[Modern Family] Ch: 93 & 94 [GQ Shoot & Haley's plans] (Patreon)

[September 9, 2012] [Milk Studios, Los Angeles]

Jack stood in front of a full-length mirror while a stylist pulled gently at the back of his charcoal trousers and another woman adjusted the cuffs of his white dress shirt.

He had been inside Milk Studios for a little over an hour, and he had already learned that getting dressed for a magazine involved considerably more people than getting dressed for a movie.

A rack beside him held enough clothing to fill half his closet at home. Tailored jackets, shirts, knitwear, trousers, coats, shoes, and accessories had been arranged by look, with small cards clipped to each outfit showing the intended combination.

Jack looked at himself in the mirror while the stylist stepped back to inspect the fit.

The charcoal trousers were slim without being tight, paired with a crisp white shirt that had been left open at the collar. A dark navy jacket waited nearby for the first formal setup.

A makeup artist named Rachel stood at Jack's side with a small brush and lightly worked beneath his right eye.

"Look up for me," Rachel said as she steadied his chin with two fingers.

Jack raised his eyes toward the ceiling while she blended a small amount of product beneath them. 

Across the dressing area, GQ features writer Daniel Mercer sat in a chair with a recorder resting on the table beside him. He had introduced himself earlier with the relaxed manner of someone who knew an eight-hour interview worked better when it didn't feel like one.

Daniel glanced at his notes while Jack's collar was adjusted again. "You've been filming in Georgia all week, flew here last night, and now you're spending your only day doing this. When was the last time you had a day where absolutely nobody expected anything from you?"

Jack thought about it while Rachel moved the brush across his cheek. "I had one recently, although my dad practically ordered me to take it. I played games in my hotel room, ordered too much food, and tried very hard to ignore anything that looked remotely productive."

Daniel smiled slightly. "Did you succeed?"

"For most of the day," Jack replied. "That counts as progress for me."

Rachel took a step back and studied his face beneath the dressing-room lights before reaching for another brush.

Daniel leaned forward slightly. "You have a reputation for working constantly. Acting, producing, writing novels, developing projects. Is that something you enjoy, or do you feel pressure to keep moving?"

Jack looked toward him through the mirror. "Both, probably. I like doing what I do. Writing is fun. There are so many stories I got in my head that I want to share with everyone. And I love being on set. The problem is that when you enjoy what you do, it's easy to convince yourself you're resting because you're having fun."

Rachel gave him a knowing look while blending around his forehead.

Jack continued, "My dad pointed that out recently. I can spend 12 hours filming, come back to the hotel, write for another 3 hours, and tell myself I'm fine because I enjoyed both. My body might keep up, but eventually my brain starts telling me to stop."

Daniel glanced down at his notes. "Do you listen when it tells you that?"

"I'm learning."

The stylist returned with the navy jacket and helped Jack slide his arms into the sleeves. She straightened the shoulders, adjusted the lapels, and stepped back.

The jacket fit closely through the waist without looking tight, and the darker blue worked well against the white shirt and charcoal trousers. Another stylist stepped in to fix the hem near his hip, then checked the sleeves again before moving away.

Jack studied himself in the mirror.

He looked different without actually looking older.

That seemed to be the point.

Nobody was trying to turn him into a thirty-year-old businessman. The clothes were sharp and expensive, but his collar remained open, his hair had been kept loose, and Rachel had used just enough makeup to clean up the tiredness around his face without making him look polished beyond recognition.

Daniel watched the process quietly for a while before asking about the change in Jack's career over the last two years.

The question wasn't complicated, though Jack took a few seconds before answering.

"I think people started taking me more seriously after The Fault in Our Stars," he said. "Before that, I was still the kid who was trying to make a comeback. 17 Again and Narnia were just the start. But... The Fault in Our Stars... That film changed things."

Daniel asked, "You surprised everyone when you chose to act in The Fault in Our Stars instead of another big-budget fantasy film after Narnia. People loved that movie, and I even watched it with my family twice in the theater. Fans were expecting a sequel or something similar. But you went in a different direction with The Fault in Our Stars. It was a beautiful movie. Its emotional honesty, tragic story, and themes of young love facing death made it hard to watch without a box of tissues. Were you trying to prove something by choosing that film?"

Jack looked at himself in the mirror while the stylist fixed the jacket one last time.

"Maybe a little. Mostly, I just loved the story. If I'd picked it only to prove I could act, I probably would've ruined it."

Daniel made a quick note.

Jack didn't say much more. He'd already learned that interviews became easier when he answered what had actually been asked instead of trying to turn every response into a speech.

Rachel brushed a small amount of powder over his forehead, checked his jaw under the light, and finally stepped away.

The fashion editor came over next, looked at the full outfit from several angles, then nodded toward the studio floor.

Jack followed the crew out of the dressing area.

..

The first photography setup looked almost too simple when Jack saw it.

A plain gray background had been stretched behind a small section of the studio floor. Large lights stood on both sides, with white reflectors angled toward the center. A monitor had been set up several feet away, where a few members of the GQ team watched the live images coming from the camera.

Selina Lance stood near the middle of the set with her camera hanging from one hand.

Jack had seen some of her work before coming in. Her photographs were clean, usually simple, and focused heavily on the person rather than the background. She didn't seem interested in filling the frame with props or making the subject look dramatic for no reason.

She looked him over as he stepped onto the marked position.

"Turn a little to your right."

Jack shifted his body.

"Keep your face toward me."

He did.

The first few photographs were mostly about getting him comfortable.

Selina had him move his shoulders, change the position of his hands, adjust his jacket, and turn his head by small amounts while she watched through the camera. Whenever Jack became too still, she told him to keep moving instead of waiting for the shutter.

That helped.

Movie sets had trained him to hit marks and hold positions, but this worked differently. There was no dialogue, no scene, and no character telling him what emotion belonged on his face. The smallest things suddenly mattered more. Where his hand rested. How much weight sat on one leg. Whether his mouth looked relaxed or tense.

At first, Jack became too aware of everything.

His hands felt strange.

His shoulders felt stiff.

Even standing still felt strangely complicated. 

Then Selina told him to stop trying so hard.

That was easier advice to follow.

Jack adjusted one cuff, looked away from the camera, then glanced back while Selina kept shooting. He moved one hand into his pocket, shifted his stance, and let the jacket open naturally.

The shutter clicked several times in quick succession.

Selina lowered the camera and checked the monitor.

"That's better."

Jack relaxed a little.

The next few minutes went much more smoothly.

He stopped thinking about each movement before making it. He adjusted the jacket because it felt natural, changed his stance when his leg became uncomfortable, and let his expression settle instead of trying to look serious.

The photographs improved almost immediately.

The fashion editor came over halfway through the setup and removed the jacket. Jack stayed in the white shirt and charcoal trousers while the sleeves were rolled slightly below his elbows.

This time, Selina had him stand closer to the background and turn sideways.

The look felt less formal.

Jack rested one hand near his pocket while looking past the camera. A second later, Selina asked him to look directly into the lens.

He did.

The change was small, but something about the direct eye contact made the whole frame feel different.

'Holy shit! He's hot! And his eyes... Phew~' Selina thought as she checked the image on the monitor, then showed it to the fashion editor.

Jack couldn't see the screen from where he stood, though he noticed the quiet nod between them.

That probably meant they liked it.

They kept shooting.

...

The first clothing change came after nearly forty minutes.

Jack returned to the dressing room, where the navy jacket disappeared, and a cream knit shirt replaced the white one. The stylists changed his trousers too, moving him into a darker brown pair that felt softer and much closer to something he might actually wear.

Rachel sat him down again and touched up the makeup around his forehead and nose.

His hair had shifted slightly during the first session, so another stylist worked through it with her fingers while Daniel moved his chair closer.

The interview continued without much ceremony.

Daniel asked about acting and writing at the same time, something Jack had been asked plenty of times before.

Jack explained that the two jobs felt different in his head.

Acting meant stepping into a world somebody else had built and finding the person he was supposed to play inside it. Writing meant building the world himself and hoping people cared enough to stay there.

He'd also started reading scripts differently after writing novels and screenplays.

Before, Jack mostly cared about what his character wanted and how each scene affected him emotionally. Now he noticed structure more. He paid attention to why a scene existed, when dialogue was repeating information, when a moment needed silence, and whether a character was being pushed forward just because the writer needed the story to move.

Daniel asked whether that made him harder to direct.

Jack smiled slightly.

"I hope not."

He thought about it for a moment before adding that he still believed the director had to run the set. Having ideas didn't mean every idea needed to become an argument.

That answer seemed to interest Daniel more than Jack expected.

The writer asked whether Jack liked being involved creatively beyond acting.

Jack nodded while the stylist fixed the collar of the knit shirt.

"Yeah. I like understanding the whole movie. I don't need to control everything, though. That's why you hire people who are better than you at their jobs."

That felt especially true after Zombieland.

Jack could write scenes, act in them, and help shape the movie, but he had no interest in pretending he knew more about lighting than the lighting crew or more about stunt work than the people keeping everyone alive.

The stylist stepped back once the outfit was ready.

Daniel switched off the recorder while Jack stood.

They would pick the conversation up again during the next break.

...

The second setup looked warmer than the first.

Instead of the plain studio background, Jack stood near a large industrial window where afternoon light filled part of the room. The production team had added a chair, a low table, and almost nothing else.

The cream shirt and brown trousers made the entire thing feel more relaxed.

Selina asked him to sit near the front of the chair.

Jack did, leaning slightly forward.

She corrected the position of one arm and had him turn his body a little more toward the window.

The first photographs felt good.

He wasn't staring directly into the lens much this time. Selina had him look outside, down at his hands, or slightly past the camera. Every few shots, she changed his position by a small amount.

Jack started enjoying this setup more.

He felt less like he was being photographed for a magazine cover and more like somebody happened to be taking pictures while he sat around wearing expensive clothes.

At one point, he glanced out the window while the crew adjusted a reflector.

Selina raised the camera without warning.

The shutter clicked.

Jack looked toward her.

"Keep looking outside."

He turned back.

She took several more frames while he rested his forearms against his legs.

Later, she added a light brown jacket over the knit shirt and had him stand beside the window.

The sunlight caught one side of his face while the other stayed slightly darker.

Jack shifted his weight against the wall and looked down as a stylist fixed the jacket near his shoulder.

Selina kept taking pictures during the adjustment.

Jack noticed only after the stylist stepped away.

"You're shooting between the poses too?"

"Sometimes those are better."

That made sense.

People usually looked most natural before they realized a picture was being taken.

Jack tried to remember that as the session continued.

...

Around noon, they stopped for lunch.

Jack changed out of the jacket but kept the knit shirt on while the crew brought food into a quieter part of the studio. He sat near one of the windows with grilled chicken, rice, vegetables, fruit, and water.

Daniel joined him a few minutes later.

The recorder came back out, though the interview felt even less formal now.

They talked about Harry Potter first.

Daniel wanted to know whether Jack had expected the books to become as large as they had.

Jack admitted that he hadn't.

The sales numbers still felt strange sometimes. The New York event had made the success feel real in a completely different way.

Thousands of people had shown up carrying books he had written.

Some had traveled for hours.

Others had waited in line most of the day and never even reached the signing table.

Jack remembered looking down from the upper floor and wondering how something that had existed in his head had turned into all of that.

Daniel asked whether the size of the audience made Fantastic Beasts harder to write.

Jack nodded.

"Yeah. Once people care, you start thinking about expectations."

He took a drink of water before continuing.

"But I can't write the whole story based on what I think people want. Then I'll just be scared of upsetting them."

Fantastic Beasts had already been delayed because of Zombieland, which bothered Jack more than he liked admitting. He hated missing his own deadlines. Still, rushing the book simply to hit a date would've bothered him even more.

Daniel asked whether readers should expect the new series to feel like Harry Potter.

Jack shook his head.

"It's the same world, but a different time and different people. I don't want it to feel like Harry's story with new names."

That was about as much as he wanted to say before publication.

The rest could wait for the books.

Daniel moved on.

The next question was about fame.

Jack leaned back in the chair.

That subject had become harder to explain over the last year.

He liked meeting fans. He loved hearing that somebody cared about a movie or had stayed up too late reading one of his books. The support had given him a life most people could only dream about.

The difficult part was how quickly attention stopped feeling like something attached to the work and started following him everywhere else. 

He told Daniel about moments when he wanted to walk through a store, sit in a café, or spend time with Haley without wondering whether somebody across the room had a camera.

Daniel brought up the tabloid scandal from earlier that year.

Jack's mood changed a little.

He didn't get angry the way he had when the stories first appeared, though he still hated what had happened.

The rumors about him had been annoying.

The way they treated Haley, Emma, and Willa had been worse.

"They made people who didn't do anything look guilty," Jack said. "That's what pissed me off."

He'd wanted to answer immediately when the stories started spreading. His lawyer had stopped him and told everyone involved to stay quiet.

At the time, silence had felt weak.

Later, Jack understood why it had been the right move.

The evidence had spoken louder than any angry interview could've done.

Daniel asked whether the experience had changed Jack's opinion of journalists.

Jack shook his head.

"Some people lied. That doesn't mean everybody with a notebook is the same."

Daniel seemed pleased by the answer, though Jack hadn't said it for his benefit.

It was simply true.

They talked for another fifteen minutes before the next wardrobe change was ready.

...

[Meanwhile...]

[Dunphy House] [6 PM]

Haley stood in the kitchen with both hands planted on the counter, staring at the handwritten recipe in front of her like it contained instructions for defusing a bomb.

The page had survived weeks of cooking classes, several drops of olive oil, one coffee stain, and a suspicious brown mark near the bottom that Haley had decided never to investigate.

At the top, written in large letters, were the words: LAMB PIE.

Haley looked from the recipe toward the ingredients spread across the counter. Ground lamb, carrots, onion, peas, potatoes, butter, herbs, stock, and several small bowls containing things she had measured earlier because her instructor had insisted that preparing ingredients before cooking prevented kitchen disasters.

Jack had flown into Los Angeles the night before after another exhausting stretch of filming in Georgia. He had spent practically the entire day at the Studio doing the GQ cover shoot, and Haley knew he would probably come out of it tired, hungry, and ready to collapse somewhere comfortable.

Preferably somewhere involving her.

She checked the time on her phone, then opened their message thread again.

Jack had sent her a picture earlier from the dressing room. He was wearing charcoal trousers, a white shirt, and a dark navy jacket with his collar open.

Haley had stared at the photograph for an embarrassingly long time.

She opened it again.

“Seriously,” she murmured while zooming in slightly. “How do you always look so sexy?”

..

//Haley’s Commentary//

Haley sat on the couch with one leg pulled close to her chest. She smiled as soon as she started talking.

“Jack has been gone for weeks. We talk on the phone and video call almost every day, but it’s not the same.”

She pushed some hair behind her ear.

“We can talk, flirt, eat together, and even watch movies while we’re on video call. But when the call ends, I still remember that he’s far away in Georgia filming a zombie movie. Although he came back to LA a couple of times and we had fun...”

Her smile became softer.

“I miss him a lot.”

Haley looked down for a moment.

“I miss lying beside him. I miss stealing food from his plate, even though he keeps saying it’s stealing and not sharing. I miss watching movies with him and catching him asleep halfway through.”

She smiled again.

“And I really miss kissing him.”

A small pause followed.

“And yes, I miss having sex with my boyfriend too.”

Haley raised one hand.

“Come on. We’re nineteen, we love each other, and he's really good. Of course I miss that.”

She leaned back with a happy smile.

“So tonight, I’m making him dinner. Then we’re going to sit on the couch, cuddle, kiss, and spend some time together.”

Her smile turned playful.

“And after that, I have a few more ideas which involve a bad kitty.”

Haley paused and looked slightly worried.

“I just hope the lamb pie tastes good.”

//Haley’s Commentary End//

...

Haley's phone rang. She saw that it was a call from Emma. She answered the call.  

"Hey, bestie, what's up?" she said.

AN: My inner harem author persona always tries to get out during scenes like this when they talk about the kiss scenes or, in the future, maybe lovemaking scenes. Argg! It's so hard lol. 😅 I was thinking maybe I'll write an alternate version with Harem in it. 🤔🤔

Next Ch: Kiss & Pies