AN: Firstly, I know that Elsie is obviously so much better than being Danny's assistant. This will not be the focus of the story, sorry.

In the last chapter I conveniently ignored the fact that LaF would've met the whole cast at read-throughs and rehearsals, but I really wanted introductions. All facts in this fic about film-making are assumptions made by me, hence entirely untrustworthy!

Danny's a bit of an ass in this, sorry about that. But it's to make the Shartlyn headcanon real. It also happens to work well with the story.

Also, just for the record – the movie plot which I only touched upon briefly, is that Victor Frankenstein was born Victoria Frankenstein, but in this movie identifies as male, and changes his name to Victor. The backstory where in the original story Victor grew up with and was going to marry Elizabeth is replaced by another gender-swapped character, so that instead of Elizabeth we have Eli, played by JP. Victor's monster who was abnormally large and gross-looking will be portrayed by makeup and prosthetics applied on Danny.

None of this has anything to do with the plot or the characters of the fic. LaFontaine still (again, in the fic) identifies as genderqueer and not as transsexual. That is the character they are playing. When the characters are not working, they are the same as they are on the show.

Anyway, now enjoy!

Only a week and a half had passed, but LaFontaine's life already felt like it had become some sort of minor, personal hell. Not only did they have to put up with a ton of scenes with monologue from Lackwit Lawrence (a nickname they'd stolen from Carmilla Karnstein a while back), but they also had to stop themselves daily from ogling Lola Perry in front of the entire crew.

It wasn't that the girl was a classic beauty, but she was definitely beautiful. It took effort not to strike up conversation every time they passed each other, because obviously LaF didn't only notice looks. They were cooler than that. They had many a time overheard Lola speaking to Natalie and Sarah Jane, and upon hearing the conversations as well as the girl's motherliness, caregiving nature and obvious warmth, they couldn't help but adore her. They didn't know why – previous interests of theirs had been outgoing, loud and funny. Lola was nothing like that. She was quiet but helpful, serious, but would take charge and do it well if needed. The strength that powered Lola Perry didn't seem to come from any selfish desire to be noticed or admired. She only seemed to care that everyone around her were well. LaFontaine couldn't help but love that.

They also couldn't help feeling like a creep, thinking of this girl who looked younger than eighteen. They were twenty-four, dammit, they could control themselves.

When they arrived to set on a chilly Tuesday morning, ready to listen to another part of Lawrence's endless speech, they found the scene all but empty. There was usually a lot of people, but now there was only six of them, excluding LaF. Lawrence, Lawrence's assistant, Kirsch, Laura, Carmilla Karnstein and Lola Perry. The camera crew would probably turn up later.

They took a deep breath. They had yet to be intimidated by Perry's presence, but it was still slightly nerve-wracking, even if they wouldn't admit it. They went up to Laura and her girlfriend. "Hey, Laura. Carmilla."

"Hey, LaF! Today is the same as yesterday – obviously – I just need you to look a bit wearier, you know, since more time has passed?"

They yawned. "Yeah, no problem."

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. "Stunning performance, Carrot Top."

They'd grown used to the nicknames over the years. "Any time, Sunshine." Still, the best comebacks they had for Carmilla were sugar-sweet names that Carmilla used for her own girlfriend, and they didn't even bother the broody woman anymore.

Wilson Kirsch walked – or rather skipped – over, with Lola Perry on his heels and Danny Lawrence (trailed by Elsie tapping away on her phone) trailing after them, looking surly.

Kirsch piped up. "Laura, Danny – Miss Lawrence says there's a problem with the mics."

Laura's eyes widened. "What? There was nothing wrong yesterday!"

"There was", Lawrence muttered. "You couldn't hear what I was saying in the playback."

Kirsch nodded. "Yeah, but you could hear LaFontaine."

LaF frowned. "We were using the same microphone. There's probably nothing wrong with it, you just need to speak louder."

Danny whirled to face them. "What was that? Are you saying there's something wrong with my performance?"

LaF sighed. They were not in the mood to even be here, and they definitely didn't need Danny Lawrence picking fights with them. "No."

"Sure sounded like it."

"Forget I said anything."

Danny glared at LaF, then turned to point at Kirsch. "He doesn't know what he's doing."

Laura frowned. "Danny –"

Danny shook her head stubbornly. "I want someone to look at the mic."

A ginger head of curls stated a quick "I'll do it!" before hurrying off. LaF wished they could go after her.

"Danny, that was unnecessary. If you can hear LaF, there's no need to look at the mic."

"Yes there is, there has to be something!"

Kirsch rolled his eyes, "What, it likes their voice more than yours? That's stupid!"

LaFontaine didn't continue listening. Instead, they slowly left the scene, trailing Lola Perry's footsteps.

They found her in a small tent full of wires and equipment. "Hey." It was the first time they'd spoken to her directly.

Perry jumped almost violently, and turned around in a flash. "H-hi!" She stammered. "Did you need anything?"

They shook their head. "You don't have to look at the mics, this is just Lawrence being an asshole. Figured you might want some company if you're not actually needed to do anything." Wow, LaF, way to not force yourself at her…

Perry brightened. "Oh, thank you! But I'll still have a look. Just to be sure."

LaF carefully averted their gaze as Perry bent over to reach for something in one of the piles. Don't be a creep. "Are you really so into recording equipment that you look at fine mics just for fun?"

The answer came out muffled, without the laugh LaF had been hoping for. "In my spare-time? No."

"But here, you are?" That didn't sound stupid at all. Good job.

Perry straightened up with a triumphing smile on her face, holding something to her chest. "I can't say that technology is my strong suit."

"What is your strong suit?" they asked curiously.

"Baking, I suppose." She started untangling the messy wires attached to the microphone she was holding.

"Let me help with that." LaFontaine stepped closer to help. "That's cool, what do you bake?"

"Oh, no, you don't have to help!"

LaF smiled at her. "I want to. Give me the end of the wire and tell me what you like to bake."

Perry smiled wryly and handed the end of one wire to them with a nervous chuckle. "Thanks. Brownies, mostly. It was the first thing I learnt to do, but I still find it the most fun. Tell me if you see anything weird on the wire, like a gap or a split."

"Will do. Also, brownies are amazing."

The girl smiled brightly, and LaF wilfully ignored the extra heartbeat that occurred in their ribcage. "You think? Most people think I'm incredibly ridiculous – out of college and still baking brownies with sprinkles and doing internships."

LaF was about to die of all the adorable emitting from Perry, unknowing of the fact that Lola herself was mentally beating herself up for sharing that particular piece of information.

"It's cute", LaFontaine said when they realised that out of college meant Perry was certainly not a minor, so they asked, not noticing the blush on the curly-haired girl's face from their earlier words, "Hey, how old are you?"

Perry stood a little straighter. "Twenty-two."

Two years? They were only two freaking years apart?

LaF let out a loud, barking laugh. "Oh God, I thought you were a minor!"

"What?" a smile broke out across Perry's face. "Why?"

"You're an intern, and you look – no offence – you look younger than twenty-two! That's a good thing", they assured her.

"So you –" Perry blushed even more, "you were thinking about how old I am?"

LaF blushed too, lightly so. "I, uh, yeah."

The curly head tilted to one side curiously. "Why?"

What the hell, the awkwardness would only last as long as the filming. Not too long. They would regret this. But avoiding one intern during filming wasn't that hard. "Because you're really pretty."

"You – you're just saying that to be nice to me."

"N-no, I'm not, well – I wanna be nice to you but that's not why I'm saying it!"

"God, you heard I'm a fan of yours, didn't you? Is that why?"

"L – Perry, calm down." The curly-headed girl was getting worked up, and they were cursing themselves in their head. Why couldn't they just stay normal about things for once? "I didn't know if you were a fan or not, I just… I just thought you were pretty. You are pretty."

Lola Perry was putting the statement of frying eggs on one's cheeks to shame in that moment.