showbiz // phan

Muscle Museum

Muscle Museum // Chapter Two

"She had something to confess to but you don't have the time so look the other way..."

Phil sighed to himself when the next song, Muscle Museum by Muse, started playing through his headphones.

He was on his way to yet another audition, and honestly, he was slowly losing hope. Sure, he got some roles before, but they were so insignificant that they didn't get him anywhere. He usually played the kind of character in movies that people hear the name of and immediately forget about right after.

When Phil turned 19, he moved to London to become an actor. But soon he realised that maybe, it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.

Now, he was 26 and still struggling. A few months after he had come here, he knew that he would need a second job to keep him alive. His family didn't know, of course, Phil would never tell them.

Back then he didn't even think they would want someone as unattractive as him to work for them, but turns out that most drunk people didn't even care anymore what their strippers look like as long as they got what they want.

And well, Phil was able to give them what they wanted, and sometimes even more than that, and it disgusted him, but he couldn't deny that it paid his bills, so... he knew he had to get through it somehow.

"This is Tottenham Court Road. Change here for the Northern line. This is a Central line train to Epping."

Phil could hear the loud monotone voice through his headphones, even.

Two more stations until he would have to get out.

It was pretty late in the afternoon already and the tubes started to get more crowded with people on their way home from work. Ugh, there would probably be people who'd sit down next to him now, great, just great.

Phil stared at his own reflection in the window right in front of him. It was just now he noticed how tired he looked.

Someone sat down next to him, as he had expected, but he didn't pay any attention at first. It was the reflection of the guy that made him feel puzzled.

Because now, next to him was a guy with curly brown hair and eyes which matched that hair perfectly, colour-wise of course. But it wasn't his face that Phil recognised first, simply because he didn't pay attention to the face first, it was the guy's blazer.

Yes, that was it, Phil recognised the white blazer with the thin, pastel pink pinstripes on it.

The guy had his sleeves rolled up and looked a bit tired, just like Phil. It had been pretty warm today, so maybe that was why. He had two bags in his hands, two kind of fancy looking paper bags, but Phil didn't recognise the brands.

But yes, Phil recognised the guy with the cute smile, but definitely not because of the smile, because right now he wasn't smiling at all. He just looked tired and exhausted but was weirdly nice to look at nonetheless.

Phil usually wasn't one to talk to strangers but there was something inside of him that told him to talk to the brunette man next to him, so he did.

"Excuse me?" he said and the other man looked at him, a confused but not annoyed expression on his face when he looked at Phil. Phil wasn't sure if he'd recognise him.

He also wasn't sure what to say next. "Um, hi. I... I think we met before, are you-"

"You're the guy who came into my shop last week!" the brunette said excitedly and bam, there it was again, that cute smile that Phil adored so much. He had already noticed it last week but of course didn't say anything about it, why would he?

"Yeah, you helped me choosing a shirt for my grandma's birthday." Phil smiled brightly, liking his company. "Thank you, by the way. She actually complimented it."

"See, I told you she would love it." The guy smiled and Phil looked at his hands. He didn't want the conversation to stop but he wasn't sure how to continue it either.

Luckily the brown eyed man next to him seemed to have more social skills than him and asked, "So, where are you headed to?"

Phil chuckled awkwardly. He didn't like telling people he was an actor. Well, a struggling actor, and that exactly was the point. If he was at least a bit more successful, he would love to tell people. But in the past few years, he didn't really seem to get anywhere, so... he just wasn't as sure about the whole thing as he used to be.

"Uh, I'm on my way to an audition. I'm an actor, you know."

He saw the other man's eyes widen. When Phil saw him smile, for some reason he felt the reason to do the same.

"An actor? That's amazing. I loved drama class in school but I don't think I'd ever have the courage to actually try and get somewhere with it." He looked at Phil. "But I'm happy you do." He smiled again.

Phil felt his eyes widen. That wasn't the reaction he usually got. Usually, people were awkward about it and didn't know what to say, so they just went like, "Oh, that's cool." or something similar.

You know when people say that to you and you can just tell immediately that they don't mean it? That's what had happened basically every time when Phil told people about his dream of becoming an actor, back in school already.

And he was so sick of it.

So, "Really?" was all that Phil answered, simply because he didn't know what else to say. He just wasn't used to this kind of reaction.

The brunette guy chuckled. "Of course! You know, I respect people like you a lot. Artists in general. You never know where you're gonna end up or if you'll get anywhere but at least you're brave enough to follow your dreams and do what you love." He smiled.

Phil wanted to say something to that but before he could think of an answer, the monotone voice spoke up again.

"This is Chancery Lane. This is a Central Line train to Epping."

Oh my god, how had it been two stations already? Phil tried to grab all of his things quickly. "I'm really sorry," he said directed at the man with the pretty brown eyes. "But I have to leave here. It was nice talking to you, though!"

Before the other man could even say anything, Phil had already stepped out of the train.

A wave of regret came over him. He wished he would've asked for the guy's number, or his name, at least. He seemed so nice and he was so easy to talk to, and Phil would be lying if he said that this dimpled smile of his wasn't the cutest thing he'd ever seen.

But this was London. Millions of people lived here, and the chance they would meet again was tiny.

So Phil just sighed to himself and stepped up the stairs, wishing he could turn back time by just a few seconds.

a/n the header is a pic taken by me, please don't steal it ;-; also thanks so much for 200 reads!! omg i just uploaded this yesterday how did that happen lol

are you liking it so far tho? ^_^