fandomcorner | Hollywood Apocalypse (1/5)

Sam was quiet during the drive from San Francisco to LA and that just made Dean drive faster. When Sam was quiet it meant he was thinking and the last thing he needed right now was time to sit and dwell on the sheer volume of shit that had been thrown his way over the past few months. He was still grieving over what had happened to their dad. They both were, but now Sam had the extra burden of knowing that their dad’s final words had been to tell Dean that he might have to kill his brother.

He’d never do it of course. He’d rather kill himself first, but just knowing their dad suggested it had to be seriously messing Sam up. As if that wasn’t enough there was Madison, the first girl Sam had let himself care about since Jess and he’d had to kill her. Seriously, if Dean didn’t know better he’d think the universe was playing one seriously sick prank on Sam.

So what Sam needed right now, what they both needed, was something to take their minds off how massively screwed they were. Just for a few days.

What better place to do that than Hollywood?

Of course Sam hadn’t wanted to go, but the kid never did know what was good for him. Losing himself for a few days on vacation in the land of movie stars and swimming pools was exactly what he needed. Dean’s big brother instinct knew these things.

It was going to be awesome.

* * *

In Hollywood all the motels had names to do with movies but as soon as Dean had seen The Motel California, he’d known it was the one for them. He checked them in for a week and grabbed some fliers for the local attractions before they headed to their room.

Sam wrinkled his nose at the huge picture of Orson Welles that filled most of one wall. “Seriously? It doesn’t even have anything to do with the name of this place.”

“So not the point,” Dean replied as he flicked through the brochures. “Right, obviously we have to do the studio tour. You wanna do that tomorrow?”

Sam shrugged.

“Come on, Sammy, we’re on vacation for once in our lives! What do you want to do?”

“I’m tired, Dean,” Sam sighed and flopped down onto the end of the bed to illustrate his point. “I want to sleep.”

“We can do that,” Dean agreed. “But we’re here for a week so we’ve got plenty of time to do other stuff. Come on, it’ll be fun. You do remember what fun is, don’t you?”

“Not really,” Sam replied softly. “And I don’t really feel like doing anything fun right now, okay?”

“Yeah, well, that just means you should,” Dean shot back. “Get some sleep now but tomorrow we’re going to do the studio tour. I guarantee you’ll be smiling by the end of it.”

“Whatever.”

Sam kicked off his shoes and shuffled up the bed until his head was on the pillow. He rolled onto his side so that his back was to Dean and fell still. That was his way of saying that the conversation was over.

Dean would let him have this one. Tomorrow their vacation started for real.

* * *

He woke up early the next morning and made sure the alarm was switched off before he went out to get some breakfast. Sam didn’t even stir when Dean got up, showered and dressed and he wondered how long it had been since Sam last slept properly.

There was a diner just down the road from the motel and Dean made sure to get something healthy for Sam and even made a mental note not to give him a hard time about the lack of grease on his meal.

The studio tours didn’t start until ten so he figured they could have an easy morning before heading out. It wasn’t often they had the luxury of not being in a rush to get someplace.

“You ever met anyone famous?” he asked the kid behind the counter while he waited for his food. He couldn’t have been much older than sixteen and the grease from the fried food had given him a pretty impressive set of pimples.

“Sure,” the kid drawled, “Tom Cruise comes in here every morning to try our delicious pancakes.”

Normally Dean would have made a smartass comment right back but today was different. Today he was on vacation, he was in a good mood and he wasn’t going to let a kid in the middle of puberty get in the way of that. Instead he just grinned, took his order and headed back to the car.

Sam was in the shower when Dean got back to their room, his bed made neatly while Dean’s was still in a rumpled mess.

“Breakfast,” he called when he heard the water shut off and a few minutes later Sam came out in a cloud of steam with his hair still wet.

He raised an eyebrow when Dean presented him with a fruit salad and a coffee.

“What?” Dean asked. “I got you healthy crap and you don’t want it?”

“No, it’s not that,” Sam replied as he sat down and started eating. “Just. . . thanks.”

This was about the time Dean would normally watch cartoons but he knew Sam hated that so he left the TV off and they ate in silence.

“So, I think I might have found us a job,” Sam said after a few minutes. He pushed the newspaper over to Dean and pointed to an article he’d circled.

Dean didn’t even read it.

“Dude, no. We’re on vacation. We’re not working. A few days off and then we can go and hunt whatever the hell you want but we’re not doing any of that today.”

“Dean, someone died. More people could die if we don’t look into this. The last thing I want is more people to die because of me.”

He’d been avoiding this conversation since they’d left San Francisco but enough was enough. He pushed the newspaper back across the table. “What happened to Madison wasn’t your fault. There was no way you could have saved her. Come on, we’ve been through hell this year. We need a break. Just a few days.”

“No, we need to work,” Sam replied. “Please, Dean. You want me to stop thinking about Madison? This will help. Besides, you didn’t look to see where we’re going to hunt.”

Dean let out a resigned sigh and pulled the paper back towards him, eyes scanning the page.

Fiction became reality yesterday when CW actress Mischa Barton made a shocking discovery while filming her latest movie ‘Over Her Dead Body’. Reports are circulating that one of the members of the crew was found dead, although details are sketchy at this point and a statement has yet to be given on the nature of the death.

The movie also stars former Roswell actress Sarah Michelle Gellar.

“Are you kidding me?”

Sam shook his head. “Nope.”

“Really, Sam? We’re working based on some hack rag that doesn’t even know which show Sarah Michelle Gellar starred in?”

“We’ve worked off less before this,” Sam shrugged. “Come on, you said you wanted to go to Hollywood and now all of a sudden you don’t?”

“Can we at least take the tour first?”

Sam sighed wearily. “Sure.”

“Awesome!”

* * *

They were first in line when they got to the studio after breakfast, a good thirty minutes before the place opened. Sam sighed and glanced down at his watch. “Seriously?”

Dean shrugged and picked up a map and a flier that listed some information about the places they’d be seeing on the tour. He handed the map to Sam, figuring he’d find something to geek about if he looked at it for long enough.

“Hey, once the tour is over we can have lunch in Arnold’s from Happy Days,” Dean said as he read the flier.

Sam chuckled. “I still remember when we were kids and you used to wear Dad’s leather jacket when he was home between jobs so you could pretend to be Fonzie.”

Dean nodded. “Fonzie was the man.”

“Really? You didn’t think it was kind of creepy that he hung out with a bunch of kids all the time?”

Dean paused for a second while he thought about it. “Man, you take the fun out of everything!”

The doors opened and Dean dragged Sam inside to they could buy their tickets. Normally he would use one of their many fake credit cards but this time he paid cash. It was weird, but he felt like he wanted to give something back to the thing he loved most besides his family and his car.

“The tour starts in ten minutes,” Dean said once he’d paid, ignoring the look on Sam’s face as he parted with a load of their scarce cash. “Want anything from the store before we go?”

“Uh. . .no, I’m good.”

They walked slowly over to where the carts were lined up for the tour. Dean got into the first one and sat up front so he had the best view.

“You look like a kid in a candy store,” Sam said as he took a seat beside his brother.

“And you don’t,” Dean shot back. “Come on, Sam. Aren’t you even a little bit excited?”

“Not really.”

Dean rolled his eyes. It wasn’t the first time he wondered how he and Sam were actually related and he doubted it would be the last. He’d been sure this would be just the thing Sam needed to take his mind off everything, but as the cart started to move he could see his brother going through the notes he’d made about the case and not paying any attention to the commentary.

He elbowed Sam in the ribs. “Did you hear that? They filmed Friday the 13th here.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Come on, the job can at least wait until the tour is over.”

Sam sighed and put his notes back into his jacket pocket. “Okay, fine, I’m listening. Are you happy now?”

They turned a corner and the cart slowed down to a crawl as the tour guide continued. “Over here on stage twelve some notable horror movies were filmed including My Bloody Valentine, Devour and House of Wax.”

Dean snorted. “Those movies sucked.”

“Okay, I’m done.”

Sam climbed out of the cart before Dean could stop him so of course he had to follow.

“Dude, what the hell? You don’t want to finish the tour?”

Sam stopped dead and turned back to face Dean, eyes bright with annoyance. “No, I don’t. I didn’t want to come here, Dean, and I didn’t want to take the tour. I want to work so can you please just let me do that?”

“Okay, okay. You want to work, then we’ll work. Where’s this set we’re going to?”

Sam sighed with relief. “Stage nine. It’s this way.”

“Let’s go then.”

As they walked along, Dean lost himself in everything that was going on around them. This place was too awesome. They could run into one of his favorite movie or TV stars at any moment.

“Hey, Sam, if you could meet any famous actor while you were here who would it be?”

Sam shrugged. “I dunno. Someone like Meryl Streep maybe?”

“Yeah, she’s still pretty hot,” Dean agreed.

“She’s a brilliant actress, Dean. She’s been nominated for the Best Actress Oscar more times than anyone else.”

Dean sighed. “Yeah, you would pick someone for a nerdy reason like that.”

“Yeah, well who would you choose?” Sam asked as he glanced back down at the map to see which way they should go.

“I can’t answer that! That’s like asking me to choose a favorite flavor of pie!”

“And you call me a freak,” Sam muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Dean grinned. “So what’s this movie about anyway? Is it something cool? Are we gonna actually meet Sarah Michelle Gellar? Man, Buffy was hot.”

“Buffy would kick your ass into next week,” Sam replied as he pulled out his notes and started flicking through them. “I dunno, man, the movie sounds pretty lame.”

“You know the best thing about horror movies, though,” Dean said as they turned another corner and found themselves outside stage nine. “The hot chicks always get down to at least their underwear before they bite it. It’s practically porn on the big screen.”

“Classy, Dean, really classy.”

“Just telling it like it is, dude. Come on, let’s go inside.”

* * *

As soon as they were through the doors they found themselves caught up in a hive of activity as various people bustled past them carrying equipment that Dean couldn’t even put a name to. In the center of it all the set had been made up to look like an apartment, complete with blood-spattered walls.

Dean grinned. “This is awesome!”

“I don’t get why you’re so excited about that,” Sam replied as he slipped his EMF reader out of his pocket and tried to discreetly take a reading. “We see haunted apartments all the time. It’s not exciting. It’s not even real.”

“But that’s what makes it so awesome. Haven’t you ever wondered how movies are made?”

Dean all but bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he tried to take it all in. The cameras, the lights; it was all much bigger and brighter than he’d imagined and that just made it more exciting. His eyes scanned the room, trying to spot any famous actors, but from the looks of things they were setting up a scene so the only people around were the crew.

“We should take a look around,” Sam said in what Dean liked to refer to as his business voice. His brother really could sap the fun out of everything, but in this case taking a look around was exactly what he wanted to do.

“Let’s go,” he said with a nod of his head, trying to at least give the impression that he was as focused on the job as Sam was.

They barely made it five paces before a hand hooked around Dean’s arm and he sighed as he realized they’d been busted.

“I need you to take this over to Amber on camera four.”

Dean blinked in surprise. It wasn’t a security guard who had hold of him; it was a flustered looking young guy who was in the process of trying to shove a small box into Dean’s hands.

“Are you even listening to me?” the guy snapped. “Great, I had to find the PA who’s a total moron. Amber. Camera four. Go. Now.”

“We’ll get right on that,” Sam assured him but as soon as the box was out of his hands and in Dean’s he walked away without even listening, yelling into his headset as he moved off.

“What the hell?” Dean murmured as he turned the box over in his hands.

“Look, they obviously think we work here. That’s good. Means we can move around without people asking too many questions,” Sam said.

Dean nodded. “Yeah, I get that but how the hell do I find Amber and camera four?”

“You’ll figure it out,” Sam shrugged. “I’m going to see if I can get any readings from the place where they found the body. I’ll come and find you when I’m done.”

Well, Dean certainly wasn’t going to complain about being given free rein to poke around a movie set. All he needed to do was ditch the stupid box he was carrying.

“Excuse me,” he said, catching the attention of the first person who walked past him. “I’m supposed to take this to Amber at camera four but. . .well, it’s my first day and I don’t really know where I’m going.”

He followed the pointed finger he got in response and soon found himself standing in front of a woman who looked like her camera had done something to offend her.

“Finally,” she sighed when she spotted Dean or, more accurately, when she spotted what was in his hands. “I’ve been waiting for this for an hour.”

She took the box from him, opened it and pulled out a lens that she started to attach to her camera.

“You new here?” she asked over her shoulder.

Dean nodded. “That obvious, huh?”

“I’m pretty good at remembering faces. You got a name?”

“Dean.”

She moved back around to the rear of the camera and stuck out her hand. When Dean shook it he was impressed by her firm grip.

“This your first PA gig?” Amber asked.

“Yeah, but I learn fast.”

It wasn’t a lie. He’d been conning people since he was a kid, and part of a good con was being able to learn fast and adapt to what was going on around you. His dad had taught him that so long as you believe you can do something, more often than not most people around you will assume you can do it too.

Amber looked him up and down, like she could get a measure of him just from the way he stood, and then she smiled.

“I think you’ll do okay for yourself, kid. Just don’t go getting all star struck around the actors. It tends to piss them off.”

“Duly noted,” Dean said with a salute.

“You.”

Dean found himself pulled away from Amber but she barely noticed and was already back to tweaking the settings on her camera.

The guy who’d pulled Dean away looked just as flustered as the one who’d given him the lens to deliver, and Dean found himself wondering how the hell there weren’t people dropping dead from heart attacks all over the place.

“I need you to go and get Misha something to eat from Craft. Part of his costume has gone missing and we’re trying to sort something out but we don’t have time for a lunch break. Just get some food and take it to Wardrobe.”

Dean nodded, the instinct to obey orders kicking in like a reflex. “Got it.”

He had no idea how to get to Craft or where Wardrobe was, but he’d figure it out. He started to walk and a couple of minutes later Sam caught up to him.
“The place is clean. I don’t know what we’re dealing with here, Dean, but it doesn’t look like a haunting. Where are you going?”

“Gotta pick up lunch for that Mischa chick. Apparently she’s having some sort of wardrobe malfunction. I’m hoping it’s the kind that involves nudity.”

He grinned and Sam rolled his eyes. “Well, before you start trying to get into her panties could you at least ask her some questions that don’t involve how bendy she is? She’s the one who found the body.”

“You take the fun out of everything,” Dean grumbled. “Fine, I’ll poke around and ask her some questions before I poke-“

Sam raised his hand. “For the sake of my sanity, do not finish that sentence.”

“Prude.”

“Whatever.” Sam sighed. “Just see if you can find out anything else. I managed to dig up a bit of info on the dead guy. His name was Simon Bennett and he was one of the writers. I asked around a bit but no one seemed to have anything against him. Apparently he was the main reason the movie was getting made in the first place. So talk to Mischa and I’ll go and talk to the cops while you’re. . .busy. See if they can tell us anything else.”

Dean’s grin widened. “Take your time, Sammy. I might be a while.”

Sam shook his head and walked off towards the exit, leaving Dean to tackle what was most definitely the best part of their job.

He had no idea what Mischa would want to eat. Probably just a carrot stick or something if she was like most actresses, but he loaded the plate with a bit of everything when he eventually found craft, just in case. The guy serving the food gave him directions to Wardrobe and Dean hovered outside for a minute. He actually felt kind of nervous. Hitting on some random chick was one thing but this was a famous actress. He’d have to up his game if he was going to get anywhere with her.

He balanced the plate on one hand and used the other to knock on the door.

No answer.

He waited a moment and knocked again. When there was still no answer he pushed the door open and poked his head inside. “Hello?”

There was soft music coming from a small stereo sitting in one corner of the room, the gentle sound of melodic chanting and guitar strumming floating through the air. Rails of clothing lined the far wall and as Dean moved to set the plate of food down, he almost tripped.

“What the hell?”

The ass poking in his direction was definitely not female, but it sure as hell was hot, especially given that the body it was attached to was currently bent in some position that Dean hadn’t even thought was possible. He really hoped the face was even half as hot as the body.

“Oh, hey,” a muffled voice came from somewhere underneath. “I’ll be done in a minute.”

Dean could only watch with rapt attention as the guy slowly unfolded himself and sat on the floor with his legs crossed as he let out a few deep breaths.

Dean’s eyes widened. He knew this guy!

He was wearing a pair of blue sweatpants and a salmon colored t-shirt that was dark with sweat in places. Dean absolutely wasn’t thinking about the time he jerked off after watching Stonehenge Apocalypse. He wasn’t blind, the movie had sucked, but he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the hot guy with the huge blue eyes who got to save the world.

And now said hot guy was sitting in front of him, looking up at him with said huge blue eyes. Dean was half hard already.

Misha fucking Collins.

Part 2