Delicate - Emily Blunt x Reader

13 - tolerate it

"Now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life."
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Your alarm goes off for work in the morning, and you realize that this is the first time in a forever that you are absolutely dreading going. Not for your sake. For Emily's.

You love your job. You love being around the movies and getting to know the characters and the actors that make them so captivating. You love being a part of the production that makes blockbusters come to life.

What you've been realizing more lately is how much you hate the toll it all has on everyone involved. The closer you've gotten to Emily, the more it's become clear just how exhausting the life of a successful actress is.

Not only does she have to keep on the perfect face and play the role right in front of the cameras, she has to be Miss Perfect all of the time.

Yesterday in your room was one of the few times you saw Emily let her guard down.

You feel a sense of pride that she felt comfortable enough to be vulnerable in front of you. That you were the one able to help her and pull her out of the dark hole that Nolan Eldridge dug for her.

You look down at Emily, asleep in your arms since yesterday. You didn't even know that you both fell asleep. You just did.

Emily is breathing softly on your chest, her hands gripping the fabric of your shirt and her legs tangled up with yours.

You smile, wishing that you could spend another day just like this instead of facing the treacherous realities of work.

You run a hand through Emily's hair, pushing it out of her face and tucking it behind her ear.

The touch of your hand on her face causes her eyes to flutter open. She looks up at you, squinting.

"Good morning," you whisper.

Emily groans and rolls over to her other side, pulling the covers over her head.

"We gotta go to work, Em," you say, feeling terrible that you just reminded her of the horrors today holds ahead.

"No, we don't," Emily says groggily. "They can't do anything without me."

It's hard to argue with that. Emily is in every scene, and every scene is about Emily. People are going to go to the theaters to see her, no matter what the movie is. You sigh, "We got lucky yesterday, having a day off," you say gently, still playing with her hair, "but today we actually have to go."

Emily finally sits up, aggressively flipping the covers off of her.

"Hey," you reach out and touch her arm, "I'll be there, right by you, all day, Em. Whatever you need."

Emily rests her hand over yours and squeezes lightly. "I'm an actress, Y/N. I pretend to be someone I'm not, to feel feelings I don't have, for a living. Sure, I can do it in real life for a few weeks, right?"

You swing your legs over the side of the bed and make your way towards the bathroom to brush your teeth. With the toothbrush hanging halfway out of your mouth, you say, "Emily, I will stand by your side with whatever decision you make, but I don't want to see you get hurt any more than you already have."

"I appreciate you looking out for me, Y/N," Emily stands up, sliding her heels on from the party, a unique match with the sweatpants and hoodie. "I'm not sure what I ever did to deserve everything you've done for me."

"That's what friends are for," you shrug, spitting your toothpaste into the sink.

You both agree that it would be best to drive to set separately. People make rumors out of anything, and those rumors spread fast.

So you resume your usual routine of riding with Louis, who is persistent to find out why Emily Blunt spent two nights in a row at your apartment.

It's a good thing you're persistent to keep your mouth shut. You turn up the dial to the radio, not caring what's playing as long as it's louder than Louis's interrogation.

At a stop light, Louis turns down the volume and turns to you. "Did you guys kiss?"

"No!" You blurt out. It's the only question you've answered. "She has a boyfriend, you twit."

"People cheat all of the time, Y/N," Louis shrugs as if commonality makes it morally right.

"Yeah, and people get murdered all of the time, but that doesn't make it okay," you turn your whole body away from him, afraid that your face will reveal that disloyalty is the entirety of the issue.

"Someone forgot their Midol this morning," Louis mutters.

You scoff and turn the radio back up to full volume. Luckily, Louis has run dry of questions and comments anyway.

Emily has beaten you to the studio for the first time ever. She sits waiting in her chair in the dressing room, her leg bouncing up and down nervously. She's still wearing your clothes.

"Hey!" You greet her as if you just spent the past two days apart and need to catch up. You and Emily agreed to act like this weekend never happened, and you plan to follow through with that until Emily says otherwise.

"Hello, love," Emily smiles with relief when she sees you. You're supposed to act normal, so why does it feel like Emily is speaking to you as if she spent the past two nights in your bed?

"What's today?" You ask Emily, knowing very well you have yet look ahead in the script for this week.

"An office look," Emily answers the question in terms of what you have to do to get her ready for the scene, and then, "It's when Alice officially declares her love to Harry."

You swallow. How convenient.

But you think about the way Emily summarizes the scene and nod. Emily doesn't have to be in love with Nolan. Alice has to be in love with Harry. This doesn't have to have anything to do with their real life relationship.

You have no doubts in Emily's acting abilities. You're confident that she could confess her love to a boulder and still make it look and sound sincere.

Once she's ready to go, you give Emily a supportive and reassuring nod before following her out to the set.

Nolan greets Emily with an overly friendly embrace. You wonder how he can look at her after everything he's done to hurt her. You wonder how Emily can look at her as if he never did anything at all.

"Hey, baby," Nolan presses his lips to Emily's. You notice that she is the one to pull away first. He keeps his face millimeters away from hers, his breath hot on her face as he speaks. "I didn't see you all weekend."

Emily rests her hands on his chest, "I wasn't feeling very well. I must've came down with a bug or something."

"I tried calling and texting you, babe," Nolan kisses one side of her neck. "Never heard back." He kisses the other side, his hands sliding further down from her waist.

"Oh," Emily forces an innocent giggle as his hands slide slightly under the backside of her skirt and squeeze, "I must've turned it off. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, baby," Nolan sighs dramatically and leans his forehead against hers, "I know you'll make it up to me later." His arms wrap tightly around her body like a snake about to devour its prey. He leans in for one more kiss, this one lasting longer than the rest.

"Alright, love birds," the director enters the room, "I want that energy, but on camera. Can we do that?"

And Alice confesses that her love for Harry is real. More real than anything else she's ever felt before.

You're surprised at, after these past couple days, how easily convinced you are.

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"While you were out building other worlds, where was I?"