

Leo’s eyes widened when he felt a touch on his arm. His whole body stiffened. This could have been some weird silent call for a fight. He did have the tendency to look at everyone funny. He turned and he was surprised to see that it wasn’t some big guy he might have rolled his eyes at. Instead, but a gorgeous woman. He blinked repeatedly as she spoke to him. How did these stunning women in bars always seem to find him? He listened to her task at hand, and figured this could be his one good deed today. It wouldn’t be a hard one either way. 

And her reward completely had him on board. A free drink? Game on. Being an acting coach, had its’ perks, he was able to read and micmic facial expressions and body language. A perfect mirror of any person. Without any further inkling that he was going to take this on, he immediately snaked his right arm around her waist. His fingers splayed out against the material of her clothing, before pressing his fingers to her body possessively, that it brought her closer. “Do you think this is doing the trick?” He asked, lowly, his vocal fry deepening as he brought his face down to hers. He did this another layer to the act, showing off intimacy as their faces were mere inches within each other. This wasn’t a hard task at all to look deep into this beautiful stranger’s eyes. For a moment, letting himself believe, methodically, that he was looking at someone he loved and ached for. “Can you peek and see if it’s working?” He asked once again in a husked voice.

Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg You (2018 -)

martinanselmo​:

Martín wasn’t a pushover. He got along well with most people, but he was his own person— probably, right? Honestly, he didn’t know how the board had managed to coax him into this ridiculousness. Holding presentations was hardly new to him, he’d been a TA for a while back in his school days. He was eloquent enough, even if he wasn’t always the most outspoken person in the room. But the classes were free for him, so hey, it couldn’t hurt, right? Maybe his new teacher had some good tricks to share.

Again, his doorbell trumpeted that horrible 8-bit version of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Martín sighed, as he finished up hiding the last of his dirty dishes back in the cupboards, and tucked away stray papers from his kitchen table. He straightened his shirt before making his way to open the door. “You must be Mr. Davis, come on in,” Martín said as he moved aside for the other. He closed the door, and then offered out his hand. “Martín Gutiérrez. Thank you for making a home call for me, it’s been a hectic week and I hardly have time to get home, let alone haul myself around Manhattan.” 

Martín directed the other into his living room with windows so covered in plants you could barely see outside. He had to gather them all there in the mornings, for maximum sunlight. “How was your trip here? Not too complicated, I hope.” Martín hovered awkwardly in the middle of his living room, hands behind his back, waiting. How would they get started?

-

“Hello, Leo’s fine,” he greeted back at his new student, and he moved through the open door. Leo was trying to keep his eyes from widening at the realization that the two shared the same style. Dark curls, full burly beard, and a collared shirt. Leo chucked it to the man having taste because that was also a compliment back to himself. He shook Martin’s open hand with his own, switching the empty cup from hand to other before doing so. Leo’s shake was a good firm two shakes before releasing Martin’s hand. “It’s fine. You’re in my home borough at least.” Leo shrugged. He wasn’t ever going to complain about a twenty minute commute.  His eyes moved to skim the place remotely, as they walked, and even noted the plants before turning back to Martin. 

“So not at all complicated.” He said, finishing the small talk pleasantries. Leo surveyed Martin a little bit now, openly sizing him up as they both stood in the living room. Leo stood straight with no sign of fidgeting, and Martin was the complete opposite. If this is what he was acting like in the familiarity of his own home with one stranger… what would he be like in front of a crowd? The short quick mental image of the man stuttering did not feel like a reach. “Oh, Martín Gutiérrez,” Leo said with proper accent inflictions, “looks like we got a lot of work to do, sir.” He offered a smile even if his words were pretty telling of how many lessons were ahead of them.

Leo did wonder how he’d run lessons that wasn’t specific to acting. But he did break down the skills needed in order to present the art form. First of all the lessons was confidence. Being an actor you had to be the loudest in the room with no fear of failure. In order to do that was to be so sure of one’s self. If you couldn’t convince yourself, you cannot convince others. “Your first lesson will be to build your confidence.” Leo announced and proceeded to make himself much too comfortable in the space he was given. He set his empty cup down on the table, and began rifling through his messenger bag on the couch. Was it a way to prove how confidence can make someone overtly comfortable in a new place? Yes. Was it also cause Leo constantly possessed audacity? Also yes. 

krosxn​:

Katz had been too wrapped up in organizing his office before hearing the knock. He briefly wondered who it was before hearing the slur of Leo. With a sigh, he went to the door to let him in. Blinking at the man, he helped him inside and shut the door behind. “Would you though? Because if you’re looking to get hired on, this is not the way to do it.” Clean him up, get him in bed, that’s what Katz’s goal was going to try to be tonight.

-

Leo was so out of it he didn’t realize he had been let in till Katz’ voice spooked him since he was so close. But after his delayed flinch, his mouth had stretched into a smile, seeing the friendly face he had seek out. “What do you mean? I’m just having fun.” He retaliated, not liking the ounce of judgement he sensed from Katz’s response. “This is the life, Katz!” he sang and began making his way further into Katz’ home with unstable legs yet he continued humming.