kaydeefalls | don't ask.

I have no idea where this came from, or if it's any good. But it came, and I said, meh, okay, why not. Anything to help me get rid of the Writer's Block of Doom.

And

shanalle, I know I'm late for the Two Lines challenge, but I do indeed have a fic for it. I'm just not finished tweaking it yet. I sorry.

So. Right. Random!fic. Here.

Title: Alternate
Rating: PG
Summary: Series of drabbles, AU, gen. One movie and the nine actors who were almost-but-not-quite cast in it.
Feedback: Sure.
Disclaimer: Obviously, they were all cast in the movie, so this must be bullshit.
Notes: This is weird, but it wouldn't leave me alone until I got it out of my system.

When Harry tells him about the Rings movie thing, Elijah isn't really listening. He's a teen star on the up-and-up and the last thing his career needs is for him to drop off the face of the earth for two years. Besides, everyone knows fantasy movies don't sell.

When Harry invites him along to the Rings premiere, Elijah agrees to go. The movie is pretty fucking good. At the party afterwards, Elijah tries to chat up the guy who played Merry, but the hobbit foursome is impenetrable and he loses his nerve. He sleeps alone and dreams of missed opportunities.

*

Sean is offered the role of Sam, but he and Christine talk about it all night and decide that with Ally so young and New Zealand so far away, family just has to come before work. He never regrets the decision. New Zealand would have been a beautiful place to live, and the movie would have been good, but he wouldn't trade away a single moment with his daughter. She's growing up too quickly as it is. How could he pull himself away for sixteen-hour workdays, six days a week?

They watch the movie together, and he holds Ally tightly.

*

Dom oversleeps that morning, misses the train into London, and is forty-nine minutes late for his audition. He's wired on tea and nervous energy. Flustered, he flubs his lines and painfully overacts, but can't recover.

Not too surprisingly, he doesn't get the part. But he nails Monsignor Renard, and picks his next few auditions carefully. A choice role in a British film by a previously unknown director lands him unexpectedly in the mainstream, and suddenly the offers are pouring in.

The Rings movie would have been great, but there are other routes to superstardom, and Dom found the best one.

*

Billy lives for the theater. He's done his small share of television and movie roles, but they don't even come close to the exhilarating rush of live theater, on stage in front of a real audience. None of that ridiculous posturing in front of a camera, twenty takes of one facial expression. He wants to take a character on one breathless ride, no chance to stop and call for lines memorized ten minutes earlier.

A castmate leaves his copy of the Tolkien epic lying open in the dressing room, and Billy thumbs idly through the pages. It's a good story.

*

Stuart's a little younger than Peter had had in mind, but he isn't likely to find a better Aragorn at the eleventh hour, so he sticks with the original casting.

Stuart never realizes how close he came to being sacked. He's a bit standoffish by nature, but as time goes by, the rest of the cast warms up to him. In front of the cameras, he wears Aragorn like an expensive coat one size too large – it looks good, but never fits quite right.

Somewhere across the globe, Viggo paints uninterrupted in his studio. His phone doesn't ring that day.

*

The Rings shooting schedule seriously conflicts with X-Men, and when you get right down to it, Ian's not sure he really wants to portray another cultural icon. He spends a long afternoon pondering it, discussing the strain of bringing all too beloved characters to life with Patrick between takes, and finally decides to respectfully decline Peter's offer.

He sits with boytoy-of-the-moment in a crowded movie theater when Rings finally comes out and knows he would have been the better Gandalf. The thought gnaws at him for a while, but there's no use crying over spilt milk. And other such nonsense.

*

Orlando isn't exactly terrified at the prospect of the Rings audition, although it's the biggest chance of his life. He's just desperate enough for moral support that he spends two full weeks convincing his best friend from drama school to come with him. Together, they will knock the figurative socks off these New Line bigwigs.

After the initial screening, Orlando finds himself reading for Faramir, while his friend is given pages for Legolas. Thank god they're not competing for the same parts. It would be so awesome if they both pulled this off!

His friend gets the call. Orlando doesn't.

*

After the first makeup tests, it's obvious that John has some serious unforeseen allergies. His choice: spend the next fifteen months peeling his skin off every day, or save face (literally, ha) and drop out.

The actor originally cast as the Tin Man had to quit The Wizard of Oz due to makeup allergies. He probably spent the rest of his life in a pub bemoaning his decision. "I coulda been a Tin Man" doesn't quite have the ring of the Marlon Brando line.

Neither does "I coulda been a dwarf," so John only says it when he's really drunk.

*

Sean Bean is at an awkward point in his life when the Rings job comes along. Things are very rough with the third wife, one of his daughters is going through a where-are-you-when-I-need-you-Dad phase, and fifteen months spent on the other side of the world would probably damage those relationships permanently.

Besides, the last thing he needs is yet another accusation that he's always running away when things get ugly. Tempting though New Zealand might be – and oh, it's tempting – he can't afford the escape this time. Temporary unemployment is much, much cheaper.

There will always be other jobs.

*

By chance, nine completely unrelated actors pass through an airport waiting room in New York at the exact same time.

Elijah is visiting Hannah in college.

Astin has a fundraiser for arts education.

Dom is en route from London to L.A.

Billy has tickets for a Broadway play.

Viggo has a poetry reading in Union Square.

Ian just finished his own Broadway run.

Orlando has another audition doomed for failure.

John is en route from Philadelphia to London.

Bean just visited some old friends.

They all pause for a second, suspended by a tantalizing sense of might-have-been.

The moment passes.

*