….
[Same Day | Batman Release]
The heavy velvet curtains at the front of the private screening room had long since closed, but the atmospheric buzz in the theater hadn't diminished in the slightest.
A few rows back, Regal sat comfortably beside Gwendolyn.
He had deliberately chosen seats further down the row, intentionally giving Darren and Laura their own pocket of privacy amidst the rest of the LIE Studios crew.
Gwendolyn glanced toward the couple, leaning closer to Regal.
"They look so cute together..." she whispered softly, her eyes lingering on Darren, who was currently staring at the black screen as if trying to reconcile his own image with the terrifying antagonist that had just dominated it.
"They do, I guess." Regal murmured back smoothly, watching his best friend finally breathe a sigh of relief.
A few seats over, the world was far quieter.
Laura sat with her fingers tightly laced through Darren's.
Her thumb moved in slow circles against his knuckles, and for the entire three hours, her eyes hadn't left the silver screen.
She knew him as the dependable, grounded line producer.
The man who carried clipboards, managed chaotic logistics, and always looked completely content running things behind the scenes for LIE Studios.
To her, his acting history had always been a quiet footnote; a few scattered background roles years before he found his true passion in production.
The only glimpse she had ever had of his dramatic process was that disastrous, wonderfully absurd afternoon in his living room.
But seeing this?
Seeing him command seventy feet of screen with a performance so terrifyingly brilliant, so clinically precise, that thousands of people in the room had stopped breathing?
It was staggering.
The dim ambient light of the theater caught the faint, glassy shimmer in her eyes.
A single damp glint sat right at the edge of her eyelashes, making her eyes look impossibly bright.
"I think..." She squeezed his hand, her gaze lingering on his face as if searching for the goofy boyfriend who always brought her desserts. "...I think I finally believe you now."
Darren blinked, amused. "Believe me about what?"
Laura leaned a fraction closer, a playful, sugary smirk dimpling her cheek.
"I finally believe that what I caught you doing in your living room four months ago was actually acting." she teased softly, her tone dripping with affectionate humor.
"For a while there, I genuinely thought I was dating a secret weirdo who just really enjoyed wearing oversized coats and scaring himself in the mirror."
Darren let out a soft, genuine laugh, shaking his head as the lingering tension of the Joker finally evaporated entirely–
"I told you I was working on a scene."
"You were terrible back then." Laura whispered back, her smile widening into something overwhelmingly tender.
She reached up with her free hand, gently resting her palm against his cheek. "But this... Darren, you were unbelievable. My heart was actually hammering in my chest."
"You weren't scared of me, were you?" he asked quietly, leaning into her touch.
"Never." Laura looked at him. "I just realized... the whole world is about to fall in love with how brilliant you are. But I got to see the version that trips over his own coat first."
Darren leaned down and pressed a quiet, lingering kiss to her temple, wrapping his arm securely around her shoulder. "I will keep the coat if it keeps you around."
Laura let out a happy chuckle resting her head lightly on his shoulder as the final credits rolled.
Across the room, Regal and Gwendolyn watched on, satisfied that amongst all the chaos, blockbusters, and cinematic legacy they were building.
….
As the lights in the private screening room lifted further, a brief, intimate Q&A session kicked off near the front of the stage.
Christian Isaac took a microphone, while Fede Álvarez stood beside him as he looked noticeably pale and still recovering from a brutal bout with the flu, yet stubbornly refusing to miss the premiere.
"I know I look like a background extra from a zombie movie." Fede rasped into his mic, drawing a light laugh from the room. "But there was no way in hell I was watching this on a laptop screen."
"He was practically leaning on the wall just to stay standing on the ride over." Christian added with an effortless smirk. "I told him to stay in bed, but he swore he would haunt the theater if he didn't get to see your reactions firsthand."
The crew volleyed a few more lighthearted questions, alternating between praise for Fede's mythic origin setup and Christian's sheer physical presence under the cowl.
Meanwhile, a small crowd of studio veterans and crew members drifted over toward Darren, showering him with warm handshakes and enthusiastic congratulations.
–"Unbelievable work, Darren, seriously!"
–"You gave me goosebumps in the interrogation scene, man!"
Darren smiled back, giving polite, quiet thanks, though a part of his mind still felt strangely detached.
As if he were floating somewhere between the reality of the theater and the dark, chaotic abyss of the character he had spent months inhabiting.
As the crowd dispersed slightly, Darren turned around, and came face-to-face with Regal.
For a long moment, neither of them said a word.
Regal raised a single eyebrow, a faint, proud smirk touching the corner of his lips.
Without a word of grand flourish, he extended his right hand. "Welcome back to the world of cinema, Actor Darren."
The words hung in the air, and right then, it finally hit him.
After stepping away years ago, after settling into the comfortable background of line producing, he had actually done it.
His mind had been trying to process the shift for months, but hearing Regal lay it out loud and clear shattered the last lingering wall of self-doubt.
Darren reached out and took Regal's handshake. His grip was firm, his eyes turning slightly moist.
"You really didn't leave me an exit strategy, did you, Regal?" He asked, his voice rough with quiet emotion.
"Why would I?" Regal countered softly. "You belong in front of the lens. I just took away your excuses."
In the background, the two of them seamlessly fell into an intense, quiet breakdown of the footage.
Laura watched them from a few paces away, crossing her arms with an amused tilt of her head.
"Look at the bromance…"
Gwendolyn leaned in beside her, letting out a soft sigh as she shook her head. "Yeah… I have to keep reminding myself that my biggest competitors aren't other women, but men. They just gel so well… especially Keanu."
Laura glanced over, eyebrows raised. "Him too?"
"Yes… yes." Gwen replied dryly, rubbing her temples. "There are more. Ryan, Henry, Robert... if Regal stays in a room with any of them for more than twenty minutes, a whole new project gets born before I even get a text back."
Laura chuckled softly. "Well, at least Darren only falls off his chair for one of them."
A few feet behind them, Fede Álvarez and Christian Isaac overheard the exchange.
Fede took one look at the expressions on the two women's faces, then glanced over at Christian.
"Should we... go say congratulations?" Fede whispered carefully.
Christian studied the two women for a second, then took a subtle step backward. "Fede, you're already sick. You don't need to get collateral damage either. Let's just head to the catering table."
"Wise choice, Batman."
Fede muttered, and the two of them quietly backed away without intervening.
….
[Another Location]
The cool night air outside the AMC theater hit the three of them the moment they pushed through the glass exit doors.
Azari had his hands pressed tightly against his stomach, doubled over so far he was practically walking at a right angle to the pavement.
Beside him, Jex was leaning heavily against a concrete pillar, wheezing, his face flushed red as tears of laughter spilled over his eyelashes.
"So wait, wait!" Jex gasped, clutching his ribs and waving a trembling hand to stall Copper. "So that's what actually happened inside the caravan when you came out sweating like a pig and kept saying 'nothing happened'?!"
Copper walked between them with his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets, his shoulders hunched, looking like a man who had survived a war zone only to have his trauma turned into a stand-up comedy routine.
"I told you guys it was classified." He muttered defensively. "Regal literally looked me in the eye and said 'nothing you saw in here gets discussed outside.' Do you two have any idea what it's like when Regal Seraphsail gives you an order? You don't question it. You just run."
"You didn't just run, man, you bolted!" Azari cackled, finally straightening up and wiping his eyes. "We thought you had an asthma attack!"
Truth be told, the three junior crew members had actually been invited to the official studio premiere with the rest of the cast and crew.
They had politely declined, using the flimsy excuse that they 'didn't feel comfortable in formal suits'.
In reality, they were still quietly terrified of stepping on Darren's toes.
A few weeks prior, during a routine logistics run where they were strictly instructed to act as simple "postmen", delivering NDA documents to some famous actor the trio had gotten a little overambitious.
Instead of just getting the required signatures, they had casually slipped a few personal slips and asked for extra autographs.
When Regal found out about the minor breach of protocol, he had simply laughed it off with his usual calm amusement.
But Darren, with his professional standards as LIE's line producer, had been noticeably unamused.
He hadn't yelled, but the tight look he had given them made it crystal clear that work was work, and fanboy antics had no place on a professional lot.
Ever since then, the three had kept a respectful distance.
Which made seeing Darren's performance on the IMAX screen tonight hit them ten times harder.
"Man, when that scene played out on the giant screen..." Copper shivered, rubbing his jaw. "I swear to God I got full-blown flashbacks. My throat went dry and my legs started protesting all over again! He held my chin with one hand, brought a knife three inches from my face, and asked if I wanted to know how he got his scars. Do you have any idea what it feels like when a guy with smeared red lips looks at you like you're an appetizer?!"
Jex sighed, his laughter finally settling into a quiet awe as he looked back at the glowing marquee displaying the movie title in giant bold letters. "To think Darren was carrying that monster inside him while managing our catering schedules and signing equipment passes..."
"Yeah..." Azari added softly, gazing at the poster of the Batman from the glass display box. "Should we rewatch the film? It feels like I missed a lot of details."
Copper stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening in horror as the thought of enduring those claustrophobic Joker scenes on the big screen all over again hit him like a freight train.
Before Copper could even open his mouth to protest, Jex chimed in without a second's hesitation. "Count me in."
Copper stared at his two friends in absolute betrayal, clutching his jacket tight against his chest.
"You guys, I hate you so much!!!"
Copper yelled, though he was already reluctantly turning around to follow them right back toward the ticket counter.
.
….
[To be continued…]
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