[A/N] If you like the chapter please consider to vote and leave a comment. That shows me that you enjoy the story and motivates me to continue it. I hope you have a wonderful day!
September 2022 – Atlanta
It was still very warm in Atlanta, something y/n was not used to anymore as fall in NYC started and the temperatures dropped already a little bit. She held her jacket in her left arm while handling the little suitcase with the other hand. She went straight to the exit and saw someone with a sign that showed her last name. She smiled and went to the man who greeted her instant.
They left the airport and went to the parking slots where the man put her suitcase in the trunk. They did a little bit of smalltalk before he started giving y/n some information on the following day:
"I'm going to bring you to your hotel right now. Tomorrow morning someone will pick you up at the hotel at 8:00am and bring you to the Marvel headquarter. Your meeting with Mr. Smith – Head of hair and make-up department will be at 9:30am. No need for you to bring anything with you. Right after your meeting you will receive a little tour through the hair and make-up as well as the costume department."
y/n nodded in response and started to become excited for the next day. As the man stopped talking to her she thought about what to wear tomorrow. As soon as she decided to wear something "business casual" the man cleared his throat – making y/n realize that the car stopped right in front of the hotel. She thanked the man, got her suitcase out of the trunk and entered the hotel lobby to check into her room.
It was a small suite with a living room, a bedroom, of course a bathroom and a little kitchen. Not very big but as she was just staying two nights until flying back to NYC on Saturday she would not even need a big room like that. But Marvel paid for it so she was not complaining.
She went into the bathroom to take a shower after the flight - although it was only 2,5h. The warm water felt really nice on her skin as she rubbed her whole body with a body-scrub she got from Christina. Afterwards she washed her hair. When she was about to finish the shower she stayed under the warm water for a few more seconds to clear her mind. "Everything is gonna be okay" she thought, turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.
She covered her whole body with a towel and went to the bedroom to look for her pajamas: black shorts and a dark grey shirt with a Marvel logo – filled with comic superheroes – on it. She bought it on the same day she got the call from Catherine and hoped it would bring her some luck with the meeting.
She changed into her pajamas and jumped onto the bed. She opened her MacBook, laid on her left side and continued to watch "Pam and Tommy", trying not to think about Sebastian again. What wasn't that hard even if she watched a TV series starring him, because he looked so different to him in real life in the show that she imagined watching the real Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee instead of Lily James and Sebastian Stan.
Despite the excitement for the upcoming day she fell asleep during episode six of the show and had a dreamless night until her alarm woke her up on the next morning.
She went to the bathroom to wash her face and started to get ready for the day. As y/n didn't want to be over- or underdresses she already decided to go for a "business casual" look. This included a black chino, a white shirt and a scarlet blazer. She was also wearing white Nike sneakers. She wasn't sure what to do for her make-up as she preferred the natural look but when you apply for a hair and make-up job you should look amazing. She decided to wear a matching scarlet make-up:
She would always prefer the natural look but she was very happy how the eye make-up turned out and how perfectly it matched the blazer. That pushed her self-confidence a little and she packed her bag for departure.
"Let's go and get this job!", she whispered while standing in the elevator.
She crossed the hotel lobby while smiling at the woman at the counter and stepped out of the building. A man in front of a black car already waited for her and took her across the city. In front of a huge building she got out of the car. She got a small mirror out of her bag and checked her make-up again: everything was still fine. She then continued to check all of her clothes: fine, too. So she took a deep breath and entered the building – ready for the hopefully lifechanging meeting.
There were four people sitting behind a counter with the large red Marvel logo on the wall behind them. She walked straight in front of a young, brown-haired man who smiled at her.
"Good morning, how can I help you?", he said.
"My name is y/n y/l/n and I have a meeting with Mr. Smith at 9:30am"
"Oh yeah, Miss y/l/n. The hair and make-up department is already waiting for you. Please take the elevator on the left to the 8th floor. Then turn right and head straight until you see a women called Michelle. She is already waiting for you."
Y/n thanked the young man, turned around and went straight to the left elevator. She could feel her heart beating faster than usual but she wasn't scared. There was just pure excitement in her.
With a little "ding" the elevator doors opened and she heard a voice announcing "8th floor" so she left the elevator and turned right. While walking along the corridor she saw framed comic books and photos of actors and actresses in costumes hanging on the walls. Nearly at the end of the corridor she saw a tall red-haired woman wearing Jeans and a Marvel Shirt – waiting for her. She smiled at the women and heard her saying: "Ah you must be y/n! I am Michelle. Welcome to Marvel!"
"Hi, nice to meet you!", y/n smiled and reached out her hand for a handshake.
"Wearing a Marvel-shirt at work. That's a dream come true." y/n thought and smiled.
"Your meeting with Bryan.. I mean Mr. Smith will be in half an hour. If you want to I can show you around our offices?", Michelle said while shaking y/n hand.
"That would be awesome!", y/n said a little too enthusiastic what made Michaell laugh. "Sorry, I am very thrilled to see how you work over here. And a little scared and excited for the upcoming meeting. Never had a meeting like that", she continued nervous.
"No need to worry. Bryan is a very nice guy and he won't bite!" Michelle winked at her.
Y/n laughed in response and whispered a "Hopefully" to herself.
The two women went around the office building, saying Hi to a lot of different people – y/n already forgot most of the names as she was never good with names.
At the end of the corridor was a door with a sign saying "Archive" on it. Michelle stopped in front of it, turned to y/n and said: "You have to wait to see this special area until after your meeting with Bryan. I know 'archive' doesn't sound very spectacular but you will see that it actually is amazing!"
Y/n was really curious and tried to catch a glimpse of the archive through the little window, but as the glass was a little foggy she couldn't see anything. She made a huge sigh to show Michelle her disappointment and both started to laugh again.
"Come on, let's go into the meeting room right by your side. Bryan will be here in a minute!", Michelle said and pointed on the door right next to y/n. Both entered the room and stand in front of a big conference table. There were some posters on the wall with a photo of a Marvel superhero and one of it's "catch phrases" beneath the photo like "Captain America – I can do this all day". y/n strolled around the room reading the posters and didn't realize the man who entered the room right after them.
"Miss y/l/n?", Mr. Smith asked as y/n jumped and turned around.
"Yes! Sorry I was distracted by these amazing posters.", she said and shook his hand as a welcome.
"Please have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?", he asked.
"A sparkling water would be amazing."
Bryan went to a little bar on one side of the conference room and got himself a coffee and a water for y/n. He returned to the table, handed her the water and sat down in front of her.
"Thank you so much for coming today, Miss y/l/n. My name is Bryan Smith and I am Head of the hair and make-up department at Marvel. How familiar are you with the organization of Marvel regarding my department?"
"To be honest I don't know much about the organization. I am self-employed and normally I am booked by producers for specific movies and I actually thought it would be the same with the Marvel movies. Right after the call from Catherine I googled a bit and was confused that there is actually a whole department at Marvel itself that does hair and make-up."
Bryan smiled and answered: "Yeah this is confusing because it is not common in our industry. Marvel decided to give talented people a forever home so that they don't have the risks of self-employment anymore. They have a regular contract, monthly salary and health care benefits. As well as PTO of course. No nightmares about "how to find a new project to pay the rent at the end of the month". And I'm not gonna beat around the bush any longer: Marvel would like to offer you to be a part of my team.".
Y/n's jaw dropped. He was right – this was an amazing opportunity for every artist. No worries about paying the rent, permanent job, even the chance to save some money for a vacation. But there has to be a negative aspect somewhere, so she said:
"Mr. Smith, this sounds pretty amazing. Too good to be true. Is there any disadvantage in the contract?"
"The only disadvantage is that you can't choose on your own for which movie you are working. I allocate my team to the different movies. You can make a wish, but that doesn't mean I can fulfil your wish."
Y/n nodded as response – she felt her heart beating so fast that she was scared it would jump out of her torso.
"If you don't want to make this decision right now you can give me your answer tomorrow. Talk to your friends and family and just let me know if you want to join or not.", he said as he realized that she was quiet.
"No, sorry. I was just really overwhelmed. I feel so honored that you thought about me. Of course I want to join your team. This is a dream come true for me!",
Bryan smiled and said: "Oh thanks god. I thought I scared you off or something. Enough with all the formalities. Please call me Bryan. I feel so old when someone calls me Mr. Smith. I am just 42 years old, so I am not an old man!"
After y/n happily signed the contract with Marvel (it was limited to three years but when both sides were happy with the work y/n did over that period of time she would get another contract without limitation) Bryan, Michelle – wo appeared magically in the corridor – and y/n went to see the mysterious archive at the end of the corridor.
When they entered the door y/n knew why this was left for after the meeting. This wasn't a normal archive: it contained at least 3 rooms with different kind of stuff.
The first room was crowded with costumes, wigs and other probs. She went through all the costumes in awe, trying to recognize for what character and movie they might have been used. She saw a few Marvel movies, but not all of them. Right before she wanted to move on to the second room – that was full of shelfs – she saw something silver shining from one of the tables.
She recognized the silver Winter Soldier arm from the second and third Captain America movie. While looking at it her brain realized that it was worn by Sebastian and she immediately was impressed by the size of his biceps. She didn't pay too much attention to specific body parts at the birthday party because he was wearing a suit and the light was dimmed all the time. But he indeed was very muscular – at least when Cap 2 and 3 were shoot.
She looked at the arm in detail - remembering a few interviews where Sebastian mentioned that he needed a lot of lube to slip into the prosthetic arm. It was made out of a solid material - although she was not sure what it was exactly. It seemed to be sitting very tight around Sebastians real arm, so she understood why he needed lube to get in there. She thought it would be more like a fake cast – that actors and actresses need to wear when their characters broke a bone. They were usually a lot wider than the real arm or leg so it was easy to hop in and out. But as Sebastian (or his stuntdouble) needed to do fights and other stunts with the metal arm it made sense that it was more like a solid second skin.
She smiled as her fingertips caressed over the silver arm – stopping in middle of the red star on the outside of the upper arm. That was the nearest she was Sebastian in the last months. She felt her heart skip a beat by just thinking about him.
Then a thought came to her mind that with this new job there would be a slight chance of seeing him again during a movie. No matter how small the chance would be, the idea of seeing him again and working with him over several months made her smile even wider all over her face before she walked to the second room – that had bookshelves full of photos of all hair and make-up designs that were used over the last years.
[A/N] What do you think will be the first movie y/n will working on?